Morningstar Runs the Numbers

Inspired by Harper's Index (with a tip of the hat to FiveThirtyEight's Significant Digits blog), Morningstar Runs the Numbers uses a numbers-based approach to highlight recent Morningstar research, along with some outside news stories.

60%

Wide-moat

"As this number suggests, the firm continues to focus on driving its omnichannel experience (online, delivery, and pickup in store), which enabled strong traffic through its vast network (U.S. traffic up 1.3%, Sam's Club traffic up 2.1%) and boosted U.S. comparable-store sales by 70 basis points (an acceleration from 40 basis points last year)."

2 With Japan poised to become the third-largest gaming region after Las Vegas and Macau, we see two companies as likely to benefit. Equity analyst Dan Wasiolek believes narrow-moat Las Vegas Sands and no-moat MGM Resorts are lead candidates to be awarded Japanese gaming licenses in 2019. Wasoliek thinks the companies could have a place on investors' watchlists; right now Las Vegas Sands is fairly valued, while MGM Resorts is slightly undervalued.

710 Do personality traits play a role in portfolio investment choices? Institutional Investor reported that according to a study of 710 investors in Finland by the University of Oulu in Finland, investors' bias toward growth or value stocks, and toward small or large caps, may be related to personality traits such as impulsiveness or sentimentality.

"Investors who favored large-cap growth stocks tended to be thrill-seekers with a willingness to spend money. Meanwhile, individuals who were shown to be impulsive and 'do things their own way without much regard for routine or rules' preferred a small-cap growth strategy."

10 Investors have been rewarded for taking risk in recent years. Not surprisingly, funds that ply more conservative strategies have lagged of late. In fact, many solid funds that our analysts rate highly don't look all that impressive over a three-year period. We looked at 10 funds with middling three-year performance that deserve a second look.

10.6 million

Berkshire Hathaway's second-quarter 13-F filing offered some insight into the changes made to the insurer's common stock holdings during the period. Among other sales, Berkshire unloaded 10.6 million shares, an estimated $300 million, of

9 After nine years analyzing the economy, this was the final week at Morningstar for director of economic analysis Bob Johnson. He discussed what he has learned over the years and shares his final thoughts.

"What's really happened is that we've got on a broad level an ocean liner economy. Now, that doesn't mean individual sectors are going in and out of favor in terms of economics, but the overall level of growth has remained remarkably stable."

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