The JPMorgan Mid Cap Value strategy, which includes VY JPMorgan Mid Cap Value, remains a strong choice even after its longtime comanager retires.
Jonathan Simon’s four decades of industry experience and stock-picking acumen will be missed after he retries in early 2025, but there are still plenty of positives here. Larry Playford, who has comanaged the strategy alongside Simon since the start of 2005, will assume full control of the portfolio. He’s a veteran investor himself and has displayed strong stock-selection prowess across the technology, energy, utilities, materials, and industrials sectors for which he maintained authority. Playford had long been the planned successor for Simon’s eventual retirement, so he is well prepared for the transition. While Simon will remain attached to the strategy in the interim, Playford will start calling the shots prior to the 2025 official retirement date.
A stronger supporting cast also lends confidence in this strategy’s prospects. Playford, who formerly served as CIO of the firm’s value-equity department, was instrumental in building out a dedicated team of analysts here from 2016 to 2019. That five-person group has been steady and contributed to good results.
This strategy’s quality-oriented approach to value investing should endure. Playford will continue to look for good businesses trading at reasonable (or cheap) valuations where the market has mispriced their prospects. Playford figures to keep a long-term framework, too, with turnover likely to remain below that of the average mid-value fund. However, there may be changes on the horizon. For instance, Simon was typically a fan of financials stocks and overweighted that segment versus the Russell Midcap Value Index benchmark for the past decade. Playford may not keep the same stance. Still, he shares Simon’s preference for companies with higher-quality balance sheets and stable deposit bases. Even if there are some changes on the margin, the portfolio shouldn’t change drastically.
After slightly trailing the benchmark in 2023’s up market, JPMorgan Mid Cap Value’s L shares gained 9.4% for the year to date through March 2024, which came ahead of the benchmark and beat about 75% of peers. The fund still has a good shot of outperforming on a risk-adjusted basis moving forward.