The JP Morgan Asean Fund, which is domiciled in Hong Kong, and the firm’s Luxembourg-domiciled version, the JPM Asean Fund, have received Morningstar analyst rating upgrades to Silver from Bronze.
In a statement issued by Morningstar, Mark Laidlaw, senior analyst for manager research, wrote:
“The strategy rates strongly across the Morningstar pillars, not least people. Lead manager Pauline Ng is integral to our strong conviction here. She’s been involved with the strategy for over a decade and, in our opinion, her forthright views and insights stand her out against peers. She’s back by a stable team of five who boast detailed coverage across the underlying ASEAN investment universe. The process has been consistently applied and is another positive, in our view. The team favours firms with favourable industry supply/demand dynamics, significant barriers to entry and show an ability to move up the value chain. The track record has been impressive against both peers and the index, and a favourable fee just adds to the appeal.”
The JP Morgan Asean Fund was launched in 1983. Pauline Ng was named manager in 2006. Chang Qi Ong has been co-manager since 2013, specialising in Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam. The team is based in Singapore. The fund’s AUM was $1.7bn on 31 July, as per data from FE.
The fund has outperformed its benchmark, the MSCI Asean Index, on the five-, three- and one-year basis, but underperformed its category average in all these periods, according to FE.
Performance of the JP Morgan Asean Fund vs its benchmark and sector average
| 1-year return | 3-year return | 5-year return | |
| JP Morgan Asean Fund | 12.08% | 3.38% | 24.12% |
| MSCI Asean Index | 10.90% | -3.27% | 11.77% |
| Sector: Asia Pacific ex-Japan (HK SFC-registered) | 19.31% | 11.03% | 41.60% |
Data: FE, performance in US dollars, on 31 July 2017
Laidlaw has also reaffirmed his analyst ratings on four other funds he covers, listed in the table below. Peter Brunt, senior analyst for manager research at Morningstar has reaffirmed his Neutral rating on the Fidelity Funds Japan Fund.
Morningstar analyst ratings reaffirmed in August
|
Fund |
Morningstar analyst rating |
|
Aberdeen Global Asian Smaller Companies |
Neutral |
|
Fidelity India Focus |
Silver |
|
First State Asian Growth (SGP & IRE) |
Silver |
|
Henderson Horizon Asia-Pacific Property Equities |
Neutral |
|
Fidelity Funds Japan |
Neutral |
Source: Morningstar, 21 August 2017
The research firm’s “analyst rating” is forward-looking. On an annual basis, analysts review and, if necessary, re-rate the funds on a five-tier scale with three positive ratings of Gold, Silver and Bronze, a Neutral rating and a Negative rating.
The analyst rating differs from the firm’s backward-looking “star rating”, which assigns one-to-five stars based on a fund’s past risk- and load-adjusted returns versus category peers.
