Methodology Documents

Morningstar has conducted research on active and passive investment strategies and their associated vehicles since 1986.

This paper outlines the key assumptions and details behind our quantitative equity rating methodology.

We believe that a company's intrinsic worth results from the future cash flows it can generate. The Morningstar Rating for stocks identifies stocks trading at a discount or premium to their intrinsic worth--or fair value estimate, in Morningstar terminology.

This document describes the rationale for, and the formulas and procedures used in, calculating the Morningstar Rating for funds (commonly called the “star rating”). This methodology applies to funds receiving a star rating from Morningstar.

This paper outlines the key assumptions and details behind our quantitative equity rating methodology.

Morningstar developed the Morningstar Equity Comparables system to give investors and financial professionals an objective benchmark for comparing companies. Morningstar Equity Comparables is genuinely different to other industry classification schemes. We start from the bottom up with comparable companies, as opposed to the top down with sector definitions. For every pair of companies, we determine how similar they are–anywhere from closely comparable to distantly related based on automated analysis of the companies' own business description. We automatically analyse the text of the business description and work out whether companies are talking about similar things as they describe their businesses. Businesses described in similar terms are comparable.

Morningstar has conducted research on active and passive investment strategies and their associated vehicles since 1986.

The Canadian Investment Funds Standards Committee was formed in January 1998 by Canada’s major mutual fund database and research firms to standardize the classifications of Canada-domiciled retail mutual funds. In 2020, CIFSC began work on a framework to

Morningstar is introducing "representative cost" fields that will contain the best information on the recurring costs that are charged via the fund itself, and so would not include one-off costs or costs charged by third parties such as advisors or platf

As the investment fund industry continues to grow in size and complexity, it is important that investors have as much information as possible to make educated decisions about their investments. To meet this requirement, Morningstar developed a methodolog

The paper contains data and product information about Morningstar Australia Equity Research Coverage

Morningstar is launching categories for Private Capital funds to help investors make meaningful comparisons between funds that primarily invest in private assets. The Private Capital database is a global one, so we have one set of categories for all priv

The purpose of the Manager Selection Lists is to provide ongoing, high-conviction, qualitatively reviewed lists of investments for use as portfolio building blocks, adopted as the foundation of a firm's own Select Lists, or, more broadly, as idea generat

The purpose of the US Select Lists is to provide ongoing, high-conviction, qualitatively reviewed lists of investments for use as portfolio building blocks, adopted as the foundation of a firm's own select lists, or, more broadly, as idea generation for

The Morningstar US Medalist Core Model Portfolios are a series of diversified, multi-asset, multimanager portfolios designed to provide investors across a range of risk tolerances access to differentiated portfolios, backed by Morningstar experience in a

The Morningstar GBP/Euro/USD Model Portfolios are a series of diversified, multi-asset, multimanager portfolios designed to provide investors across a range of risk tolerances access to high-quality, differentiated portfolios at a reasonable price, backe

This document provides a high-level overview and answers for information relevant to the Morningstar Sustainalytics ESG Intentional Attributes and Exclusions data sets.

To identify investment products that incorporate sustainability features or employ exclusions in their investment process. Morningstar Sustainalytics introduced ESG Intentional Investments data sets in 2019. This document provides an explanation and a de

Morningstar launched a database of UK managed portfolios in July 2022.

Data Content Guide

As a comparative measure of the cost of implementing each portfolio, Morningstar calculates the Prospective Acquired Fund Expense for vehicles within the U.S. and U.K. markets.

We present the high-level trends in open-end and exchange-traded funds that affected investor decisions last year.

Hedge funds have proliferated and become an accepted allocation within institutional investor portfolios, but there is not a generally accepted definition of what constitutes a hedge fund.

Morningstar collects information on exchange-traded funds, and where a share class of an ETF is listed on multiple exchanges or more than once on the same exchange, this is known as a cross-listing of an ETF share class.

Strategy data, coupled with Morningstar's investment-level and rich portfolio holdings data, informs a comprehensive analytical view of where a strategy fits within investor portfolios and the global marketplace.

Improving emergency savings requires attention to mindset and actions.

Inflows into Article 8 funds rise, but redemptions from Article 9 funds continue.

Inflows increase, driven by Europe, despite headwinds.

Investors' "risk on" posture was evident throughout the year in exchange-traded fund flows and was further amplified by the US presidential election in November.

Closed-end funds can borrow money to help finance the acquisition of their investment portfolio with the hope of enhancing shareholder returns.

Selecting a comparable fund on specified criteria.

Morningstar calculates Potential Capital Gains Exposure to give investors some idea of the potential tax consequences of their investment in a fund.

Index selection and weighting are the two main components of an index’s construction methodology, referring to how constituents are chosen and weighted within an index.

This guide covers several statistics that are derived from rates of return. They include what are commonly referred to as modern portfolio theory statistics as well as several others. They provide information about individual funds and are also used to c

Data Content Guide

The Morningstar Portfolio Product Involvement metrics measure a portfolio’s exposure to involvement in a range of products, services, and business activities.

To maximize in-retirement income, consider a combination of flexible portfolio withdrawals and delayed Social Security filing.

Each security in a fund portfolio is assigned a detailed asset classification, known as the Detail Type Id.