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
Morningstar, Inc. (MORN) Stock Analysis
Recovery setup
Financial Services · Financial Data & Stock Exchanges
Wait for pullback to $172.00. Recent C-suite change — blocks BUY_NOW at $193.12. Engine's entry $172.00 (Ma50 Sticky) is the shallowest technical level that clears the 2:1 A.R:R minimum. Key risks: Analyst target reached - limited upside remaining; Leverage penalty (D/E 1.9): -1.0.
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
Wait for pullback to $172.00. Recent C-suite change — blocks BUY_NOW at $193.12. Engine's entry $172.00 (Ma50 Sticky) is the shallowest technical level that clears the 2:1 A.R:R minimum. Key risks: Analyst target reached - limited upside remaining; Leverage penalty (D/E 1.9): -1.0. Chart setup: Death cross but MACD improving, RSI 72. Growth is cheap relative to earnings, but the technical setup has not yet produced a breakout above resistance (PEG 0.30, quality 7.7/10, growth 7.6/10). Score 6.6/10, moderate confidence.
Passes 7/10 gates (positive momentum, clean insider activity, positive momentum, news events none recent, earnings proximity no date, 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 2026-07-30Recent Developments — Morningstar, Inc.
Latest news
- NEWS Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Beats Q2 CY2026 Sales Expectations - StockStory — StockStory positive
- NEWS Earnings Flash (MORN) Morningstar, Inc. Posts Q2 Adjusted EPS $3.10 per Share, vs. FactSet Est of $2.70 - marketscreener — marketscreener.com positive
- NEWS Morningstar Q2 Revenue Rises 9.6% to $663.2 Million - Quiver Quantitative — Quiver Quantitative positive
- NEWS MORN|Morningstar Inc|Price:194.090|Chg%:+11.660 - TradingKey — TradingKey positive
- NEWS Morningstar (MORN) Rebrands CRSP Market Indexes to Enhance Inves - GuruFocus — GuruFocus positive
Generated 2026-07-31T02:23:41Z.
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.
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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
Wait for pullback to $172.00. Recent C-suite change — blocks BUY_NOW at $193.12. Engine's entry $172.00 (Ma50 Sticky) is the shallowest technical level that clears the 2:1 A.R:R minimum. Key risks: Analyst target reached - limited upside remaining; Leverage penalty (D/E 1.9): -1.0. Chart setup: Death cross but MACD improving, RSI 72. Growth is cheap relative to earnings, but the technical setup has not yet produced a breakout above resistance (PEG 0.30, quality 7.7/10, growth 7.6/10). Target $200.23 (+3.7%), stop $154.97 (−24.6%), A.R:R -0.0:1. Score 6.6/10, moderate confidence.
Take-profit target: $200.23 (-0.5% upside). Target $200.23 (+3.7%), stop $154.97 (−24.6%), A.R:R -0.0:1. Stop-loss: $154.97.
Analyst target reached - limited upside remaining; Leverage penalty (D/E 1.9): -1.0; Value-trap signals (2/5): High leverage (D/E 1.9), Material insider selling (72 sells, 0.23% of cap).
Morningstar, Inc. trades at a P/E of 19.8 (forward 14.8). TrendMatrix value score: 6.9/10. Verdict: Buy (Wait for Entry).
9 analysts cover MORN with a consensus score of 4.0/5. Average price target: $226.
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.