JPMorgan US Quality Factor ETF earns a High Process Pillar rating.
The predominant contributor to the rating is that this fund tracks an index. Historical data, such as Morningstar's Active/Passive Barometer, finds that passively managed funds have generally outperformed their active counterparts, especially over longer time horizons. Impressive risk-adjusted performance also contributes to the process. This can be seen in the fund's five-year alpha calculated relative to the category index, which suggests that the managers have shown skill in their allocation of risk. The parent firm's excellent risk-adjusted performance, as shown by its average 10-year Morningstar Rating of 3.3 stars, contributes to the process as well.
This strategy, over time, has opted for smaller market-cap companies, compared with others in the Large Blend Morningstar Category. But in terms of style (value/growth) exposure, it is similar. Examining additional factor exposure, this fund has constantly tilted toward stocks with higher trading volumes than its Morningstar Category Peers over the past few years. More-liquid assets contribute to more-flexible exit strategies without price changes and tend to be a ballast during market selloffs. For example, if the portfolio faces successive redemptions in a short period of time, it will be less likely to experience a significant loss. In recent months, the strategy was more exposed to the Liquidity factor compared with its Morningstar Category peers as well. This strategy's portfolio also has had exposure to more stocks with high dividend or buyback yields over peers in these years. High-yield stocks tend to be connected to more mature companies earning enough cash to return some to shareholders. At times, however, extreme market pressure can force them to cut their dividends, which hurts stock performance. In the most recent month, however, the fund's Yield exposure was in line with the Morningstar Category average. Additionally, the managers have consistently taken on more risk, demonstrated by higher volatility exposure than peers. Such stocks tend to rise faster and fall harder than the broad market. High-volatility exposure contributes to stronger performance during bull markets, but often at the cost of losing more during downturns. In this month, the strategy also had more exposure to the Volatility factor over its peers. More information on a fund and its respective category's factor exposure can be found in the Factor Profile module within the Portfolio section.
The portfolio has allocations in its top two sectors, technology and consumer cyclical, that are similar to the category. The sectors with low exposure compared to category peers are communication services and industrials; however, the allocations are similar to the category. The strategy owns 261 securities and its assets are more dispersed than peers in the category. In particular, 21.1% of the strategy's assets are concentrated in the top 10 fund holdings, as opposed to the category’s 50.1% average. And in closing, in terms of portfolio turnover, this fund trades less frequently than the category’s average, potentially limiting costs to investors.