HEAD-TO-HEAD: Jupiter versus MFS

FSA compares two European equity products: the Jupiter European Opportunities Fund and the MFS Meridian European Research Fund.

by Francis Nikolai Acosta 13 March 202010 November 2020

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Mathieu Caquineau, Morningstar

Introduction

European equities (including the UK), have underperformed the rest of the world the past few years.

On a three-year cumulative basis, the MSCI Europe Index had negative returns of nearly 10%, while the MSCI ACWI Index produced positive returns of 14.59%, according to data from FE Fundinfo.

The index has also underperformed its developed market peers during the same period, including the S&P 500 (14.59%) and Japan’s TOPIX Index (-1.8%).

However, sentiment seems to be turning. Both private banks and fund managers have revisited European equities as they have become attractively valued after years of underperformance.

Citi Private Bank, for example, has added undervalued European equities to its asset allocation recommendations. UBP, meanwhile, believes that European equities have become attractive, especially small- and mid-cap companies.

Fidelity also noted that UK equities have become attractively valued, especially after the negative sentiment associated with Brexit.

European equities have also climbed up the rankings among Asia’s fund selectors, according to Last Word Media Research, after several months of being the least favourite asset class.

Against this backdrop, FSA asked Mathieu Caquineau, Paris-based manager research at Morningstar, to compare two European (including UK) equity funds: the Jupiter European Opportunities Fund and the MFS Meridian European Research Fund.

	Jupiter	MFS
Size	€107.5m ($120m)	€2.73bn ($3.06bn)
Inception	2001	1999
Manager	Cédric De Fonclare	10-member analyst team
Three-year cumulative return*	0.94%	11.15%
Three-year annualised return**	3.03%	7.13%
Three-year annualised alpha**	0.37	4.57
Three-year annualised volatility**	14.58	12.74
Morningstar analyst rating	Bronze	Silver
Morningstar star rating	****	*****
FE Crown fund rating	**	****
OCF (retail share class)	1.72%	1.93%

Source: Morningstar, FE Fundinfo.

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