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Morningstar Premium Discount Details
This special Morningstar Premium trial offer is available for new members. Your trial begins immediately after you click on the promotion link, fill out the form,
and click on “Submit” button. Your credit card will be charged at the end of your free Morningstar Premium trial period. If you do not wish to continue, simply cancel
during your trial period, and you’ll owe nothing.
Morningstar is one of the most trusted stocks and investment research centers. Trusted by professionals
and retail investors, their mix of numbers-based quantitative assessments and big-picture analysis make
them a one-stop shop for anyone interested in advancing their trading and investing career.
Typically, a bit pricey at $249 annually, they’re offering a seven-day trial to see how great their
resources are and a $50 discount. $199 is an excellent deal for the extent of education and information
Morningstar provides, but see for yourself.
Online Brokers Offering Morningstar Reports
Morningstar Analysis
Morningstar is renowned for its analysis. Morningstar uses proprietary quantitative assessment tools and in-depth commentary from top analysts in the field. With increasingly complex economic landscapes and risk at all-time highs, seeing experts’ opinions of stock before a purchase is great for new and experienced investors. Morningstar’s analysis is exhaustive.
On the main page for each stock, Morningstar shows a quick breakdown of the most important details so you can check the company out briefly. They then move into a deep dive by a professional analyst that’s updated frequently, so you have the most current perspective on the investment.
A common way professional investors compare stock quality is, well, by using comparables (comps). Comps are a simple way to directly compare stocks in a similar industry against each other based on quantitative factors and ratios. Some ratios are complicated for retail investors to calculate, so Morningstar integrates them into a direct competitor comparison chart.
Morningstar is well-known for being unbiased and open to other perspectives, unlike many dogmatic stock analysis resources. So, in the interest of objectivity, they offer an analysis resource that shows a spectrum of opinions for both the bear and bull cases. This gives investors a broader picture of the total investment and resources to research the opposing case further.
Beyond these analyses, Morningstar shows full stock details so those inclined to research can form their own opinions. Morningstar shows financials, valuation metrics, performance, and many other data goldmines for an enterprising trader.
Ratings
We saw it briefly in the last portion, but Morningstar’s rating system is top-notch. Using proprietary technology and algorithmic assessment, Morningstar assigns a series of ratings to stocks and offers a recommendation system. The total rating breakdown is very detailed, but the main page for each stock gives a good overview.
In essence, Morningstar’s algorithm determines a fair value price for the stock and shows whether it trades at a discount (below fair value) or a premium (above fair value). This, performance, and other factors determine the star rating. In this case, AAPL’s fair price value is determined to be $130, trading at a 20% premium over that fair value; it’s assigned a two-star rating.
The 1-star price is essentially the highest end of what Morningstar considers reasonable, signaling investors to sell their stake as the stock is overpriced. The 5-star price signals a great buying opportunity at a significant undervaluation. Morningstar also accounts for volatility, shown here with a “High” uncertainty rating, meaning that the stock moves unpredictably and against fundamental expectations.
Screening Tools
Morningstar Investor offers a robust screening function that suits any investment strategy and supports many variables. The details are too much to cover, but we’ll look at an example.
We’ll assume that we’re value investors interested in fundamentally-strong firms that are undervalued. Using variables that support this strategy, Morningstar screens and generates a list to choose from in support of further research:
In this case, only one stock met our rigorous criteria, and price-to-book was the primary discriminator. A more risk-seeking investor interested in growth stocks can also find options to suit their strategy:
Portfolio Assessment
You can input all your portfolio holdings to see a big-picture analysis and insight into your investing. Morningstar supports direct linkage with your brokerage, so the data updates in real-time, and you won’t have to tediously input purchases and sales every time you tweak your portfolio. Within the portfolio tools, Morningstar shows the full breakdown of what you own and Morningstar’s rating for each security (if applicable):
One downside to this portfolio assessment is that it does not track a cost basis, and although it does support options and bonds, it is not very useful in analyzing those investments.
Morningstar’s portfolio X-Ray tool gives you an excellent broad-scope overview using pie charts to show the distribution across multiple metrics. This is a perfect tool for managing diversification.
These portfolio tools are invaluable for new investors to understand their investments' scope and for advanced investors to help ensure they’re on track with their preferred strategy.
Morningstar Premium Discount Conclusion
Morningstar also offers rapidly updated news and general market commentary and analysis, but its actual value to investors is the depth and breadth of research and portfolio management tools. While $249 annually is a good deal for the amount of analysis and resources you can access, a $50 discount is icing on the cake. And, with a seven-day trial, you can get to know the platform and system before committing.
Arthur Chachuna is professional personal finance blogger, and the owner of Brokerage-Review.com.
He has been an avid investor for 23 years, and has background in both applied math and programming.
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