Morningstar

Morningstar, Inc. is an American provider of independent investment research, data, and technology for the global financial services industry. Founded in 1984 by Joe Mansueto in Chicago, the firm began with mutual fund analysis and later expanded to cover equities, exchange-traded funds, and other investment products. It operates worldwide, offering services to individual investors, financial advisers, retirement plans, and institutions. The company is headquartered in Chicago and maintains offices across North America, Europe, and Asia.

Core offerings include research and analysis, fund and security ratings, and software platforms. The Morningstar Rating, a five-star system, assesses mutual funds and stocks based on risk-adjusted historical performance. Morningstar Analyst Ratings provide forward-looking opinions from the firm’s in-house analysts. Product platforms include Morningstar Direct, a data and analytics platform for institutions, and Morningstar Advisor Workstation and related tools for registered investment advisers. The company also operates Morningstar.com, a consumer-focused site with fund data, commentary, and investment tools. It provides index data through Morningstar Indexes and a range of data licenses.

Business model centers on subscriptions and licenses of research data and software to financial institutions, advisers, and other professional users. Morningstar’s assessments influence fund evaluation, portfolio construction, and product development, and its ratings and analyses are widely cited, though methodologies have been revised over time in response to feedback and market changes.

Morningstar went public in 2005 and is traded on the Nasdaq under the ticker MORN. It has grown through acquisitions and international expansion, maintaining a focus on independent, transparent investment research.