Morningstar, Inc.

Morningstar’s advantages span several classic moat sources. Intangible assets include widely adopted methodologies like the Star Rating and Medalist Rating, trusted equity and manager research, and the DBRS brand in credit.

High switching costs are evident in enterprise integrations of Morningstar Data, Direct, Advisor Workstation, and PitchBook, where workflows, APIs, and historical data become embedded. Network effects arise as more contributors and users enhance PitchBook’s private markets database, and as more securities and funds are covered in core databases.

Efficient scale applies to credit ratings, where the market supports a few agencies; DBRS is the world’s fourth largest by coverage. The pending CRSP acquisition would further strengthen indexes with benchmarked AUM exceeding 3 trillion, enhancing durable asset‑based economics.

Offsets include the possibility that generative AI reduces the perceived differentiation of some research outputs, and that large asset managers pursue self‑indexing or push down index fees.