We are in the home stretch of an eventful year for global markets.
These are the 10 funds that are currently outperforming their categories. Can they keep momentum going until the end of 2024?
The funds in the list all have a Morningstar Medalist Rating of Bronze or higher, and have a fund size above £50 million. We have selected the 10 funds with the highest return from the categories used by Morningstar analysts to organise and assess performance. These funds represent categories across equity, equity income, allocation and bonds.
Funds outperforming their category so far this year include:
• SVS Sanlam North American Equity Fund
• Artemis Global Income Fund
• Legal & General Global 100 Index Trust
• Thesis Lavaud Fund
• J O Hambro Capital Management UK Equity Income Fund
• Artemis SmartGARP European Equity Fund
• Orbis OEIC Global Balanced Fund
• JPM UK Equity Plus Fund
• Artemis Monthly Distribution Fund
• Thesis Ord Fund
SVS Sanlam North American Equity Fund
• Year-to-date performance: 24.63%
• Morningstar Medalist Rating: Bronze
• Category: US Large-Cap Blend Equity
• Ongoing charge: 0.69%
The £137 million Sanlam North American Equity Fund rose 24.63% in 2024 so far and sits in the first percentile, beating the 19.66% average category return. While the fund has seen various periods of outperformance—over one year and two years, the fund was in the top 1-5% performers—it has disappointed over a three-year period, where it was in the bottom half for its category, averaging a return of 10.89%. This evens out over a five-year period, however, where a 15.55% average return leaves it in the top decile. The B share class has a Morningstar Medalist Rating of Bronze.
Artemis Global Income Fund
• Year-to-date performance: 22.14%
• Morningstar Medalist Rating: Silver
• Category: Global Equity Income
• Ongoing charge: 0.87%
The £1.5 billion Artemis Global Income is up 22.14% this year while the global equity income category has, on average, climbed 13.01% year to date. The Artemis fund is the best performer in its group over the period, also known as the first percentile for returns, but also over a 12-month period. In fact, the fund consistently outperforms the category over the longer term too. On an annualized basis, the fund has been in the fifth percentile or higher for the past two, three and five years. The I Acc share class has a Silver Morningstar Medalist Rating.
Legal & General Global 100 Index Trust
• Year-to-date performance: 20.79%
• Morningstar Medalist Rating: Bronze
• Category: Global Large-Cap Blend Equity
• Ongoing charge: 0.14%
The passively-managed Legal & General Global 100 Index is the largest fund in this list. It has gained 20.79% year to date, while the average fund in the global large-cap blend equity category is up 14.74%. Over the past one year, the £1.8 billion fund and the category have both gained 26.45%. The Legal & General fund is up 14.46% over the past three years, however, which is almost 10% higher than the category average of 5.20%. The I Acc share class is Bronze-rated, and the fund is up 15.63% over the past five years.
Thesis Lavaud Fund
• Year-to-date performance: 17.83%
• Morningstar Medalist Rating: Bronze
• Category: USD Aggressive Allocation
• Ongoing charge: 1.18%
The $792 million (£606.5 million) Thesis Lavaud falls into the USD aggressive allocation category. Year to date, the fund is up 17.83%, beating the category average of 11.56%. It rose 31.07% over the past year while the category average is 20.90%. The fund has climbed 6.30% over the past three years and gained 11.74% over the past five years, always performing in the top decile. Thesis Lavaud Acc has a Bronze Medalist Rating.
J O Hambro Capital Management UK Equity Income Fund
• Year-to-date performance: 17.62%
• Morningstar Medalist Rating: Gold
• Category: UK Equity Income
• Ongoing charge: 0.79%
The £1.6 billion J O Hambro Capital Management UK Equity Income is the second-largest fund in our list. It’s up 17.62% year to date, beating the 8.89% gain on the average fund in the UK equity income category. The JOHCM strategy was also in the first percentile over the past full year, rising 23.63%, while the average fund in its category climbed 15.45%. The fund’s annualized return over the past five years is 8.15% over the past five years, in the top 7% of performers in the category. The fund’s manager Clive Beagles recently joined Christopher Johnson in the Morningstar studio. The JOHCM UK Equity Income M share class has a Morningstar Medalist Rating of Gold.
Watch the second part of our video interview with fund manager Clive Beagles
Artemis SmartGARP European Equity Fund
• Year-to-date performance: 15.47%
• Morningstar Medalist Rating: Gold
• Category: Europe ex-UK Equity
• Ongoing charge: 0.87%
The £262 million Artemis SmartGARP European Equity Fund has gained 15.47% year to date, beating the average fund return of 8.74%in the Europe ex-UK equity category. Over longer periods, the fund has continuously outperformed, too; 19.79% over 12 months, 10.25% annualized over three years and 9.14% over three years. That’s compared to 17.79% and 5.16% for the category. The highest rated share class, Artemis SmartGARP European Equity Fund Class I Acc, has a Gold Medalist Rating.
Orbis OEIC Global Balanced Fund
• Year-to-date performance: 14.88%
• Morningstar Medalist Rating: Gold
• Category: GBP Allocation 60-80% Equity
• Ongoing charge: Data not provided
The £445 million Orbis Global Balanced was only launched in late Oct. 2023, so it does not yet have a full 12-month return profile. However, so far this year, it has taken on the GBP Allocation 60-80% Equity category and outperformed, returning 14.88% against the category’s 7.93%. The fixed fee share class has earned a Gold Medalist Rating.
JPM UK Equity Plus C Perf Net Acc F00000WB5X
JPM UK Equity Plus Fund
• Year-to-date performance: 14.06%
• Morningstar Medalist Rating: Silver
• Category: UK Large-Cap Equity
• Ongoing charge: 0.46%
Year to date, the actively managed JPM UK Equity Plus has climbed 14.06%, outperforming the average fund in its category, which rose 8.59%. The £234.3 million fund was in the fourth percentile for the past 12 month, where it rose 19.11%, while the average UK large-cap equity fund gained 13.14%. The JP Morgan fund has gained 8.96% over the past three years and gained 8.87% over the past five years, annualized. The category averages for three and five years are 6.19% and 5.62%. The C Perf Net Acc share class is Silver-rated.
Artemis Monthly Distribution Fund
• Year-to-date performance: 13.46%
• Morningstar Medalist Rating: Gold
• Category: GBP Allocation 40-60% Equity
• Ongoing charge: 0.86%
The £815 million Artemis Monthly Distribution, which falls into the GBP allocation 40-60% equity category, has climbed 13.46% versus 6.37% for the category this year. The fund is in the top decile for all periods we are looking at, including on a 10 year annualized return basis—the 10-year average return is 7.01%. Meanwhile, the category has returned 4.23%. Artemis Monthly Distribution Fund I Acc category has a Gold Morningstar Medalist Rating.
Thesis Ord Fund
• Year-to-date performance: 13.20%
• Morningstar Medalist Rating: Bronze
• Category: GBP Allocation 60-80% Equity
• Ongoing charge: 0.98%
The £98 million Thesis Ord is another fund that has consistently outperformed over the long term, and has been in the top 5% for returns for 15 years. So far this year the fund is up 13.20% while the GBP allocation 60-80% equity category is up 7.93%. Over three and five years, the Thesis fund has gained 6.53% and 9.20% on average. The Bronze-rated Thesis Ord Acc has a 15-year average return of 9.70%. The category, meanwhile, has an average 15-year return of 6.36%.