Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN)

Morningstar, Inc. is a leading global provider of independent investment insights. The company combines data research design and technology to create products that convey complex investment information clearly. It serves investors through data platforms investment management services indexes and credit rating solutions. Its mission is to empower investor success by reducing friction in decision making and lowering costs.

The company generates revenue through three primary streams license based asset based and transaction based. License based revenue comes from subscriptions to data platforms such as Morningstar Direct and PitchBook as well as from index licensing and credit rating data feeds. Asset based revenue is earned from fees on assets under management and advisement in its wealth and retirement businesses. Transaction based revenue includes fees from credit rating assignments and other one time services.

The company operates through the following segments: Morningstar Direct Platform PitchBook Morningstar Credit Morningstar Wealth and Morningstar Retirement.

• Morningstar Direct Platform provides comprehensive data research and investment analysis tools. It includes Morningstar Data Morningstar Direct and Morningstar Advisor Workstation which deliver access to managed investment public equity and fixed income data via data feeds APIs and AI integrations. The platform supports portfolio managers product developers marketers advisors and analysts with efficient workflows.

• PitchBook offers private market data research and analytics through its platform and direct data products. It tracks millions of private and public companies investors funds deals loans and executives and provides research reports performance measurement tools and AI enabled workflows. Its clients include private equity venture capital asset managers limited partners investment banks and corporations.

• Morningstar Credit delivers credit ratings research data and analytics for global credit markets. It comprises Morningstar DBRS which issues ratings on financial institutions corporates sovereigns and structured finance and Morningstar Credit Analytics which provides data feeds and analytical tools. Revenue comes from rating assignments surveillance and data licensing.

• Morningstar Wealth combines investment management services with individual investor platforms. It offers professionally managed model portfolios the International Wealth platform and the Morningstar Investor and Morningstar.com media sites. Revenue is primarily asset based on assets under management and subscription fees from individual investors.

• Morningstar Retirement provides managed retirement accounts fiduciary services and custom model solutions for retirement plan sponsors and participants. It offers retirement manager white labeled and advisor managed accounts as well as fiduciary services and custom target date models. Revenue is asset based depending on the level of service and assets under management.

Morningstar holds a distinctive position in the financial information industry by combining investment data research investment management index construction and credit rating capabilities within a single firm. Its competitors vary by business line and include Bloomberg FactSet LSEG and S&P Global for data and analytics BlackRock Vanguard and State Street for investment management Moody’s Investors Service S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings for credit research FTSE Russell MSCI and S&P Dow Jones Indices for index products and MSCI ISS and Sustainalytics peers for ESG data. The company’s advantages stem from its proprietary data depth its integrated technology platforms its strong brand reputation and its focus on delivering AI ready solutions that simplify complex workflows for investors.

The company serves a diverse set of customers including asset managers wealth advisors individual investors institutional owners private equity and venture capital firms credit issuers retirement plan providers and financial intermediaries. While no single customer accounts for more than a small fraction of revenue the breadth of its client base spans North America Europe Asia Pacific and other regions.