CHICAGO, June 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Morningstar,
Inc. (Nasdaq: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment
research, has created the Morningstar StockInvestor Core Index, a
diversified portfolio of stocks from the Tortoise and Hare
portfolios(1) featured in the popular
Morningstar® StockInvestor™ newsletter,
edited by Morningstar Equities Strategist Paul Larson. The Tortoise
and Hare portfolios comprise high-quality companies that are
trading at sharp discounts to what Morningstar's equity research
analysts believe they're worth. Invesco PowerShares Capital
Management LLC, a leading global provider of exchange-traded funds
(ETFs), has licensed the StockInvestor Core Index to serve as the
new benchmark for the PowerShares Value Line Industry Rotation
Portfolio ETF. The ETF has been renamed the PowerShares Morningstar
StockInvestor Core Portfolio(2) to reflect the benchmark change,
and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol
"PYH."
"The new StockInvestor Core Index harnesses the proprietary
research and analyst expertise of Morningstar's equity research
team," said Sanjay Arya, director of
Morningstar Indexes. "This index spotlights Morningstar's
disciplined approach to investing and stock picking, using
fundamental analysis and the Morningstar Economic Moat™ Rating to
determine whether a company's stock price is fairly valued."
The StockInvestor Core Index holds almost all of the stocks from
the Tortoise and Hare portfolios. These portfolios focus on stocks
of relatively stable, high-quality businesses that are well
entrenched in the various markets in which they operate. Companies
in the Tortoise and Hare portfolios span an array of industries and
numerous geographic locales. When coming up with the ratings
critical in selecting stocks for the portfolios, Morningstar's
equity analysts conduct extensive research on industry dynamics,
competitive positions, and the sustainability of any advantages
that the businesses have.
"I have long advocated using the economic-moat concept in the
investment process," said Pat
Dorsey, director of equity research for Morningstar.
"Paul Larson, in conjunction with
Morningstar's approximately 100 research analysts, has successfully
implemented this investment strategy in the Tortoise and Hare model
portfolios whereby analysis and emphasis is placed on evaluating a
company's competitive advantage to determine both a company's
financial prospects and business risk."
To be eligible for inclusion in the StockInvestor Core Index, a
stock must have $100 million in
market capitalization, a Morningstar Economic Moat™ Rating of
Narrow or Wide, and a Morningstar Rating™ for stocks of at least 4
stars. The Morningstar StockInvestor Core Index will use the ticker
symbol "MSIC." Index values are calculated and disseminated in real
time.
Introduced in 2002, the Morningstar Indexes family includes a
broad range of global equity, fixed income, and commodity indexes
that are also combined to form an asset allocation index series.
Currently, 10 ETFs and 1 ETN track Morningstar Indexes. For more
information about all of Morningstar's indexes, visit
http://indexes.morningstar.com.
About Morningstar, Inc.
Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent
investment research in North
America, Europe,
Australia, and Asia. The company offers an extensive line of
Internet, software, and print-based products and services for
individuals, financial advisors, and institutions. Morningstar
provides data on approximately 350,000 investment offerings,
including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, along with
real-time global market data on more than 4 million equities,
indexes, futures, options, commodities, and precious metals, in
addition to foreign exchange and Treasury markets. The company has
operations in 20 countries and minority ownership positions in
companies based in two other countries.
(1) Neither the Tortoise or Hare portfolio are themselves an
investable product. The Tortoise and Hare portfolios are provided
to subscribers of the Morningstar StockInvestor newsletter
for informational and research purposes only.
(2) The PowerShares Morningstar StockInvestor Core Portfolio ETF
is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Morningstar, and
Morningstar makes no representation regarding the advisability of
investing in it.
Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements as that
term is used in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. These statements are based on our current expectations about
future events or future financial performance. Forward-looking
statements by their nature address matters that are, to different
degrees, uncertain, and often contain words such as "may," "could,"
"expect," "intend," "plan," "seek," "anticipate," "believe,"
"estimate," "predict," "potential," or "continue." These statements
involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause
the events we discussed not to occur or to differ significantly
from what we expected. For us, these risks and uncertainties
include, among others, general industry conditions and competition,
including current global financial uncertainty; the impact of
market volatility on revenue from asset-based fees; damage to our
reputation resulting from claims made about possible conflicts of
interest; liability for any losses that result from an actual or
claimed breach of our fiduciary duties; financial services industry
consolidation; a prolonged outage of our database and network
facilities; challenges faced by our non-U.S. operations; and the
availability of free or low-cost investment information. A more
complete description of these risks and uncertainties can be found
in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2009. If any of these
risks and uncertainties materialize, our actual future results may
vary significantly from what we expected. We do not undertake to
update our forward-looking statements as a result of new
information or future events.
©2010 Morningstar Inc. All rights reserved.
MORN-C
Media
Contacts:
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Margaret Kirch Cohen,
312-696-6383 or margaret.cohen@morningstar.com
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Nadine Youssef,
312-696-6601 or nadine.youssef@morningstar.com
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SOURCE Morningstar, Inc.