Methodology Documents

Morningstar Fee Level for Canada methodology FAQs

Morningstar leverages its vast database of mutual fund holdings to map the company-level data to portfolio holdings and calculate impact metrics at the portfolio level.

This notebook provides users with standardized measures of tracking performance and facilitates peer group comparisons.

The updated style box provides an intuitive visual representation of style that helps investors build better portfolios and monitor them more accurately.

Using the Sustainalytics ESG Impact Framework, Morningstar introduces new impact metrics to help investors evaluate a company's environmental and social impacts, as well as how these play out within an investor's portfolio.

New Zealand Classification System

In March 2004, Morningstar introduced the category classification methodology for Chinese mutual funds. Since that time, there have been significant developments in the Chinese financial market as well as an increase in both the quantity and variety of fund products.

The Morningstar Sustainability Rating is designed to support investors in evaluating the relative environmental, social, and governance risks within portfolios.

We present a wide range of analyses of empirical results from the Morningstar Portfolio Risk Scoring system.

This document explains the methodology behind Morningstar Portfolio Risk Score for evaluating portfolios and determining if they align well with the asset allocations of the Morningstar Target Allocation Indexes.

The Morningstar Rating for Funds Methodology provides the theoretical basis and calculation logic for the quantitative star rating.

A guide to the Morningstar classification system for Fixed Income, cash and cash equivalents. This methodology document addresses the Morningstar global fixed income classification.

Until now, we have been refreshing our flows models on an ad-hoc basis. Now we have implemented the fund flows model into Morningstar products so these insights can be gleaned in a live setting.

Morningstar identifies a Primary Share in Market for open-end funds and exchange-traded funds. This is a proprietary data point and the primary share class is identified by the application of a set of hierarchal criteria.

Methdology explaining the Morningstar portfolio level calculations for EU taxonomy

Using corporate legal filings in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada, Morningstar introduces new gender diversity metrics to help investors evaluate the gender diversity breakdown of officers and boards of directors for public companies as well as portfolios.

In November 2021, Morningstar will enhance the Sustainability Rating to cover not just corporate investments held by funds but also investments in countries, such as Sovereign Debt. This FAQ document aims to answer common questions about this most recent change.

A breakdown of Morningstar Analyst Ratings methodology changes.

We share details about this feature.

Methodology paper for Malaysia market

Morningstar Category classifications sorts portfolios into peer groups based on their holdings. The categories help investors identify the top performing funds, assess potential risk, and build well-diversified portfolios. Here is how those categories are decided upon and funds assigned to them.

This methodology is applied to HK MPF Funds.

Australian category classification system

In March 2004, Morningstar introduced the category classification methodology for Chinese mutual funds. Since that time, there have been significant developments in the Chinese financial market as well as an increase in both the quantity and variety of fund products.

The Morningstar Globe Rating for companies is a visual representation of the Sustainalytics ESG Risk Classification that will allow investors to easily identify securities with low ESG risk.

The Globe Rating for companies is a visual representation of the Sustainalytics ESG Risk Classification that will allow investors to easily identify securities with low ESG risk.

For funds available for sale in the United States.

Morningstar Risk Decomposition Methodology

In May 2021, Morningstar will introduce several data points that will make it easier for investors to use the pillar scores.

In this updated and expanded report, we build upon our original examination of synthetic exchange-traded funds in Europe, describing how the split between physical and synthetic ETFs in Europe has evolved in the past decade, citing the causes for the fall in popularity of the synthetic structure and why investors are again expressing interest in it for exposure to mainstream US equity indexes.

Morningstar Risk Model Historical Scenario Analysis

Crowd Sense helps investors gain a broader picture of investment popularity and places that popularity in the context of the underlying appeal of the investment.

The Disclosure grades issued in the Global Investor Experience study were based on the answers to 30 questions in a fixed-response survey completed by in-house, country-expert analysts, plus other inputs determined quantitatively by leveraging Morningstar's comprehensive and extensive global database of managed products.

The Morningstar ESG Commitment Level offers a qualitative, analyst-driven evaluation of investment strategies and asset managers from an environmental, social, and governance perspective.

The Morningstar Style Box™, sometimes referred to as the Equity Style Box, was introduced in 1992 to help investors and advisors determine the investment style of a fund. It provides an intuitive visual representation of style that helps investors build better portfolios and monitor them more precisely.

Mexico Category Classification System

Morningstar aims to meet growing regulatory demand by providing a method of ranking the universe of funds available for sale in a target market or regulatory jurisdiction.

As the field of sustainable investing matures, Morningstar continues to evolve its data, research and analytics to help investors assess the ESG risks and attributes in their portfolios.

As the field of sustainable investing matures, Morningstar continues to evolve its data, research, and analytics to help investors assess the environmental, social, and governance, or ESG, risks and attributes in their portfolios.

Morningstar has conducted qualitative, analyst-driven research on 529 plans since 2004. Since July 2012, we have expressed this research through the Morningstar Analyst Rating for 529 College-Savings Plans accompanied by written analysis. An essential complement to our database of investment information and our suite of quantitative research tools, such as the Morningstar Rating for 529 investment options, Morningstar's 529 plan analysis has always focused on helping individuals saving for education expenses make better investment decisions.

Fixed income investors can find their portfolios exposed to many different types of risk. These risks can affect whether their investment objectives are achieved. Portfolio breakdowns are a traditional means of analyzing risk. They have a critical shortcoming, however, in that they hide the way individual risks are interrelated. Fixed Income Exposure Analysis solves for this shortcoming by combining attribute breakdowns and calculating related risks. The relationships between different risk types are revealed, allowing investors to understand with greater precision and detail the contributors of risk and return that have an impact on portfolio performance.

Explanation of the methodology behind the Morningstar distribution analysis fields.

The Morningstar Category™ classification system for funds lets institutions, advisers and investors effectively compare like funds.

The Morningstar Category™ classification system for funds lets institutions, advisers and investors effectively compare like funds.

This methodology is applied to HK MPF Funds.

Morningstar Category classifications sorts portfolios into peer groups based on their holdings. The categories help investors identify the top performing funds, assess potential risk, and build well-diversified portfolios. Here is how those categories are

The Morningstar Fee Level for mutual funds was developed to help investors compare an investment vehicle's relative level of fees with those of similar investment vehicles. There are four different fee levels: Morningstar Fee Level--Broad, Morningstar Fee Level--Distribution, Morningstar Fee Level--Variable Products, and Morningstar Fee Level--Insurance Funds. This methodology applies to all U.S.-based mutual funds and subaccounts in Morningstar's database.

Morningstar is undertaking a multistage effort to assess the current landscape and educate the investment community on manager intentionality toward ESG, or sustainable investing. The first stage of this effort is the launch of two sets of intentionality indicators, one built around identifying intentionally sustainable strategies and the other focused on identifying the use of exclusionary screens.

Morningstar is undertaking a multistage effort to assess the current landscape and educate the investment community on manager intentionality toward ESG, or sustainable investing. The first stage of this effort is the launch of two sets of intentionality indicators, one built around identifying intentionally sustainable strategies and the other focused on identifying the use of exclusionary screens.

The Homochronic Recessed Smoothing Ensemble and Corrective Autoregression Transfer function methodology provides a general framework for electricity load and price forecasts.