Morningstar is a high-quality franchise trading at a compelling discount — a forward earnings multiple of 12.8x and a price-to-growth ratio of 0.26 — but a confirmed technical downtrend and a death cross currently block entry, requiring patience for a technical reversal before the valuation opportunity can be captured.
Thesis pillars
- Deep Value Growth Discount↓Deteriorating
- Wide Moat High Returns→Stable
- Consistent Earnings Beat Streak↑Improving
- +2 more pillars — see the Why tab for full reasoning
Pillars as of Jul 3, 2026, based on the 10-K filed Feb 13, 2026· older than 90 days
Morningstar, Inc. (MORN) Stock Analysis
Financial Services · Financial Data & Stock Exchanges
Hold if already holding. Not a fresh buy at $244.25, but acceptable to hold if already in. Reasons: Analyst target reached - limited upside remaining; Near 52-week high (0.3% away).
Morningstar, Inc. provides independent investment data, research, ratings, and investment management services through five segments — Morningstar Direct Platform, PitchBook, Morningstar Credit, Morningstar Wealth, and Morningstar Retirement. The company managed $378.0 billion in... Read more
Hold if already holding. Not a fresh buy at $244.25, but acceptable to hold if already in. Reasons: Analyst target reached - limited upside remaining; Near 52-week high (0.3% away). Chart setup: No clear chart pattern; technical signals are mixed. Maintain position. Not compelling to add more. Score 6.2/10, moderate confidence.
Passes 6/8 gates (positive momentum, clean insider activity, news events none recent, earnings proximity 98d clear, semi cycle peak clear, materials cycle peak clear). Fails on favorable risk/reward ratio. Suitability: moderate.
About Morningstar, Inc.
About Morningstar, Inc.
Morningstar, Inc. managed $378.0 billion in assets under management and advisement (AUMA) as of December 31, 2025 — $305.2 billion through Morningstar Retirement and $72.8 billion through Morningstar Wealth's Investment Management offerings — alongside data, research, and ratings products delivered through five segments: Morningstar Direct Platform, PitchBook, Morningstar Credit, Morningstar Wealth, and Morningstar Retirement.
Morningstar earns revenue through multiple models across its segments: license-based data and software fees from Morningstar Direct Platform, with an estimated 101%-104% annual revenue renewal rate across its Data, Direct, and Advisor Workstation products in 2025; user-based licensing for the PitchBook platform, which served approximately 10,200 client accounts and 113,451 licensed users as of December 31, 2025; issuance-based and recurring surveillance fees for Morningstar Credit's DBRS ratings business, which rated more than 4,000 issuers and 60,000 securities; asset-based fees on the $378.0 billion in AUMA across Morningstar Wealth and Morningstar Retirement; and subscription and advertising revenue from Morningstar Investor and Morningstar.com. Key competitors include Bloomberg, FactSet, and LSEG's Refinitiv across data and analytics, Moody's Ratings, S&P Global Ratings, Fitch Ratings, and Kroll Bond Rating in credit ratings, and BlackRock's Preqin in private markets data.
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Morningstar's credit ratings business highlights a structural conflict-of-interest risk inherent to the issuer-pay model: DBRS receives payment from the issuers whose debt it rates rather than from the investors who consume the ratings, a dynamic the 10-K acknowledges may lead to perceptions that its research and ratings are not independently determined. The same tension extends to Morningstar's fund and ETF ratings, where the company both charges licensing fees to the asset managers it rates and offers competing investment advisory products, exposing it to claims that it is both the referee and the player in the same industry.
See also: Financial Services · Financial Data & Stock Exchanges
From Morningstar, Inc.'s most recent 10-K filing, extracted July 3, 2026.
Recent developments
updated Oct 28, 2026Recent Developments — Morningstar, Inc.
Latest news
- NEWS Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) beats Q3 2026 sales expectations - StockStory — StockStory Oct 28, 2026 positive
- NEWS Earnings Flash (MORN) Morningstar, Inc. Posts Q3 Adjusted EPS $3.48 per Share, vs. FactSet Est of $2.88 - marketscreener — marketscreener.com Oct 28, 2026 positive
- NEWS Earnings Flash (MORN) Morningstar, Inc. Posts Q3 Adjusted EPS $3.48 per Share, vs. FactSet Est of $2.88 - www.marketscre — www.marketscreener.com Oct 28, 2026 positive
- NEWS Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) beats Q3 2026 sales expectations - TradingView — TradingView Oct 28, 2026 positive
- NEWS Morningstar earnings in focus as AI product launches face test By Investing.com - Investing.com Nigeria — Investing.com Nigeria Oct 28, 2026 neutral
Latest item Oct 28, 2026 · Generated 2026-11-05T11:34:08Z.
Upcoming dated catalysts
Thesis
Key Metrics
Quality Signals
Options Flow
Concentration Risks(10-K Item 1A)
- MEDIUMProductMRA10-K Item 1: 'MRA represented more than half of Morningstar Retirement AUMA and accounted for the majority of revenue in 2025.'
- MEDIUMProductfiduciary services10-K Item 1: 'Fiduciary services was the second-largest Morningstar Retirement product by revenue in 2025, accounting for approximately a quarter of overall AUMA.'
Material Events(8-K, last 90d)
- 2026-05-07Item 5.02LOWDirector Gail Landis did not stand for re-election at the May 7, 2026 Annual Shareholders' Meeting after reaching mandatory retirement age under company policy; board size was set at 10 directors following the meeting.SEC filing →
Model-generated analysis — not investment advice. Not a registered investment advisor. Past performance does not guarantee future results. How we score · Editorial policy
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Rating Breakdown
1 floor-breaker
Technicals below the gate floor. Component breakdown shows what dragged the score down.static
Price Targets
Position Sizing
Risk Alerts
Earnings
Verdict History
Frequently Asked Questions
Hold if already holding. Not a fresh buy at $244.25, but acceptable to hold if already in. Reasons: Analyst target reached - limited upside remaining; Near 52-week high (0.3% away). Chart setup: No clear chart pattern; technical signals are mixed. Maintain position. Not compelling to add more. Analyst target $209.10 reached (−14.4%), stop $229.35 (−6.5%), A.R:R -1.0:1. Score 6.2/10, moderate confidence.
Analyst target $209.10 reached (−14.4% from $244.25); no take-profit level is published. Analyst target $209.10 reached (−14.4%), stop $229.35 (−6.5%), A.R:R -1.0:1. Stop-loss: $229.35.
Analyst target reached - limited upside remaining; Near 52-week high (0.3% away); Leverage penalty (D/E 1.8): -1.0.
Morningstar, Inc. trades at a P/E of 21.4 (forward 16.7). TrendMatrix value score: 6.4/10. Verdict: Hold.
9 analysts rate MORN, with a consensus score of 4.0/5. 3 analysts publish price targets averaging $246.
What does Morningstar, Inc. do?Morningstar, Inc. provides independent investment data, research, ratings, and investment management services through...
Morningstar, Inc. provides independent investment data, research, ratings, and investment management services through five segments — Morningstar Direct Platform, PitchBook, Morningstar Credit, Morningstar Wealth, and Morningstar Retirement. The company managed $378.0 billion in assets under management and advisement as of December 31, 2025 and served customers including asset managers, financial advisors, private capital investors, and individual investors, with Morningstar DBRS ranked among the top four global credit rating agencies.