Think Like a Market Strategist: Four Tips on Researching Investments with Morningstar Investor's Tools

Morningstar.com has so much to offer to its subscribers, but where does a curious investor start? Dave Sekera, Morningstar's US Market Strategist, recently gave Morningstar Investor subscribers a sneak peek into how he navigates the site to prepare market forecasts and conduct research for his weekly podcast, The Morning Filter.

In this 11-minute video, Dave explains how to use the homepage and Markets hub, Investor subscriber-exclusive Screener, Watchlist, and Charting tools, along with analyst reports and editorial coverage to make informed investing decisions. We’ll wrap up with a peek into how the Notifications feed and emails can help you stay on top of it all.

Don’t have time to watch the video? Here are four key takeaways that you can put into practice right away.

1. Utilize Morningstar's US Market Barometer and sector valuation tools

Start by reviewing Morningstar's US Market Barometer in the upper left-hand corner of the homepage. This breaks the market down by the Morningstar Style Box, so you can see how the market is performing by investment style and capitalization. Click on any of the Style Box quadrants to see their performance over time and to identify undervalued or overvalued market segments.

Next, head over to the Market Fair Value page, which offers a sector valuation tool to help you determine whether you want to over- or under-weight certain areas of your portfolio. This page also helps you utilize our research on mutual funds, ETFs, and individual stocks to determine what you want to invest in.

2. Screen stocks for investment opportunities

By using Morningstar’s Screener tool, investors can filter stocks by market cap, star ratings, economic moat, and total yield, among many other key criteria that can help in selecting stocks.

Dave recommends filtering by four- and five-star stocks that might rally on positive earnings reports, or by one- and two-star stocks that may be vulnerable to negative surprises. He also provides a timely example of screening by defense and industrial sectors for trade-related opportunities, underscoring the importance of aligning potential stock picks with broader market developments and trends.

3. Explore new research and analyst reports

Reading newly published content from specific authors, like those providing economic forecasts or market trends, can also provide critical context to help investors understand and anticipate market shifts.

When considering specific securities, Morningstar Investor subscribers have exclusive access to company reports, where you can find stock analyst notes to help you evaluate the promise of a given security.

4. Get the latest notifications on investments that matter to you

Your notifications feed (and notification emails you can opt into) provides a digest of timely updates about the securities that matter most to you: anything you’re monitoring in a watchlist, plus the ones already in your portfolio. By opting in to receiving email notifications, you can get the latest changes to Morningstar ratings, current and upcoming earnings releases, and new reports from our analysts, all delivered to your inbox.

You can receive notifications only when you've created a watchlist or set up your portfolio in Morningstar Investor. Learn how to create a watchlist and create a portfolio in our Help Center.

If you're not currently a Morningstar Investor subscriber, start your free trial today.