HEAD-TO-HEAD: JPMorgan vs MFS

123456

The JP Morgan portfolio is co-managed by three managers, while MFS uses a team approach, according to Meakin.

The JPMorgan fund is a more typical set-up for an equity fund, Meakin said. The team is led by Jonathan Ingram with John Baker and Anis Lahlou-Abid.

But since the fund relies heavily on a quantitative strategy, it requires less human resources for management than a traditional equity fund.

“The London-based team, consisting of five people (including three co-managers), is a close-knit group,” Meakin added.

Both Ingram and Baker, who started their careers at JPMorgan, are part of the behavioural finance investment team, he noted. The behavioural finance team is responsible for the implementation of a broad range of quant strategies as well as risk exposure.

By comparison, the MFS fund is managed by a team comprised of leader Christopher Jennings and ten other analysts. Lead manager Gabrielle Gourgey chairs the weekly analyst meetings, where the analysts vote on investment ideas.

Meakin believes the composition of the team is appropriate for the fund’s investment style, which he describes as a research-driven approach.

Each analyst on the team is responsible for 2-3 industries with the same objective of finding companies with sustainable growth.

Previously, there was turnover in the MFS team, partly because some analysts moved to portfolio-management roles in the firm. However, the transitions did not have a negative impact on the stock selection process, Meakin noted.

MFS has the larger team, more than double that of the JPMorgan fund. But Meakin does not consider team size to be an advantage over the JP Morgan fund, which has a team commensurate with the quant model it uses to filter the universe of investible stocks.

123456