WEBVTT

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[AUDIO LOGO]

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Part of the US equities
team at JP Morgan--

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and I've actually
been with the firm

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for just over 26
years, all of that time

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with the US equities team.

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I started my career in
our New York office,

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but many years ago
moved back to Europe.

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My role is an
investment specialist.

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You could say I'm the voice and
face of the funds for our US

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equity portfolio managers.

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Their goal at the end of the day
is to give a good performance,

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while we also recognize
there's a lot of client need

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to meet with portfolio managers
are to learn about our funds.

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And so to a certain extent, I
can take that workload off them

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and ensure that our clients get
adequate access to information

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about performance,
portfolio holdings, or just

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the insights of the portfolio
managers themselves.

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The JP Morgan American
Investment Trust

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aims to achieve capital growth
from North American investments

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by out-performance
of the S&P 500 index.

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The company will
predominantly invest

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in quoted companies,
including, when appropriate,

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exposure to smaller
capitalization companies

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and emphasize capital
growth rather than income.

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The company has the
ability to use borrowing

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to gear the portfolio within
the range of 5% net cash

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to 20% geared in normal
market conditions.

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For the JP Morgan
American Investment Trust,

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we really see it as US
equities handpicked by experts.

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So what we have, of course,
is a fantastic value team,

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a fantastic growth team that can
bring together their best ideas

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on the large cap
side, so that we have

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approximately 40 stocks there.

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We then, of course, have
small cap allocation,

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which is really important.

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But that does create a
tail in the holdings,

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because about 90% or more of the
actual allocation in [? jam ?]

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is to value and grow stocks.

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So we really have great
expertise in that area.

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And that's really important.

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We look at that expertise.

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It's not just the portfolio
managers themselves

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but a deep bench of research
analysts behind them.

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And this was really evident
in times like COVID.

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When COVID impacted every stock
in the marketplace globally,

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portfolio managers didn't
need to go it alone.

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They had that deep bench
of research analysts

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who can dig deep into
the numbers, look

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at the implications for
every company line by line,

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and really partner with
the portfolio managers

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to give those insights.

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It's also experience.

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This is a very experienced
investment team.

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Our research analysts have on
average 20 years' investment

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experience.

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And our portfolio managers have
over decades of experience.

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They've been through
multiple market cycles.

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And then again, for us, is
really, really important.

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They're focused
on the long-term.

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They're focused on
companies that they

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can look to invest in over a
full market cycle, which we

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define as three to five years.

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So the ideas really come true
from our research analysts,

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our dedicated teams that
support our value, growth,

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and small cap
portfolio managers,

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and also our holding period.

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But really, we're looking
at that three years plus.

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And so we really are
those long-term investors.

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Over the last one, three,
and five year period,

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the American
Investment Trust has

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performed very well,
both relative to peers

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but also relative to benchmark.

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A lot has happened
during this period.

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If we stretch out five years,
we lived through a period

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where we thought
the mark was going

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to go into recession in 2019
followed by COVID in 2020.

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And then, of course, we had
the great news on the vaccine

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to get the market hope.

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We've lived through periods
where values outperformed,

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where growth is
outperformed, where

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small caps have done well.

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And yet throughout this period,
sticking to our investment

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process, sticking
to our discipline,

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stock selection has
really helped us.

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At the end of the day,
it's not about styles.

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It's not about for us
for value or growth

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outperforming the other.

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It really is having the right
stocks in the portfolio.

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We can find good
quality companies

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in the value space, good quality
companies in the growth space,

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good quality small cap names.

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The outlook for the US equity
market over the next 12 months

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is probably one of the
most challenging questions

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that we get asked.

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This year, we've dealt
a lot with the markets,

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being obsessed about a
recession, a recession that

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has yet to happen.

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And with that,
what we are seeing,

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though, is an economy
that we do expect

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to slow, not fall off a
cliff, but slow down somewhat.

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Because today we're looking
at an economy that's

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growing above expectations.

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We're close to 5%
economic growth.

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So we do expect it to slow
down somewhat over the next 12

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months.

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But again, we don't see
it falling off that cliff.

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A lot of what we
need to focus on

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is not so much for us, the
Fed, not so much for us

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inflation, a company's earnings
and earnings expectations.

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And that for us is key,
at the end of the day.

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We're not macro
strategists, though we

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do pay attention to what's
happening in the macro

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environment.

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But we're really
listening to companies,

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for them to give
us guidance and how

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they're feeling for the next
three, six, 12 months, where

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they're making investments,
where they have concerns, where

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they see their margins going.

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These are all key
ingredients for us

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when we're thinking
about stocks,

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because stocks are the building
block to the overall portfolio.

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But as we said, we pay
attention to the macro.

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But long-term, it's
really those insights

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we get from companies
that help us build

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the names within the portfolio.

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[AUDIO LOGO]

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