Kunal Kapoor, CFA, chief executive officer of Morningstar, addressed a full house at the University Club on May 16. His address reviewing the current business lines at Morningstar can be summed up in his title–Serving Investors of the Future: Ratings, ESG, and Research Innovations. Most would know Morningstar as a leader in research on mutual funds, the firm’s original product, but Kapoor defined the firm more broadly as a data gatherer and analytics firm. It seeks to deliver innovative data and research to benefit investors by leveraging technology which Kapoor described as an “enabler”. He provided the following key metrics for the firm:
- 24 million participants in retirement plans that use Morningstar products or services
- 12 million individual clients
- 80% of financial advisors touch Morningstar in some way
Kapoor went on to describe in summary Morningstar’s newer services that many people would not associate with the name. The first was research in individual equities. This began following the tech bubble when institutional investors began to question the objectivity of research from broker-dealers. The environment presented an opportunity for independent research analysis that Morningstar capitalized on. It now employs over 300 equity analysts making it one of the largest independent research providers. Philosophically, the firm takes a very long-term approach a la Warren Buffet. They have even adopted his moat concept to identify companies with defensive characteristics, and as a determinant in Morningstar’s fair value calculation. To judge macro-market conditions, they have developed their proprietary Global Market Barometer (which currently reads as very slightly overvalued).
More recently the firm has expanded into credit research. This was also a response to market upheaval when, after the crisis in housing-related securities, investors viewed research from dealers, as well as the major ratings firms, with skepticism. Kapoor expects credit research to be a growth driver in the future.
Morningstar uses its data and analytics in equity research to provide indices as well. The Wide Moat Focus Index selects for firms with the widest moats in their universe and weights them according to the scale of undervaluation relative to fair value.
Morningstar recently purchased the remaining equity in Pitchbook, a data analytics firm focused on the private equity and venture capital markets, in which it previously had a minority interest. This is a response to the shrinking public equity market that is encouraging more investors to look to the private markets for new investment ideas. Data gathering and analysis is more difficult in this arena, but Morningstar intends to make it an area of focus.
ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) investing is yet another new product area for Morningstar. Kapoor noted that this is more than the SRI (socially responsible investing) of the past which sought to eliminate certain out-of–favor companies or sectors (e.g., gamboling, tobacco, or alcohol). Rather, Morningstar scores companies on various ESG-related metrics to identify those more likely to succeed because of their adherence to responsible policies regarding their impact on the environment and their communities. The market for ESG investing is estimated at $23 trillion and covering 26% of retail investments. Additionally, we are at the beginning of a huge wealth transfer from older to younger investors with more women making investment decisions. Both groups demonstrate a preference for investment products with an ESG focus. To address this opportunity, Morningstar has partnered with Sustainalytics, a leader in ESG research and ratings, to score mutual funds and ETFs.
Finally, Kapoor spoke to Morningstar’s processes by describing their Robotic Process Automation (RPA) effort which seeks to automate rote tasks as much as possible to improve the timeliness and reliability of products and services. He believes there’s no activity that can’t be automated to some degree which offers the benefits of lower cost, increased scale, and improved compliance, all of which contribute to better outcomes for investors who use Morningstar’s products.