Morningstar Revamps Morningstar.ca; Plans to Launch Premium Membership in
September
TORONTO, June 16 /CNW/ - Morningstar Research Inc., a Canadian subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: MORN), has revamped Morningstar.ca, its investment information website for individual investors. The new features will be free to investors until September, when Morningstar plans to launch a Premium Membership service. New features on Morningstar.ca include:
- Independent equity research on North American stocks; - Morningstar Stewardship Grade(TM) for fund firms; and - Advanced stock, fund, and exchange-traded fund (ETF) screeners.
The company has also enhanced the Morningstar Quicktake(R) Reports and its basic screeners for stocks, funds, and ETFs, tools that will remain free to investors, along with the newly added real-time news feeds, which provide breaking market news from around the world including economic, stock-specific, and commodity-related news. Morningstar also plans to introduce improved portfolio management capabilities, advanced charting functionality, a retirement analysis calculator as well as additional ETF market monitoring tools on Morningstar.ca over the summer.
"This is a major re-launch of Morningstar.ca, one of Canada's leading financial information websites, incorporating the latest in Morningstar data, analysis, technology, and design. With more robust screening tools, an increased focus on stocks and ETFs, and enriched Morningstar Quicktake Reports, the website will support an even deeper level of investor research," said Scott Mackenzie, president and chief executive officer of Morningstar Canada.
Independent Equity Research
Morningstar Stock Analyst Reports evaluate companies using a proprietary methodology built on fundamental analysis that scrutinizes a company's sustainable competitive advantages. More than 100 Morningstar analysts cover approximately 1,700 North American stocks to produce objective and independent reports that identify a company's economic moat, its risks, and whether the stock price accurately reflects both. The Morningstar Rating(TM) for stocks is anchored on each analyst's estimate of a company's "fair value," which is what the analyst thinks the business is worth on a per-share basis. Analysts arrive at this value by forecasting how much excess cash, or "free cash flow," the firm will generate in the future, and then adjust that total for both timing and risk.
Morningstar Stewardship Grade(TM)
The Morningstar Stewardship Grade(TM) is designed to help investors identify and compare fund companies that do a good job - or a poor job - of aligning their interests with those of fund unitholders. Each fund company is assigned a letter grade from A (best) to F (worst) and grades are updated annually, although Morningstar reserves the right to change a firm's grade at any time. Morningstar analysts evaluate four components when assigning a score for each fund company: Corporate Culture, Manager Incentives, Fees, and Regulatory History. For more information about the new Stewardship Grade(TM), please refer to today's press release announcing its launch at http://global.morningstar.com/castewardshipgrade.
More Robust Fund, Stock, and ETF Screeners
New and improved fund, stock, and ETF screeners let investors surface investments that more closely meet their personal investing criteria. The screeners are interactive so that users can build a search based on a number of different data points including investment style exposure, performance, tax analysis, and the Morningstar Rating(TM). Searches can be saved and retrieved for future use.
Enhanced Morningstar Quicktake Reports
The Morningstar Quicktake Report for funds, stocks, and ETFs has been redesigned and enhanced to provide investors with more complete, accurate, and robust data in a clear and easy-to-understand format. Fund Quicktake reports feature interactive graphs and charts that allow investors to track performance and adjust time periods quickly and easily. Investors can stay on top of dividend and capital gains distributions, top portfolio holdings, tax analysis, and the most recent filings including prospectuses and annual reports.
The Stock Quicktake Report features ten tabs of data including an "Insiders View" that reports executive's buying and selling activity within the context of total shares held by that insider. Investors can also scrutinize a firm's financial statements in new ways. For example, investors can choose to view the income statement on a per-share basis or as a percent change from the previous period to uncover fundamental performance trends, or drill down to see research and development spending relative to cost of goods sold to evaluate a firm's critical spending priorities.
"Now more than ever, investors are seeking a reliable, trustworthy, and comprehensive source of financial information to help them navigate the economic recovery," Mackenzie said. "The addition of Morningstar Stock Analyst Reports to the website provides investors with clear and objective analysis on approximately 1,700 North American stocks by more than 100 Morningstar analysts. Investors looking for independent research on mutual fund companies can use the Morningstar Stewardship Grades to make meaningful decisions about where to invest. Other enhancements like the new and improved fund, stock, and ETF screeners will help investors scour our comprehensive database to uncover new investment ideas based on criteria like style, cost, risks and ratings, and performance."
Investors will have access to the new features on Morningstar.ca until September, when they become part of the Premium Membership service. Thereafter, a monthly membership fee of $24.95 plus applicable taxes or an annual membership of $249.95 plus taxes will apply.
About Morningstar
Morningstar Research Inc. is a Canadian subsidiary of Chicago-based Morningstar, Inc., a leading provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The company offers an extensive line of Internet, software, and print-based products and services for individuals, financial advisors, and institutions. Morningstar provides data on approximately 350,000 investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, along with real-time global market data on more than 4 million equities, indexes, futures, options, commodities, and precious metals, in addition to foreign exchange and Treasury markets. The company has operations in 20 countries and minority ownership positions in companies based in two other countries.
(C) 2010 Morningstar, Inc. All rights reserved.
For further information: Media Contact: Isabell Grygianiec, +1 416 484-7868 or [email protected]
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