Morningstar, Inc. (MORN) is a leading provider of financial information via Internet, software, and print-based products to individual, professional, and institutional investors. Its largest competitors in the financial information sector are Bloomberg, L.P., MarketWatch, Inc., and Thomson Reuters Corp. (TRI).
Morningstar provides detailed financial data on more than 621,000 stocks, mutual funds, and other investment products for individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers, retirement plan providers, and sponsors. It also delivers market data on more than 15 million indexes, equities, options, and commodities.
In delivering financial information to investors, Morningstar does business in the media, asset management, and publishing sectors. It is a respected and reliable source of investment analysis; it produces approximately 5,100 manager research analyst reports that are widely used by investors to determine the investment quality of mutual funds and exchange-traded funds. More detailed information is available through a subscription service, which is available at many public libraries. Morningstar’s revenue in 2019 was $1.18 billion, a year-over-year increase of 15.6%.
Key Takeaways
- Morningstar publishes financial data for investors covering approximately 621,000 stocks, mutual funds, ETFs, and other investment products.
- Three of Morningstar's key competitors are Bloomberg, L.P., MarketWatch, Inc., and Thomson Reuters Corp.
- Bloomberg is famous for its "Bloomberg Terminal," a computer interface and software system that helps large institutional investors track stock market activity and generate detailed reports.
- MarketWatch (which is owned by the same company that owns Barron's and The Wall Street Journal) caters to the individual investor with its wide array of portfolio building and tracking tools.
- Thomson Reuters' key strength is its ability to provide timely financial information and services to businesses and individual investors around the globe.
Bloomberg, L.P.
Bloomberg is a leader in the market for business media. In addition to its own syndicated news service and magazine, Bloomberg offers real-time financial news, market data, and analysis via Bloomberg Television, radio, and the Internet. In its analysis, the company targets certain areas of interest, namely the tech sector, politics, sustainability, and luxury. It's estimated the company generated more than $10 billion in revenue in 2019.
The Bloomberg Terminal, a platform that streams and integrates price data, financial information, and news to more than 325,000 customers worldwide as of 2020, accounts for a substantial contribution to Bloomberg’s revenue. With a service price upwards of $20,000, the typical customers for a Bloomberg Terminal are large institutional investors.
MarketWatch, Inc.
MarketWatch is a financial information site headquartered in New York City and is owned by Dow Jones & Company, which in turn is a property of News Corp. Dow Jones & Company also owns two well-known and respected financial publications, Barron's and The Wall Street Journal.
The MarketWatch website attracts more than 20 million visitors per month, making it among the most popular business website. In addition to business news, the site publishes original personal finance content. This includes stories, interviews, podcasts, videos, and market briefs. The site offers free investment data and portfolio management tools which allow investors to create online portfolios and track their favorite stocks. The tool includes an asset allocation chart and helps investors track performance on both a percentage and dollar basis. They also offer paid subscription products targeting retirement investing and ETF trading.
Thomson Reuters Corp.
In terms of market share, Thomson Reuters is one of Morningstar’s largest competitors. It is a market leader in the financial data sector, with a 2019 revenue of $5.9 billion. The company’s core strength is in providing financial information and services to businesses and individual investors across the world. Subscription sales numbering in the hundreds of thousands to its online financial services account for most of the company’s revenue. The company came into being in 2008 when Canadian information provider The Thomson Corporation acquired Reuters, a financial information company founded in London in 1851.
FAQs
Morningstar, Inc. (MORN) is a leading provider of financial information via Internet, software, and print-based products to individual, professional, and institutional investors. Its largest competitors in the financial information sector are Bloomberg, L.P., MarketWatch, Inc., and Thomson Reuters Corp.
Who is Morningstar's biggest competitor? ›
Morningstar, Inc. (MORN) is a leading provider of financial information via Internet, software, and print-based products to individual, professional, and institutional investors. Its largest competitors in the financial information sector are Bloomberg, L.P., MarketWatch, Inc., and Thomson Reuters Corp.
Which is better, Morningstar or Seeking Alpha? ›
Seeking Alpha's analysis is subjective, opinionated, and crowdsourced from thousands of contributors. It also has more ratings data and more tools for quantitative analysis. Morningstar's analysis is more objective and professional, and the same is true about its ratings. If you want opinions, choose Seeking Alpha.
Who are Morningstar's customers? ›
We do business with a wide range of customers that includes individuals and institutional investors in public and private markets, advisors and wealth managers, asset managers, fixed-income market participants, and retirement participants.
What is Morningstar known for? ›
Morningstar is a Chicago-based investment research firm that compiles and analyzes fund, stock, and general market data.
What is better than Morningstar? ›
Other important factors to consider when researching alternatives to Morningstar Direct include customer service. The best overall Morningstar Direct alternative is Bloomberg Terminal. Other similar apps like Morningstar Direct are Seeking Alpha, AlphaSense, Simply Wall St, and Ziggma.
What are Morningstar's ESG ratings? ›
Funds are given an ESG score based on evaluating the underlying companies' preparedness, disclosure, and performance. Companies within the fund's portfolio are graded on a scale of 0 to 100 that is relative to other companies within the global industry peer group.
Is Zacks better than Morningstar? ›
Zacks is much more quantitative in nature, while Morningstar uses fundamental analysis as a larger part of its recommendations. Morningstar appears to base its recommendations on an unbiased scale, while the Zacks Investment Research rating system is based solely on giving its members the most potential for profit.
Which stock advisor is the best? ›
Let's jump in!
- Best overall: Motley Fool Stock Advisor. ...
- Best quant-driven service: Alpha Picks. ...
- Best for portfolio management: The Barbell Investor. ...
- Best for a high-caliber team of analysts: Moby. ...
- Best for disruptive technology: Motley Fool Rule Breakers. ...
- Best for long-term swing trades: Ticker Nerd.
Other important factors to consider when researching alternatives to Seeking Alpha include reliability and ease of use. The best overall Seeking Alpha alternative is Morningstar Direct. Other similar apps like Seeking Alpha are Morningstar Advisor Workstation, Ziggma, Simply Wall St, and eMoney.
The Morning Star Company is a Woodland, California-based agribusiness and food processing company founded in 1970. The company was originally founded as a trucking outfit by Chris Rufer, who remains the sole owner.
Is Morningstar owned by S&P? ›
In 2022, Morningstar announced that it will acquire the S&P Global-owned Leveraged Commentary & Data (LCD), a company specializing in leveraged loan market data, for about $650 million.
Is Morningstar prestigious? ›
Today, Morningstar is one of the world's largest and most famous investment research companies. It has over 12,000 employees, including top industry analysts. The research team covers markets around the world, giving feedback on mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, stocks, bonds and other investments.
What makes Morningstar different? ›
Morningstar doesn't offer an abstract rating for any fund; everything is relative and risk-adjusted. All funds are compared to their peers, and all returns are measured against the level of risk that portfolio managers had to assume in order to generate those returns.
Why do people use Morningstar? ›
Best Investments
Learn about gold stocks with our data and independent analysis. Leveraging Morningstar's quantitative ratings, these stocks have what it takes to win in the long run. These funds receive our highest ratings: Gold, Silver, or Bronze. Morningstar Indexes are designed to help guide investors.
What was Morningstar old name? ›
It appeared in the King James Version of the Bible in Isaiah and before that in the Vulgate (the late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible), not as the name of a devil but as the Latin word lucifer (uncapitalized), meaning "the morning star", "the planet Venus", or, as an adjective, "light-bringing".
Who are the competitors of DBRS Morningstar? ›
Kroll Bond Rating Agency, Scope Group, India Ratings & Research - A Fitch Group Company, ICR Chile, and CRISIL are some of the 10 competitors of DBRS Morningstar.
What do YCharts do? ›
YCharts is an investment research platform that enables smarter investments and better client communications, serving a client base of more than 5,000 RIAs, financial planners, and asset managers who oversee more than $750 billion in assets.
Who are Marathon asset management competitors? ›
Top 8 Marathon Asset Management competitors
- Kennedy Lewis Investment Management.
- Constant.
- Diameter Capital.
- Pagaya.
- WhiteStar Asset Management.
- Global Credit Services.
- CIFC Asset Management.
- Blackstone.
