JPMorgan Fundamental Data Science Small Core ETF

JPMorgan Fundamental Data Science Small Core ETF (SCDS) is an actively managed fund of about 274 mostly US small-company stocks, chosen with the adviser's data-driven research. Its 22.3% one-year return to October 27, 2026 topped eight similar funds, though its record spans only about two years. But its 0.40% annual fee is above the 0.23% peer average, and with $9.2 million in net assets as of June 30, 2026, it is the group's smallest.

• Over the year to Oct 27, 2026, SCDS returned +22.3%, 1st of 9 among similar funds.
• Its worst full calendar year was 2025 (+11.3%); its best was 2025 (+11.3%).
• The deepest fall in its price history was 26.7% (Nov 25, 2024 to Apr 8, 2025), recovered by Sep 11, 2025.

As of Jun 30, 2026, the fund held 274 securities; the ten largest made up 9.22% of assets, and 5.09% sat in cash and money-market holdings.

• Over the three months to Jun 30, 2026, investors withdrew a net $2K (creations minus redemptions, per the N-PORT report).
• Monthly total returns reported for that quarter: +12.84%, +5.86%, +4.65%.

SCDS does not track an index. Its managers keep at least 80% of assets in small companies, defined as those with market values in the Russell 2000 Index's range when purchased ($5.62 million to $85.78 billion as of September 30, 2026). They aim to match that index's mix of growth and value traits, so the fund is a "core" portfolio that leans toward neither style.

The adviser picks stocks with what it calls data science: proprietary tools that combine decades of its own research, company financial statements and other data to forecast each company's prospects. The team favors stocks that look attractively priced for their level of risk, while guarding against threats such as economic shifts, new competitors or business-model flaws. It also weighs environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues but may still own companies that could be hurt by them. Despite the name, it is not a technology-themed fund: the prospectus says many holdings are financial, industrial and healthcare companies.

The 10 largest holdings, led by MYR Group, Ryman Hospitality Properties and Moog at about 1% each, made up just 9.2% of assets as of June 30, 2026. The fund can use Russell 2000 futures contracts to keep spare cash invested; cash was 5.1% of assets that day. Portfolio turnover, a measure of yearly trading, was 28%.

• SCDS charges 0.4% a year, versus an average of 0.23% for the similar funds below (8th of 9, cheapest first).
• Using the prospectus's standard example, $10,000 invested would cost about $41 in the first year and $505 over 10 years (assuming a 5% annual return).

Its small-company stocks, a record of only about two years and swings slightly larger than the market's (a one-year beta of 1.11) point to a smaller add-on role rather than a core holding.

SCDS could add small-company exposure to a portfolio centered on large US firms. It launched in August 2024, so it has no record in the 2008 financial crisis, the 2020 COVID crash or the 2022 bear market. Its only full calendar year, 2025, returned 11.02%, but its deepest drop, 26.7% from November 25, 2024 to April 8, 2025, took until September 11, 2025 to recover, about five months after the low. Anyone who needed to cash in shares near that low would have locked in the loss.

Income is modest: a 1.1% yield over the 12 months to October 27, 2026, paid quarterly. The 0.40% yearly fee, about $41 in the first year on $10,000 under the SEC's standard example, is above the 0.23% average of similar funds. Past results don't predict future returns, and any retirement plan needs to look at the whole portfolio, not one fund.

Matched by holdings overlap from the latest N-PORT reports.