JPMorgan American Trust Cuts Tesla After Uneasy History With the Stock

JPMorgan American Investment Trust (JAM) has reduced its Tesla holding, with the latest semi-annual figures showing the position trimmed to 1.7% of the portfolio, valued at £38,497 thousand, down from 2.3% and £46,893 thousand in the 2025 annual report. For a trust that exited Tesla entirely once before, then rebuilt the position from scratch, the direction of travel is worth watching closely.

How JAM’s Tesla Position Has Shifted

The move is documented in JPMorgan American Investment Trust’s 2026 semi-annual report, which records the Tesla weighting falling from 2.3% at the 2025 annual reporting period to 1.7% at the interim stage. In cash terms, that is a reduction of roughly £8,400 thousand at the portfolio valuations shown in the filings, though the precise share count depends on price movements between the two dates.

The trust is listed on the London Stock Exchange and sits in the FTSE 250 index. It is managed by JPMorgan Asset Management, giving it the resources of one of the larger active-management operations in the market. JAM’s mandate is US equities, so Tesla has always been a natural candidate for inclusion given its size in US indices, but the trust’s history with the stock shows the managers have been willing to make active calls rather than simply track the benchmark.

JPMorgan American Trust’s Tesla Trade: A Pattern Worth Noting

The 2025 annual report gives the fuller backstory. The trust closed its Tesla position entirely in January 2024, citing stalling demand for electric vehicles. That exit came after a period in which EV sentiment had already soured across the market, with supply outpacing adoption rates and price cuts from Tesla itself compressing margins.

The trust then reversed course during 2024, reintroducing Tesla to the portfolio after what the annual report describes as capitalising on a sell-off in the shares. The rationale given for the re-entry was increasing confidence in the company’s autonomous driving technology, which the trust described as ‘approaching commercial viability’. That is a fairly specific thesis: it is not a valuation call or a momentum trade but a judgement on a technology inflection point.

The current trimming does not necessarily signal another full exit. Reducing a position from 2.3% to 1.7% is a measured adjustment, not a liquidation. But the trust’s own history shows it is prepared to go to zero if the underlying thesis deteriorates. Anyone holding JAM partly for Tesla exposure should note that the position is actively managed and can move quickly.

What the Reduction Means for the Trust’s US Equity Positioning

At 1.7%, Tesla remains a material position within the portfolio, not a token holding. The reduction narrows the trust’s exposure to the autonomous driving and consumer EV thesis without removing it. Whether the managers are banking profits after Tesla’s stock recovery from its 2024 lows, or expressing a more cautious view on the autonomous driving timeline, the filings do not state explicitly.

The broader context matters here. Tesla entered 2025 carrying significant valuation risk relative to traditional auto peers, with its premium almost entirely predicated on growth in energy storage, full self-driving software, and the robotaxi proposition. Each of those has a binary quality: either the technology arrives at commercial scale or it does not. A trust that frames its own thesis in terms of ‘approaching commercial viability’ is implicitly acknowledging that the outcome is not yet settled.

For investors in JAM, the Tesla position is one line in a diversified US equity portfolio. The trust’s active approach has, in this case, produced at least two distinct trading cycles in a single stock within roughly eighteen months: exit, re-entry, and now a partial reduction. That cycle is useful information about how the managers approach conviction and position sizing when an underlying thesis is in motion.

The next data point will be the full-year filing, which will show whether the 1.7% weighting held, fell further, or reversed again. If the autonomous driving thesis resolves one way or the other in the coming months, expect JAM’s position to move with it.