Morningstar, Inc.

What they do

Morningstar operates through five reportable segments: Morningstar Direct Platform, PitchBook, Morningstar Credit, Morningstar Wealth, and Morningstar Retirement; Sustainalytics and Morningstar Indexes sit in Corporate and All Other. The company sells licensed data feeds, desktop and web software, credit ratings, indexes, and investment management to asset managers, advisors, institutions, and individuals. Morningstar Wealth and Retirement together reported approximately $378.0 billion in assets under management and advisement as of December 31, 2025.

Revenue drivers

• Morningstar Direct Platform — Combines Morningstar Data, Morningstar Direct, and Morningstar Advisor Workstation, sold primarily as license-based subscriptions to asset managers and advisors; the company cited it as one of the largest contributors to second-quarter 2026 organic revenue growth.
• PitchBook — Private market data and insights delivered through the PitchBook platform, complemented by Morningstar public-equity data; named a top-three contributor to organic growth in the second quarter of 2026.
• Morningstar Credit — Credit ratings, research, data, and analytics; management described continued strength partly driven by private ratings activity, and it was the largest contributor to organic revenue growth in the second quarter of 2026.
• Morningstar Wealth and Morningstar Retirement — Investment management services to individuals and advisors, with approximately $378.0 billion in AUMA as of December 31, 2025; the second quarter included the announced collaboration to create public-private models with asset managers.

Recent performance

Second-quarter 2026 revenue rose 9.6% to $663.2 million, with organic revenue up 6.8% and up 8.2% excluding product sunsets. Operating income increased 28.4% to $160.6 million; adjusted operating income rose 22.7% to $175.9 million, and operating margin was 24.2% versus 20.7% a year earlier. Net income was $107.8 million, or $2.83 per diluted share, up 35.4%, with adjusted diluted EPS of $3.10 versus $2.40. Operating cash flow rose 57.3% to $155.7 million and free cash flow rose 96.3% to $122.5 million. Year to date, revenue was $1.3 billion, up 10.2%, with diluted EPS of $5.55.

Strategy

Management aims to make Morningstar essential to the investor workflow by building agentic workflows and AI-ready tools on its data, research, and intellectual property, distributed through integrations such as Model Context Protocol and intelligent agents. The company is expanding collaborations with model and enterprise technology providers and pursuing public-private market convergence, including the Morningstar Wealth collaboration to create public-private models and expanded research like the State of Semiliquid Funds report. In 2025 the company refreshed Morningstar Direct with browser access and AI features and launched Direct Advisory Suite for advisors. It acquired the Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP) in February 2026, which added intangible amortization expense in the second quarter.

Risks

• Client license consolidation — Morningstar Direct's annual revenue renewal rate fell to approximately 104% in 2025 from 106% in 2024, primarily from license consolidation with existing clients.
• Product sunsets — Organic revenue growth in the second quarter of 2026 was 6.8% as reported but would have been 8.2% excluding the sunsetting of Morningstar Office in Morningstar Wealth and the second-party opinions product in Sustainalytics.
• Interest rate exposure on debt — A 100 basis-point change in SOFR is estimated to have a $13.7 million annualized impact on interest expense, based on the principal balance and SOFR at June 30, 2026, with long-term debt of $1.71 billion.
• Foreign currency exposure — Morningstar has no derivative hedges; a 10% adverse currency move would reduce revenue by an estimated $9.5 million for the British pound and $8.7 million for the Canadian dollar over the six months ended June 30, 2026.

Outlook

Management said the company is continuing to deliver profitable growth with meaningful increases in operating and free cash flow, and is accelerating an ambitious strategy around agentic workflows and tools built on its data and research. It cited momentum in Morningstar Credit, partly from private ratings activity, and in Morningstar Wealth's public-private model collaboration. The company also said it is doubling down on helping investors navigate the convergence of public and private markets.