Morningstar (Nasdaq: MORN) posts Q1 2026 growth with stronger margins and major buybacks
Filing Impact
Filing Sentiment
Form Type
8-K
Rhea-AI Filing Summary
Morningstar, Inc. reported strong first-quarter 2026 results with broad-based growth and margin expansion. Revenue rose 10.8% to $644.8 million, or 7.6% on an organic basis. Operating income increased 36.6% to $155.9 million, and adjusted operating income grew 31.9% to $178.6 million, lifting the adjusted operating margin to 27.7% from 23.3%.
Diluted net income per share climbed 50.0% to $2.73, while adjusted diluted EPS increased 42.6% to $3.18. Morningstar Credit led segment growth with 38.4% higher revenue and a 40.8% adjusted operating margin. Morningstar Retirement revenue grew 17.9% with a 51.0% adjusted margin, and Morningstar Direct Platform and PitchBook continued to drive scale, despite softer growth at PitchBook.
Free cash flow declined 8.8% to $53.6 million as capital expenditures rose, and debt increased to $1,712.8 million partly to fund the Center for Research in Security Prices acquisition. Morningstar returned substantial capital, repurchasing 1.72 million shares for $300.0 million and paying $19.9 million in dividends.
Positive
- Strong top-line and earnings growth: Q1 2026 revenue rose 10.8% to $644.8 million, while diluted EPS increased 50.0% to $2.73 and adjusted diluted EPS grew 42.6% to $3.18.
- Margin expansion driven by key segments: Adjusted operating margin improved from 23.3% to 27.7%, helped by 38.4% revenue growth and a 40.8% adjusted operating margin at Morningstar Credit and a 51.0% margin at Morningstar Retirement.
Negative
- Higher leverage and softer free cash flow: Total debt increased from $1,072.6 million to $1,712.8 million and free cash flow declined 8.8% to $53.6 million due to acquisition spending and higher capital expenditures.
- Pressure in certain businesses: Morningstar Wealth revenue fell 5.4% to $58.0 million, PitchBook’s adjusted operating margin declined to 29.9%, and Morningstar Sustainalytics revenue decreased 7.6% on a reported basis.
Insights
Morningstar delivered double-digit growth, sharp margin expansion, and sizable buybacks, offset by higher leverage.
Morningstar posted Q1 2026 revenue of $644.8 million, up 10.8%, with organic growth of 7.6%. Operating income increased 36.6% to $155.9 million as operating expenses rose only 4.7%, driving operating margin up to 24.2%. Adjusted operating income rose to $178.6 million, and adjusted margin reached 27.7%.
Profitability gains reflected particularly strong performance at Morningstar Credit, where revenue grew 38.4% to $101.0 million and adjusted operating margin improved to 40.8%. Morningstar Retirement also performed well with revenue up 17.9% and a 51.0% adjusted margin. PitchBook and Morningstar Direct Platform continued to grow, though PitchBook margins compressed modestly as the company invested in advertising, compensation, and AI-enabled capabilities.
Cash generation remained solid with $91.5 million of operating cash flow, but free cash flow slipped 8.8% to $53.6 million due to higher capital expenditures, including office refreshes. Capital allocation was active: Morningstar increased debt to $1,712.8 million, spent $359.6 million on the CRSP acquisition, repurchased $300.0 million of stock, and paid $19.9 million in dividends. The leverage ratio moved to 2.0x, indicating a more leveraged but still managed balance sheet supported by expanding earnings.
8-K Event Classification
5 items: 0.0, 0.9, 2.02, 7.01, 9.01
5 items
Item 0.0
Item 0.0
Item 0.9
Item 0.9
Item 2.02
Results of Operations and Financial Condition
Financial
Disclosure of earnings results, typically an earnings press release or preliminary financials.
Item 7.01
Regulation FD Disclosure
Disclosure
Material non-public information disclosed under Regulation Fair Disclosure, often investor presentations or guidance.
Item 9.01
Financial Statements and Exhibits
Exhibits
Financial statements, pro forma financial information, and exhibit attachments filed with this report.
Key Figures
Revenue: $644.8 million
Organic revenue: $617.8 million
Operating income: $155.9 million
+5 more
8 metrics
Revenue
$644.8 million
Q1 2026; up 10.8% year over year
Organic revenue
$617.8 million
Q1 2026; 7.6% organic growth
Operating income
$155.9 million
Q1 2026; up 36.6% from $114.1 million
Adjusted operating income
$178.6 million
Q1 2026; up 31.9% from $135.4 million
Diluted EPS
$2.73
Q1 2026; 50.0% increase versus $1.82
Free cash flow
$53.6 million
Q1 2026; down 8.8% from $58.8 million
Total debt
$1,712.8 million
As of March 31, 2026; up from $1,072.6 million at Dec. 31, 2025
Share repurchases
$300.0 million
Q1 2026; 1,723,412 shares repurchased
Key Terms
organic revenue, adjusted operating income, free cash flow, assets under management and advisement (AUMA), +2 more
6 terms
organic revenue financial
"Reported revenue increased 10.8% to $644.8 million compared to the prior-year period; organic revenue increased 7.6%."
Organic revenue is the sales a company generates from its regular business activities after stripping out extra effects like revenue added or lost from buying or selling other businesses and from currency swings. Think of it as measuring how much a store’s own customers increased spending, not growth from opening new stores or temporary price moves; investors use it to judge the true strength and sustainability of a company’s core demand.
adjusted operating income financial
"Adjusted operating income was $178.6 million, an increase of 31.9%."
Adjusted operating income is a company's profit from its main activities, excluding certain one-time or unusual costs and gains. It helps investors see how well the business is performing in its normal operations, without distractions from rare events or expenses. This way, they get a clearer picture of the company’s true profitability.
free cash flow financial
"Free cash flow decreased 8.8% to $53.6 million in the first quarter of 2026."
Free cash flow is the amount of money a company has left over after paying all its expenses and investing in its business, like buying equipment or updating facilities. It shows how much cash is available to reward shareholders, pay down debt, or save for future growth. This helps investors understand if a company is financially healthy and able to grow.
assets under management and advisement (AUMA) financial
"Reported assets under management and advisement (AUMA) decreased 5.3% to $60.4 billion compared with the prior-year period."
unadjusted operating margin financial
"First-quarter operating margin was 24.2%, compared with 19.6% in the prior-year period."
non-GAAP financial measures regulatory
"These non-GAAP measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies and should not be considered an alternative to any measure of performance promulgated under GAAP."
Non-GAAP financial measures are numbers companies use to show their financial performance that exclude certain expenses or income. They help investors see how the company might perform without one-time costs or other unusual items, giving a different perspective from official reports. However, since they can be adjusted, they don’t always tell the full story and should be looked at alongside standard financial figures.
Earnings Snapshot
Revenue: $644.8 million
Q1 2026
Revenue
$644.8 million
10.8% year-over-year
Operating income
$155.9 million
36.6% year-over-year
Adjusted operating income
$178.6 million
31.9% year-over-year
Diluted EPS
$2.73
50.0% year-over-year
Adjusted diluted EPS
$3.18
42.6% year-over-year
Free cash flow
$53.6 million
-8.8% year-over-year
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
______________________________
FORM 8-K
______________________________
CURRENT REPORT
Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): April 29, 2026
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation) | (Commission File Number) | (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) | ||||||||||||||||||
(Address of principal executive offices) | (Zip Code) | |||||||||||||||||||
( (Registrant’s telephone number, including area code) | ||||||||||||||||||||
N/A | ||||||||||||||||||||
(Former name or former address, if changed since last report) __________________________________ | ||||||||||||||||||||
Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933 (§230.405 of this chapter) or Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (§240.12b-2 of this chapter).
Emerging growth company ¨
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ¨
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
Title of Each Class | Trading Symbol | Name of Each Exchange on Which Registered | ||||||
Item 2.02. Results of Operations and Financial Condition.
On April 29, 2026, Morningstar, Inc. (the "Company" or "we") issued a press release announcing its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2026 (the "Earnings Release"). A copy of the Earnings Release is attached hereto as Exhibit 99.1 and incorporated herein by reference.
Additionally, on April 29, 2026, the Company published a Supplemental Presentation and a Shareholder Letter. A copy of the Supplemental Presentation and Shareholder Letter are attached hereto as Exhibits 99.2 and 99.3, respectively, and incorporated herein by reference.
The Earnings Release, Supplemental Presentation, and Shareholder Letter shall each be deemed furnished, not filed, for purposes of this Current Report on Form 8-K (this "Report").
Item 7.01. Regulation FD Disclosure
The information set forth under Item 2.02, "Results of Operations and Financial Condition" is incorporated herein by reference.
Information or documents on the Company's website referred to in this Report or in the exhibits to this Report are not incorporated by reference into this Report.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This Report 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 "aim," "committed," "consider," "estimate," "future," "goal," "is designed to," "maintain," "may," "might," "objective," "ongoing," "could," "expect," "intend," "plan," "possible," "potential," "seek," "anticipate," "believe," "predict," "prospects," "continue," "strategy," "strive," "will," "would," "determine," "evaluate," or the negative thereof, and similar expressions. These statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause the events we discuss not to occur or to differ significantly from what we expect. For us, these risks and uncertainties include, among others, failing to achieve the anticipated benefits of the Center for Research in Security Prices, LLC (CRSP) acquisition; failing to maintain and protect our brand, independence, and reputation; failing to prevent and/or mitigate cybersecurity events and the failure to protect confidential information, including personal information about individuals; changing economic and market conditions, including prolonged volatility, recessions, or downturns affecting the financial, data and software sectors and global financial markets, fluctuating interest rates, and the impacts of global trade policies, may negatively impact our financial results, including those of our asset-based businesses; compliance failures, regulatory action, or changes in or expansion of laws applicable to our regulated businesses; failing to innovate or streamline our product and service offerings or meet or anticipate our clients’ changing needs; impact of artificial intelligence technologies on our business and reputation, as well as legal and reputational risks as they are incorporated into our products and tools; failing to detect errors in our products or methodology of our products performing improperly due to defects, malfunctions or similar problems; failing to recruit, develop, and retain qualified employees; failing to scale our operations and increase productivity in order to implement our business plans and strategies, including failing to manage costs related thereto; liability for any losses that result from errors in our automated advisory tools or errors in the use of the information and data we collect; inadequacy of our operational risk management
and business continuity programs to address materially disruptive events; our strategic transactions, acquisitions, divestitures and investments in companies or technologies failing to yield expected business or financial benefits, negatively impacting our operating results and our ability to deliver long-term value to shareholders; triggering events for impairment of goodwill or assets; failing to maintain growth across our businesses due to changes in geopolitics and the regulatory landscape; failing to recognize deferred revenue; liability relating to the information and data we collect, store, use, create, and distribute or the reports that we publish or are produced by our software products; the potential adverse effect of our indebtedness (and rising interest rates) on our cash flow and financial and operational flexibility; liability, regulatory scrutiny, costs and reputational risks relating to environmental, social, and governance considerations; our dependence on third-party service providers in our operations; inadequacy of our insurance coverage; challenges in accounting for tax complexities in the global jurisdictions we operate in could materially affect our tax obligations and tax rates; the potential impact of vendor consolidation and clients' strategic decisions to replace our products and services with in-house products and services; our ability to build and maintain short-term and long-term shareholder value and pay dividends to our shareholders; our ability to repurchase shares of our common stock; our ability to maintain existing business and renewal rates and to gain new business; the impact of recently issued accounting pronouncements on our consolidated financial statements and related disclosure; volatility in our stock price due to market conditions; any future sales of common stock and fluctuations in our operating results; and failing to protect our intellectual property rights or claims of intellectual property infringement against us. A more complete description of these risks and uncertainties, among others, can be found in our filings with the SEC, including our most recent Report on Form 10-K. If any of these risks and uncertainties materialize, our actual future results and other future events may vary significantly from what we expect. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law. You are, however, advised to review any further disclosures we make on related subjects, and about new or additional risks, uncertainties and assumptions in our future filings with the SEC on Forms 10-K, 10-Q, and 8-K.
Item 9.01. Financial Statements and Exhibits.
(d) Exhibits:
| Exhibit No. | Description | |||||||
99.1 | Earnings Release dated April 29, 2026. | |||||||
99.2 | Supplemental Presentation dated April 29, 2026. | |||||||
99.3 | Shareholder Letter dated April 29, 2026. | |||||||
| 104 | The cover page from this Current Report on Form 8-K formatted in Inline XBRL (included as Exhibit 101). | |||||||
_____________________________________________________________________________________
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
| MORNINGSTAR, INC. | ||||||||
| Date: April 29, 2026 | By:/s/ Michael Holt | |||||||
| Name: Michael Holt | ||||||||
| Title: Chief Financial Officer | ||||||||
News Release22 West Washington Street Telephone: +1 312 696-6000
Chicago Facsimile: +1 312 696-6009
Illinois 60602
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Morningstar, Inc. Reports First-Quarter 2026 Financial Results
CHICAGO, April 29, 2026 - Morningstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment insights, reported increased revenues in the first quarter of 2026 with sustained momentum in profitability growth.
“In the first quarter, we created significant value, growing operating and adjusted operating income by more than 30%, while reducing shares outstanding by roughly 4% for a total of more than 10% over the past 12 months,” said Kunal Kapoor, Morningstar’s CEO. “On the product front, we introduced new proprietary intellectual property, including PitchBook's daily valuation estimates for venture capital-backed companies and public-market-style research on leading private firms.”
The Company's quarterly shareholder letter provides more context on its quarterly results and business performance and can be found at shareholders.morningstar.com.
First-Quarter 2026 Financial Highlights
•Reported revenue increased 10.8% to $644.8 million compared to the prior-year period; organic revenue increased 7.6%.
•Reported operating income increased 36.6% to $155.9 million; adjusted operating income increased 31.9%.
•Diluted net income per share increased 50.0% to $2.73; adjusted diluted net income per share increased 42.6% to $3.18.
•Cash provided by operating activities was roughly flat at $91.5 million; free cash flow decreased 8.8% to $53.6 million.
•Share repurchases totaled 1,723,412 shares for $300.0 million.
First-Quarter 2026 Results
Revenue increased 10.8% to $644.8 million on a reported basis and 7.6% on an organic basis versus the prior-year period. Morningstar Credit, Morningstar Direct Platform, and PitchBook were the largest contributors to organic revenue growth.
Operating expense increased 4.7% to $489.8 million versus the prior-year period. The largest contributor to higher operating expense was a $7.6 million increase in compensation costs, primarily driven by unfavorable currency translation related to US dollar weakness. Higher amortization costs, primarily due to the acquisition of the Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP), which closed in the quarter, and increased technology infrastructure costs also contributed.
First-quarter operating income increased 36.6% to $155.9 million. Adjusted operating income was $178.6 million, an increase of 31.9%. First-quarter operating margin was 24.2%, compared with 19.6% in the prior-year period. Adjusted operating margin was
27.7% in the first quarter of 2026, versus 23.3% in the prior-year period. The acquisition of CRSP was accretive to adjusted operating margin in the quarter.
Net income in the first quarter of 2026 was $107.1 million, or $2.73 per diluted share, compared with net income of $78.5 million, or $1.82 per diluted share, in the prior-year period, an increase of 50.0% on a per diluted share basis. Adjusted diluted net income per share increased 42.6% to $3.18 in the first quarter of 2026, compared with $2.23 in the prior-year period.
The Company's effective tax rate was 24.4% in the first quarter of 2026 compared to 25.9% in the prior-year period.
Segment Highlights
Morningstar Direct Platform
Morningstar Direct Platform contributed $215.2 million to consolidated revenue and $16.0 million to consolidated revenue growth, with revenue increasing 8.0% compared to the prior-year period, or 5.0% on an organic basis. Higher revenue was primarily driven by Morningstar Data and Morningstar Direct. The increase in Morningstar Data was driven in part by expansion with existing clients supported by new use cases, with continued strength in managed investment data and Morningstar Essentials products. Morningstar Direct growth reflected increased revenue per license and expansion with existing clients in reporting solutions, despite a decline of 1.8% in Direct licenses compared with the prior-year period as some client workflows shifted.
Morningstar Direct Platform adjusted operating income increased 4.5% to $91.0 million, and adjusted operating margin decreased 1.4 percentage points to 42.3%, due in part to a shift of additional research and sales resources to support Direct Platform growth priorities, partially offset by targeted reorganizations in the fourth quarter of 2025.
PitchBook
PitchBook contributed $172.4 million to consolidated revenue and $8.7 million to consolidated revenue growth, with revenue increasing 5.3% compared to the prior-year period, or 4.8% on an organic basis. Revenue growth was primarily driven by the PitchBook platform with strength in the direct data business, which continued to expand from a smaller base. The increase in PitchBook revenue reflected contributions from its core investor and advisor client segments, although growth slowed, especially in venture capital, while the corporate client segment continued to experience softness. Licensed user counts were relatively flat compared to the prior-year period, reflecting the addition of new logos offset by churn within the corporate segment.
PitchBook adjusted operating income decreased 1.3% to $51.6 million, and adjusted operating margin decreased 2.0 percentage points to 29.9%. The decline in adjusted operating margin was due in part to higher advertising expenses and an increase in compensation costs, which included the impact of additional headcount to support new growth initiatives.
Morningstar Credit
Morningstar Credit contributed $101.0 million to consolidated revenue and $28.0 million to consolidated revenue growth, with revenue increasing 38.4% compared to the prior-year period, or 34.3% on an organic basis, supported by a robust issuance market. Revenue grew across geographies and asset classes, with particular strength in Canadian and European corporates and
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US structured finance ratings revenue. Organic revenue growth excludes revenue associated with DealX for the first two months of the quarter, and foreign currency impact.
Morningstar Credit adjusted operating income increased 92.5% to $41.2 million, and adjusted operating margin increased 11.5 percentage points to 40.8%. The increase in adjusted operating income and margin reflected higher revenue, partially offset by higher compensation costs. The increase in compensation was primarily driven by higher salaries and benefits due to increases in headcount to support growth.
Morningstar Wealth
Morningstar Wealth contributed $58.0 million to consolidated revenue and negative $3.3 million to consolidated revenue growth, with revenue decreasing 5.4% compared to the prior-year period, or 1.6% on an organic basis. Organic revenue excluded interim services fees received from AssetMark associated with the Company's sale of customer assets from the US Morningstar Wealth Turnkey Asset Management Platform from the prior-year period, and foreign currency impact. Reported and organic revenue included a $5.5 million negative impact from the sunsetting of Morningstar Office, which was partially offset by growth in ad sales and Investment Management, which grew on an organic basis.
Reported assets under management and advisement (AUMA) decreased 5.3% to $60.4 billion compared with the prior-year period. Excluding the impact of the loss of an Asset Allocation Services client, which accounted for a negligible share of Investment Management revenue, AUMA increased compared to the prior-year period, supported by market appreciation and positive net flows to Morningstar Model Portfolios offered on third-party platforms and the International Wealth Platform.
Morningstar Wealth adjusted operating income was $5.6 million compared to a $0.8 million loss in the prior-year period, and adjusted operating margin was 9.7% compared with negative 1.3% in the prior-year period.
Morningstar Retirement
Morningstar Retirement contributed $38.8 million to consolidated revenue and $5.9 million to consolidated revenue growth. Revenue increased 17.9% on a reported and organic basis. AUMA increased 11.7% to $310.0 billion compared with the prior-year period, primarily due to market gains and supported by positive net flows to traditional and Advisor Managed Accounts.
Morningstar Retirement adjusted operating income increased 35.6% to $19.8 million, and adjusted operating margin increased 6.6 percentage points to 51.0%. Adjusted operating income included the impact of a discrete expense related to a correction of a client's participant accounts.
Corporate and All Other
Revenue attributable to Corporate and All Other contributed $59.4 million to consolidated revenue and $7.6 million to consolidated revenue growth, with reported revenue increasing 14.7%, or decreasing 8.1% on an organic basis, compared to the prior-year period. Organic revenue growth excludes revenue associated with CRSP and foreign currency impact.
Morningstar Sustainalytics revenue declined on a reported and organic basis primarily due to the retirement of the second party opinions product. Morningstar Indexes revenue was roughly flat on an organic basis.
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The impact of Corporate and All Other on consolidated adjusted operating income was negative $30.6 million compared with negative $39.2 million in the prior-year period, primarily due to improved profitability for Morningstar Indexes, including the impact of the CRSP acquisition.
Balance Sheet and Capital Allocation
As of March 31, 2026, the Company had cash, cash equivalents, and investments totaling $532.2 million and $1,712.8 million of debt, compared with $528.7 million and $1,072.6 million, respectively, as of Dec. 31, 2025.
As of March 31, 2026, the Company had cash, cash equivalents, and investments totaling $532.2 million and $1,712.8 million of debt, compared with $528.7 million and $1,072.6 million, respectively, as of Dec. 31, 2025.
Cash provided by operating activities was roughly flat at $91.5 million, as higher cash earnings were offset by increases in working capital and higher cash taxes paid. Free cash flow decreased 8.8% to $53.6 million in the first quarter of 2026 reflecting an increase in capital expenditures compared to the prior-year period due in part to spending related to office refreshes across geographies.
During the quarter, the Company increased its debt by $640.0 million, net, spent $359.6 million on the CRSP acquisition, net of cash acquired, repurchased $300.0 million of its shares, and paid $19.9 million in dividends.
2026 Annual Meeting of Shareholders
The Company's 2026 Annual Meeting of Shareholders will be held at 9 a.m. Central Time on Thursday, May 7, at Morningstar's corporate headquarters at 22 W. Washington St. in Chicago. Registration details are available at shareholders.morningstar.com. The meeting will cover the official business described in Morningstar's 2026 proxy statement and include presentations from members of Morningstar's management team, along with a live question and answer session open to participants both in-person and online. New at this year's meeting, the Company has expanded the time available for product demonstrations, which will be available to in-person attendees before and after the formal meeting.
Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
Organic revenue, adjusted operating income (loss), adjusted operating margin, adjusted diluted net income per share, and free cash flow are non-GAAP financial measures. The tables at the end of this press release include a reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measures used by the Company to comparable GAAP measures and an explanation of why the Company uses them.
Investor Communication
Morningstar encourages all interested parties — including securities analysts, current shareholders, potential shareholders, and others — to submit questions in writing. Investors and others may send questions about Morningstar’s business to investors@morningstar.com. Morningstar will make written responses to selected inquiries available to all investors at the same time in Form 8-Ks furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC), on a monthly basis, with the exception of months when it releases earnings.
About Morningstar, Inc.
Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment insights in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The Company offers an extensive line of products and services for individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers and owners, retirement plan providers and sponsors, institutional investors in the debt and private capital markets, and alliances and redistributors. Morningstar provides data and research insights on a wide range of investment offerings, including
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managed investment products, publicly listed companies, private capital markets, debt securities, and real-time global market data. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its investment advisory subsidiaries, with approximately $370 billion in AUMA as of March 31, 2026. The Company operates through wholly-owned subsidiaries in 32 countries. For more information, visit www.morningstar.com/company. Follow Morningstar on X @MorningstarInc.
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 "aim," "committed," "consider," "estimate," "future," "goal," "is designed to," "maintain," "may," "might," "objective," "ongoing," "could," "expect," "intend," "plan," "possible," "potential," "seek," "anticipate," "believe," "predict," "prospects," "continue," "strategy," "strive," "will," "would," "determine," "evaluate," or the negative thereof, and similar expressions. These statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause the events we discuss not to occur or to differ significantly from what we expect. For us, these risks and uncertainties include, among others, failing to achieve the anticipated benefits of the CRSP acquisition; failing to maintain and protect our brand, independence, and reputation; failing to prevent and/or mitigate cybersecurity events and the failure to protect confidential information, including personal information about individuals; changing economic and market conditions, including prolonged volatility, recessions, or downturns affecting the financial, data and software sectors and global financial markets, fluctuating interest rates, and the impacts of global trade policies, may negatively impact our financial results, including those of our asset-based businesses; compliance failures, regulatory action, or changes in or expansion of laws applicable to our regulated businesses; failing to innovate or streamline our product and service offerings or meet or anticipate our clients’ changing needs; impact of artificial intelligence technologies on our business and reputation, as well as legal and reputational risks as they are incorporated into our products and tools; failing to detect errors in our products or methodology of our products performing improperly due to defects, malfunctions or similar problems; failing to recruit, develop, and retain qualified employees; failing to scale our operations and increase productivity in order to implement our business plans and strategies, including failing to manage costs related thereto; liability for any losses that result from errors in our automated advisory tools or errors in the use of the information and data we collect; inadequacy of our operational risk management and business continuity programs to address materially disruptive events; our strategic transactions, acquisitions, divestitures and investments in companies or technologies failing to yield expected business or financial benefits, negatively impacting our operating results and our ability to deliver long-term value to shareholders; triggering events for impairment of goodwill or assets; failing to maintain growth across our businesses due to changes in geopolitics and the regulatory landscape; failing to recognize deferred revenue; liability relating to the information and data we collect, store, use, create, and distribute or the reports that we publish or are produced by our software products; the potential adverse effect of our indebtedness (and rising interest rates) on our cash flow and financial and operational flexibility; liability, regulatory scrutiny, costs and reputational risks relating to environmental, social, and governance considerations; our dependence on third-party service providers in our operations; inadequacy of our insurance coverage; challenges in accounting for tax complexities in the global jurisdictions we operate in could materially affect our tax obligations and tax rates; the potential impact of vendor consolidation and clients' strategic decisions to replace our products and services with in-house products and services; our ability to build and maintain short-term and long-term shareholder value and pay dividends to our shareholders; our ability to repurchase shares of our common stock; our ability to maintain existing business and renewal rates and to gain new business; the impact of recently issued accounting pronouncements on our consolidated financial statements and related disclosure; volatility in our stock price due to market conditions; any future sales of common stock and fluctuations in our operating results; and failing to protect our intellectual property rights or claims of intellectual property infringement against us. A more complete description of these risks and uncertainties, among others, can be found in our filings with the SEC, including our most recent Report on Form 10-K. If any of these risks and uncertainties materialize, our actual future results and other future events may vary significantly from what we expect. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law. You are, however, advised to review any further disclosures we make on related subjects, and about new or additional risks, uncertainties and assumptions in our future filings with the SEC on Forms 10-K, 10-Q, and 8-K. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities of Morningstar in any jurisdiction.
# # #
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Media Relations Contact:
Stephanie Lerdall, +1 312-244-7805, stephanie.lerdall@morningstar.com
Investor Relations Contact:
Sarah Bush, +1 312-384-3754, sarah.bush@morningstar.com
©2026 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
MORN-E
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Morningstar, Inc. and Subsidiaries
Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income
| Three months ended March 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||
| (in millions, except per share amounts) | 2026 | 2025 | Change | |||||||||||||||||
| Revenue | $ | 644.8 | $ | 581.9 | 10.8 | % | ||||||||||||||
| Operating expense: | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Cost of revenue | 238.9 | 231.4 | 3.2 | % | ||||||||||||||||
| Sales and marketing | 115.2 | 112.6 | 2.3 | % | ||||||||||||||||
| General and administrative | 84.0 | 76.5 | 9.8 | % | ||||||||||||||||
| Depreciation and amortization | 51.7 | 47.3 | 9.3 | % | ||||||||||||||||
| Total operating expense | 489.8 | 467.8 | 4.7 | % | ||||||||||||||||
Other operating income | 0.9 | — | NMF | |||||||||||||||||
| Operating income | 155.9 | 114.1 | 36.6 | % | ||||||||||||||||
| Operating margin | 24.2 | % | 19.6 | % | 4.6 pp | |||||||||||||||
Non-operating income (expense), net: | ||||||||||||||||||||
Interest expense, net | (13.7) | (5.4) | NMF | |||||||||||||||||
Other income (expense), net | (0.4) | (0.2) | NMF | |||||||||||||||||
Non-operating income (expense), net | (14.1) | (5.6) | NMF | |||||||||||||||||
Income before income taxes and equity in investments of unconsolidated entities | 141.8 | 108.5 | 30.7 | % | ||||||||||||||||
Equity in investments of unconsolidated entities | (0.1) | (2.6) | NMF | |||||||||||||||||
Income tax expense | 34.6 | 27.4 | 26.3 | % | ||||||||||||||||
Consolidated net income | $ | 107.1 | $ | 78.5 | 36.4 | % | ||||||||||||||
Net income per share: | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Basic | $ | 2.74 | $ | 1.83 | 49.7 | % | ||||||||||||||
| Diluted | $ | 2.73 | $ | 1.82 | 50.0 | % | ||||||||||||||
| Weighted average shares outstanding: | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Basic | 39.1 | 42.8 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Diluted | 39.3 | 43.1 | ||||||||||||||||||
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
NMF - Not meaningful, pp - percentage points
Page 7 of 13
Morningstar, Inc. and Subsidiaries
Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets
| (in millions) | As of March 31, 2026 (unaudited) | As of December 31, 2025 | ||||||||||||
| Assets | ||||||||||||||
| Current assets: | ||||||||||||||
| Cash and cash equivalents | $ | 492.8 | $ | 474.5 | ||||||||||
| Investments | 39.4 | 54.2 | ||||||||||||
| Accounts receivable, net | 402.6 | 390.4 | ||||||||||||
Income tax receivable | 15.4 | 16.2 | ||||||||||||
| Other current assets | 113.1 | 102.7 | ||||||||||||
| Total current assets | 1,063.3 | 1,038.0 | ||||||||||||
| Goodwill | 1,747.2 | 1,610.8 | ||||||||||||
| Intangible assets, net | 591.4 | 379.3 | ||||||||||||
| Property, equipment, and capitalized software, net | 234.8 | 231.9 | ||||||||||||
| Operating lease assets | 166.0 | 159.0 | ||||||||||||
| Investments in unconsolidated entities | 50.3 | 50.3 | ||||||||||||
Deferred tax assets | 86.0 | 78.7 | ||||||||||||
| Other assets | 47.3 | 42.2 | ||||||||||||
| Total assets | $ | 3,986.3 | $ | 3,590.2 | ||||||||||
| Liabilities and equity | ||||||||||||||
| Current liabilities: | ||||||||||||||
| Deferred revenue | $ | 669.3 | $ | 586.1 | ||||||||||
| Accrued compensation | 144.9 | 294.2 | ||||||||||||
| Accounts payable and accrued liabilities | 104.6 | 97.9 | ||||||||||||
| Operating lease liabilities | 42.7 | 41.8 | ||||||||||||
| Current portion of long-term debt | 18.2 | — | ||||||||||||
Income tax payable | 43.1 | 24.0 | ||||||||||||
| Other current liabilities | 7.9 | 9.3 | ||||||||||||
| Total current liabilities | 1,030.7 | 1,053.3 | ||||||||||||
Operating lease liabilities | 151.0 | 146.7 | ||||||||||||
| Accrued compensation | 20.3 | 20.1 | ||||||||||||
Deferred tax liabilities | 21.5 | 27.2 | ||||||||||||
| Long-term debt | 1,694.6 | 1,072.6 | ||||||||||||
Income tax payable | 13.8 | 13.1 | ||||||||||||
| Other long-term liabilities | 35.7 | 35.3 | ||||||||||||
| Total liabilities | 2,967.6 | 2,368.3 | ||||||||||||
| Total equity | 1,018.7 | 1,221.9 | ||||||||||||
| Total liabilities and equity | $ | 3,986.3 | $ | 3,590.2 | ||||||||||
Page 8 of 13
Morningstar, Inc. and Subsidiaries
Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
| Three months ended March 31, | ||||||||||||||
| (in millions) | 2026 | 2025 | ||||||||||||
| Operating activities | ||||||||||||||
Consolidated net income | $ | 107.1 | $ | 78.5 | ||||||||||
Adjustments to reconcile consolidated net income to net cash flows from operating activities | 51.8 | 53.5 | ||||||||||||
| Changes in operating assets and liabilities, net | (67.4) | (41.0) | ||||||||||||
| Cash provided by operating activities | 91.5 | 91.0 | ||||||||||||
| Investing activities | ||||||||||||||
| Capital expenditures | (37.9) | (32.2) | ||||||||||||
| Acquisitions, net of cash acquired | (359.6) | (38.5) | ||||||||||||
| Purchases of investments in unconsolidated entities | (0.1) | (1.2) | ||||||||||||
| Other, net | 13.2 | 1.2 | ||||||||||||
Cash used for investing activities | (384.4) | (70.7) | ||||||||||||
| Financing activities | ||||||||||||||
| Common shares repurchased | (300.0) | (109.6) | ||||||||||||
| Dividends paid | (19.9) | (19.5) | ||||||||||||
Repayments of debt | (30.0) | (40.0) | ||||||||||||
Proceeds from debt | 670.0 | 145.0 | ||||||||||||
| Other, net | (3.2) | — | ||||||||||||
Cash provided by (used for) financing activities | 316.9 | (24.1) | ||||||||||||
| Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents | (5.7) | 12.6 | ||||||||||||
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents | 18.3 | 8.8 | ||||||||||||
| Cash and cash equivalents-beginning of period | 474.5 | 502.7 | ||||||||||||
| Cash and cash equivalents-end of period | $ | 492.8 | $ | 511.5 | ||||||||||
Page 9 of 13
Morningstar, Inc. and Subsidiaries
Supplemental Data (Unaudited)
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
| Three months ended March 31, | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (in millions) | 2026 | 2025 | Change | Organic | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Morningstar Direct Platform | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Revenue | $ | 215.2 | $ | 199.2 | 8.0 | % | 5.0 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||
Adjusted Operating Income | $ | 91.0 | $ | 87.1 | 4.5 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Adjusted Operating Margin | 42.3 | % | 43.7 | % | (1.4) pp | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| PitchBook | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Revenue | $ | 172.4 | $ | 163.7 | 5.3 | % | 4.8 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Adjusted Operating Income | $ | 51.6 | $ | 52.3 | (1.3) | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Adjusted Operating Margin | 29.9 | % | 31.9 | % | (2.0) pp | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Morningstar Credit | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Revenue | $ | 101.0 | $ | 73.0 | 38.4 | % | 34.3 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Adjusted Operating Income | $ | 41.2 | $ | 21.4 | 92.5 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Adjusted Operating Margin | 40.8 | % | 29.3 | % | 11.5 pp | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Morningstar Wealth | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Revenue | $ | 58.0 | $ | 61.3 | (5.4) | % | (1.6) | % | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Adjusted Operating Income (Loss) | $ | 5.6 | $ | (0.8) | NMF | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Adjusted Operating Margin | 9.7 | % | (1.3) | % | 11.0 pp | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Morningstar Retirement | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Revenue | $ | 38.8 | $ | 32.9 | 17.9 | % | 17.9 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Adjusted Operating Income | $ | 19.8 | $ | 14.6 | 35.6 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Adjusted Operating Margin | 51.0 | % | 44.4 | % | 6.6 pp | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Consolidated Revenue | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total Reportable Segments | $ | 585.4 | $ | 530.1 | 10.4 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Corporate and All Other (1) | 59.4 | 51.8 | 14.7 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total Revenue | $ | 644.8 | $ | 581.9 | 10.8 | % | 7.6 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Consolidated Adjusted Operating Income | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total Reportable Segments | $ | 209.2 | $ | 174.6 | 19.8 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Less: Corporate and All Other (2) | (30.6) | (39.2) | NMF | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Adjusted Operating Income | $ | 178.6 | $ | 135.4 | 31.9 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Adjusted Operating Margin | 27.7 | % | 23.3 | % | 4.4 pp | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
(1) Corporate and All Other provides a reconciliation between revenue from our Total Reportable Segments and consolidated revenue amounts. Corporate and All Other includes Morningstar Sustainalytics and Morningstar Indexes as sources of revenues. Revenue from Morningstar Sustainalytics was $26.6 million and $28.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2026 and 2025, respectively. Revenue from Morningstar Indexes was $32.8 million and $23.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2026 and 2025, respectively.
(2) Corporate and All Other includes unallocated corporate expenses as well as adjusted operating income (loss) from Morningstar Sustainalytics and Morningstar Indexes. For the first quarters of 2026 and 2025, unallocated corporate expenses were $41.8 million in each period. Unallocated corporate expenses include finance, human resources, legal, and other management-related costs that are not considered when segment performance is evaluated.
Page 10 of 13
Morningstar, Inc. and Subsidiaries
Supplemental Data (Unaudited)
| As of March 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
AUMA (approximate) ($bil) | 2026 | 2025 | Change | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Morningstar Retirement | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Managed Accounts | $ | 191.7 | $ | 162.8 | 17.8 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Fiduciary Services | 73.5 | 65.6 | 12.0 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Custom Models/CIT | 44.8 | 49.2 | (8.9) | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Morningstar Retirement (total) | $ | 310.0 | $ | 277.6 | 11.7 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Investment Management | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Morningstar Model Portfolios (1) | $ | 51.9 | $ | 44.5 | 16.6 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Institutional Asset Management | 5.9 | 6.9 | (14.5) | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Asset Allocation Services | 2.6 | 12.4 | (79.0) | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Investment Management (total) | $ | 60.4 | $ | 63.8 | (5.3) | % | ||||||||||||||||||||
Asset value linked to Morningstar Indexes ($bil) (2) | $ | 3,170.1 | $ | 208.7 | NMF | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Three months ended March 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2026 | 2025 | Change | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Average AUMA ($bil) | $ | 374.2 | $ | 339.8 | 10.1 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
(1) Includes AUMA in Morningstar Model Portfolios and assets on the International Wealth Platform invested in third-party model portfolios.
(2) Includes $2.9 trillion of assets linked to CRSP indexes as of March 31, 2026.
Page 11 of 13
Morningstar, Inc. and Subsidiaries
Reconciliations of Non-GAAP Measures with the Nearest Comparable GAAP Measures (Unaudited)
To supplement Morningstar’s condensed consolidated financial statements presented in accordance with US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), Morningstar uses the following measures considered as non-GAAP by the SEC, including:
•"Organic Revenue" is consolidated revenue before (1) acquisitions and divestitures, (2) adoption of new accounting standards or revisions to accounting practices (accounting changes), and (3) the effect of foreign currency translations.
•"Adjusted Operating Income (Loss)" is consolidated operating income (loss) excluding (1) intangible amortization expense, (2) the impact of merger, acquisition, and divestiture-related activity which, when applicable, may include certain non-recurring expenses such as pre-deal due diligence, transaction costs, contingent consideration, severance, and post-close integration costs (M&A-related expenses), and (3) certain other one-time, non-recurring items which management does not consider when evaluating ongoing performance (other non-recurring items).
•"Adjusted Operating Margin" is operating margin excluding (1) intangible amortization expense, (2) M&A-related expenses, and (3) other non-recurring items.
•"Adjusted Diluted Net Income Per Share" is consolidated diluted net income per share excluding (1) intangible amortization expense, (2) M&A-related expenses, (3) other non-recurring items, and (4) non-operating gains and losses.
•"Free Cash Flow" is cash provided by or used for operating activities less capital expenditures.
These non-GAAP measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies and should not be considered an alternative to any measure of performance promulgated under GAAP.
Morningstar presents organic revenue because the Company believes this non-GAAP measure helps investors better compare period-over-period results. Morningstar excludes revenue from acquired businesses from its organic revenue growth calculation for a period of 12 months after it completes the acquisition. For divestitures (including sale of assets), Morningstar excludes revenue in the prior-year period for which there is no comparable revenue in the current period.
Morningstar presents adjusted operating income (loss), adjusted operating margin, and adjusted diluted net income per share to better reflect period-over-period comparisons, and improve overall understanding of the underlying performance of the business absent the impact of intangible amortization expense, M&A-related expenses, and certain other one-time, non-recurring items.
In addition, Morningstar presents free cash flow as a supplemental disclosure to help investors better understand how much cash is available after making capital expenditures. Morningstar's management team uses free cash flow to evaluate the health of its business.
| Three months ended March 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||
| (in millions) | 2026 | 2025 | Change | |||||||||||||||||
| Reconciliation from consolidated revenue to organic revenue: | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Consolidated revenue | $ | 644.8 | $ | 581.9 | 10.8 | % | ||||||||||||||
Acquisitions | (10.5) | — | NMF | |||||||||||||||||
| Divestitures | (3.0) | (7.6) | NMF | |||||||||||||||||
| Effect of foreign currency translations | (13.5) | — | NMF | |||||||||||||||||
| Organic revenue | $ | 617.8 | $ | 574.3 | 7.6 | % | ||||||||||||||
| Reconciliation from consolidated operating income to adjusted operating income: | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Consolidated operating income | $ | 155.9 | $ | 114.1 | 36.6 | % | ||||||||||||||
Intangible amortization expense | 19.0 | 14.4 | 31.9 | % | ||||||||||||||||
M&A-related expenses | 4.6 | 6.9 | (33.3) | % | ||||||||||||||||
Other non-recurring items | (0.9) | — | NMF | |||||||||||||||||
| Adjusted operating income | $ | 178.6 | $ | 135.4 | 31.9 | % | ||||||||||||||
| Reconciliation from consolidated operating margin to adjusted operating margin: | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Consolidated operating margin | 24.2 | % | 19.6 | % | 4.6 pp | |||||||||||||||
| Intangible amortization expense | 2.9 | % | 2.5 | % | 0.4 pp | |||||||||||||||
| M&A-related expenses | 0.7 | % | 1.2 | % | (0.5) pp | |||||||||||||||
| Other non-recurring items | (0.1) | % | — | % | (0.1) pp | |||||||||||||||
| Adjusted operating margin | 27.7 | % | 23.3 | % | 4.4 pp | |||||||||||||||
Reconciliation from consolidated diluted net income per share to adjusted diluted net income per share: | ||||||||||||||||||||
Consolidated diluted net income per share | $ | 2.73 | $ | 1.82 | 50.0 | % | ||||||||||||||
| Intangible amortization expense | 0.36 | 0.25 | 44.0 | % | ||||||||||||||||
| M&A-related expenses | 0.09 | 0.12 | (25.0) | % | ||||||||||||||||
Page 12 of 13
| Three months ended March 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||
| (in millions) | 2026 | 2025 | Change | |||||||||||||||||
| Other non-recurring items | (0.02) | — | NMF | |||||||||||||||||
| Non-operating (gains) losses | 0.02 | 0.04 | (50.0) | % | ||||||||||||||||
Adjusted diluted net income per share | $ | 3.18 | $ | 2.23 | 42.6 | % | ||||||||||||||
| Reconciliation from cash provided by operating activities to free cash flow: | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Cash provided by operating activities | $ | 91.5 | $ | 91.0 | 0.5 | % | ||||||||||||||
| Capital expenditures | (37.9) | (32.2) | 17.7 | % | ||||||||||||||||
| Free cash flow | $ | 53.6 | $ | 58.8 | (8.8) | % | ||||||||||||||
Page 13 of 13
First-Quarter 2026 Supplemental Presentation April 29, 2026 2 This presentation contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on Morningstar's 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," "prospects," or "continue." These statements involve known or unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ significantly from what Morningstar expects. More information about factors that could affect Morningstar's business and financial results are in its filings with the SEC, including its most recent Forms 8-K, 10-K, and 10-Q. Morningstar undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by law. 3 This presentation includes references to the non-GAAP financial measures listed below (including percentage growth or decline of those numbers). These non-GAAP measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies. A reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures is provided in the appendix to this presentation and in the Company's filings with the SEC, including its most recent Forms 8-K, 10-K, and 10-Q. "Organic Revenue" is consolidated revenue before (1) acquisitions and divestitures, (2) adoption of new accounting standards or revisions to accounting practices (accounting changes), and (3) the effect of foreign currency translations. "Adjusted Operating Income (Loss)" is consolidated operating income (loss) excluding (1) intangible amortization expense, (2) the impact of merger, acquisition, and divestiture-related activity which, when applicable, may include certain non-recurring expenses such as pre-deal due diligence, transaction costs, contingent consideration, severance, and post-close integration costs (M&A-related expenses), and (3) certain other one-time, non-recurring items which management does not consider when evaluating ongoing performance (other non-recurring items). "Adjusted Operating Margin" is operating margin excluding (1) intangible amortization expense, (2) M&A-related expenses, and (3) other non-recurring items. "Adjusted Operating Expense" is operating expenses excluding (1) intangible amortization expense, (2) M&A-related expenses, and (3) other non-recurring items. "Free Cash Flow" is cash provided by or used for operating activities less capital expenditures. 4 Table of Contents Q1 26 Results Summary 5 Q1 26 Segment Detail 12 Appendix A: Additional Segment Detail 23 Appendix B: Reconciliations 37 Appendix C: Additional Information 49
Q1 26 Results Summary 6 Q1 26 Financial Performance ($mil) +10.8% Reported +7.6% Organic +31.9% (8.8%) +36.6% $581.9 $644.8 $114.1 $155.9 $135.4 $178.6 $58.8 $53.6 Revenue Operating Income Adjusted Operating Income Free Cash Flow 25 26 25 26 25 26 25 26 7 Adjusted Operating Income Walk Q1 25 to Q1 26 Q1 25 Adjusted Operating Income Change in Revenue Travel & Related Activities Advertising & Marketing Professional Fees Infrastructure Costs & Other* Compensation** Q1 26 Adjusted Operating Income Changes in this chart reflect adjustments made in the calculation of adjusted operating income, as defined on p. 3 of this presentation, and may not match changes in reported expenses. *Includes infrastructure costs (including third-party contracts with data providers, cloud costs, and SaaS-based software subscriptions), facilities, depreciation/amortization, and capitalized labor. **Compensation includes salaries, bonus, commissions, severance, employee benefits, payroll taxes, and stock-based compensation. $135.4 $62.9 ($2.2) ($6.7)($1.9) ($8.5) ($0.4) $178.6 ($mil) 8 Quarterly Operating Margin Trends 17.1% 19.0% 20.3% 28.5% 19.6% 20.7% 20.7% 24.9% 24.2% 20.4% 22.9% 22.9% 20.6% 23.3% 23.7% 24.4% 23.9% 27.7% Operating Margin Adjusted Operating Margin Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26
9 Revenue vs. Adjusted Operating Expense Growth 13.2% 13.3% 10.5% 9.7% 7.2% 5.8% 8.4% 8.5% 10.8% 1.0% 1.4% 3.7% 10.2% 3.4% 4.7% 6.3% 3.9% 4.4% Reported Revenue Growth Adjusted Operating Expense Growth Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 10 Headcount Trends Headcount represents permanent, full-time employees. As of March 31, 2026, headcount was 10,947. (9.2% ) (8.1% ) (3.6% ) (2.2% ) (1.4% ) (0.7% ) 0.0% (1.0% ) (1.5% ) (0.6% ) (1.1% ) 0.0% (0.6% ) 0.3% (0.5% ) 0.8% (1.6% ) (0.2% ) Headcount (000s) Headcount Growth YOY Sequential Headcount Growth Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 11.3 11.1 11.1 11.1 11.1 11.1 11.2 11.0 10.9 11 Capital Allocation 11 *Consolidated funded indebtedness to EBITDA as defined in our then-existing credit agreements. 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 Share Repurchase $0.0 $0.0 $0.0 $11.6 $109.6 $112.0 $170.1 $395.3 $300.0 Total Debt $949.4 $899.6 $864.7 $698.6 $803.7 $838.8 $848.9 $1,072.6 $1,712.8 Leverage Ratio* 1.6x 1.4x 1.2x 0.9x 1.0x 1.0x 1.0x 1.3x 2.0x Share Repurchases Dividends Paid Acquisitions, Net of Cash Capital Expenditures $300.0 $19.9 $359.6 $37.9 Q1 26 Segment Detail
13 Morningstar Reportable Segments and Representative Products Morningstar Direct Platform Provides investors comprehensive data, research, and insights, and investment analysis to empower investment decision- making. Morningstar Data Morningstar Direct Morningstar Advisor Workstation PitchBook Provides investors access to data, proprietary research, analytics, and AI-enabled software across private capital markets. Supports decision-making across the private-markets lifecycle. PitchBook Platform Direct Data Morningstar Wealth Serves financial advisors through model portfolios, separately managed accounts, and an advisor platform powered by our research and data, and individuals through Morningstar Investor. Morningstar Model Portfolios (Managed Portfolios) Morningstar Investor International Wealth Platform Morningstar Credit Provides investors with credit ratings, research, data, and credit analytics solutions that contribute to the transparency of international and domestic credit markets. Morningstar DBRS Morningstar Credit (Credit Data and Analytics) Morningstar Retirement Offers products to help individuals reach their retirement goals with highly personalized savings and investment advice at the employee level and scalable investment advisory and risk mitigation services at the employer and advisor level. Managed Accounts Corporate and All Other The operating segments of Morningstar Sustainalytics and Morningstar Indexes have been combined and presented as part of Corporate and All Other, which is not a reportable segment. Morningstar Sustainalytics Morningstar Indexes 14 Q1 26 Contribution to Revenue 14 Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 *Corporate and All Other provides a reconciliation between revenue from our Total Reportable Segments and consolidated revenue amounts. Corporate and All Other includes Morningstar Sustainalytics and Morningstar Indexes as sources of revenue. $ 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 $0 ($mil) PitchBook Morningstar Credit Corporate and All Other* Morningstar Retirement Morningstar Wealth Morningstar Direct Platform 15 Q1 26 Contribution to Adjusted Operating Income (Loss) 15 Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 Morningstar Direct Platform *Corporate and All Other includes unallocated corporate expenses as well as adjusted operating income (loss) from Morningstar Sustainalytics and Morningstar Indexes. $ 250 200 150 100 50 0 (50) ($100) PitchBook Morningstar Credit Morningstar Wealth Morningstar Retirement Corporate and All Other* ($mil) 16 Organic Revenue Walk Q1 25 to Q1 26 Q1 25 Reported Revenue Morningstar Credit Morningstar Direct Platform PitchBook Morningstar Retirement Morningstar Wealth Corporate and All Other* M&A and Foreign Currency Adjustments Q1 26 Reported Revenue The Company's five reportable segment bars represent organic revenue growth and may not match changes in reported revenue. *Corporate and All Other provides a reconciliation between revenue from our Total Reportable Segments and consolidated revenue amounts. Corporate and All Other includes Morningstar Sustainalytics and Morningstar Indexes as sources of revenue. In Q1 26, Morningstar Wealth organic revenue includes a $5.5 million negative impact from the sunsetting of Morningstar Office. $581.9 $7.9$25.0 $9.8 $(0.9) $5.9 ($4.2) $19.4 $644.8 ($mil)
17 Adjusted Operating Income Contributions Q1 25 to Q1 26 Q1 25 Adjusted Operating Income Morningstar Credit Morningstar Wealth Morningstar Retirement Morningstar Direct Platform PitchBook Corporate and All Other * Q1 26 Adjusted Operating Income *Corporate and All Other includes unallocated corporate expenses as well as adjusted operating income (loss) from Morningstar Sustainalytics and Morningstar Indexes. Unallocated corporate expenses include finance, human resources, legal, marketing, and other management-related costs that are not considered when segment performance is evaluated. ($mil) $135.4 $6.4 $3.9$5.2 ($0.7) $19.8 $8.6 $178.6 18 Morningstar Direct Platform Quarterly Segment Trends 18 8.9% 6.2% 4.7% 3.6% 4.2% 6.3% 6.2% 6.0% 5.0% Morningstar Direct Platform Revenue YOY Organic Revenue Trend Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 $0 $50 $100 $150 $200 $250 46.4% 44.3% 46.0% 43.6% 43.7% 46.0% 44.4% 43.7% 42.3% Morningstar Direct Platform Adjusted Operating Income Morningstar Direct Platform Adjusted Operating Margin Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 $0 $10 $20 $30 $40 $50 $60 $70 $80 $90 $100 $110 Morningstar Direct Platform Revenue ($mil) Morningstar Direct Platform Adjusted Operating Income ($mil) 19 PitchBook Quarterly Segment Trends 19 12.6% 10.9% 12.2% 12.7% 11.1% 9.6% 7.7% 5.9% 4.8% PitchBook Revenue YOY Organic Revenue Trend Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 $0 $20 $40 $60 $80 $100 $120 $140 $160 $180 27.1% 31.2% 32.2% 30.0% 31.9% 31.7% 31.3% 30.2% 29.9% PitchBook Adjusted Operating Income PitchBook Adjusted Operating Margin Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 $0 $6 $12 $18 $24 $30 $36 $42 $48 $54 $60 PitchBook Revenue ($mil) PitchBook Adjusted Operating Income ($mil) 20 20 27.9% 44.2% 34.0% 34.5% 23.2% 8.4% 27.0% 25.7% 34.3% Morningstar Credit Revenue YOY Organic Revenue Trend Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 $0 $10 $20 $30 $40 $50 $60 $70 $80 $90 $100 $110 $120 20.4% 36.0% 21.4% 24.5% 29.3% 35.9% 30.8% 33.0% 40.8% Morningstar Credit Adjusted Operating Income Morningstar Credit Adjusted Operating Margin Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 $0 $5 $10 $15 $20 $25 $30 $35 $40 $45 $50 Morningstar Credit Revenue ($mil) Morningstar Credit Adjusted Operating Income ($mil) Morningstar Credit Quarterly Segment Trends
21 Morningstar Wealth Quarterly Segment Trends 21 7.7% 12.4% 6.1% 6.2% 7.9% 7.2% 9.8% 6.3% (1.6% ) Morningstar Wealth Revenue YOY Organic Revenue Trend Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 $0 $20 $40 $60 $80 $100 (9.5% ) (3.5% ) (1.1% ) (1.2% ) (1.3% ) 4.7% 5.0% 6.8% 9.7% Morningstar Wealth Adjusted Operating Income Morningstar Wealth Adjusted Operating Margin Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 ($12) ($9) ($6) ($3) $0 $3 $6 $9 $12 $15 Morningstar Wealth Revenue ($mil) Morningstar Wealth Adjusted Operating Income ($mil) *In Q1 26, Morningstar Wealth reported and organic revenue included a $5.5 million negative impact from the sunsetting of Morningstar Office. 22 Morningstar Retirement Quarterly Segment Trends 22 12.7% 21.5% 14.8% 11.3% 15.8% (2.7% ) 7.5% 13.4% 17.9% Morningstar Retirement Revenue YOY Organic Revenue Trend Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 $0 $10 $20 $30 $40 50.0% 52.0% 53.1% 51.2% 44.4% 47.5% 49.4% 54.6% 51.0% Morningstar Retirement Adjusted Operating Income Morningstar Retirement Adjusted Operating Margin Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 $0 $3 $5 $8 $10 $13 $15 $18 $20 $23 Morningstar Retirement Revenue ($mil) Morningstar Retirement Adjusted Operating Income ($mil) Appendix A: Additional Segment Detail 24 Historical Segment Performance *Corporate and All Other provides a reconciliation between revenue from the Company's Total Reportable Segments and consolidated revenue amounts. Corporate and All Other includes Morningstar Sustainalytics and Morningstar Indexes as sources of revenues. **Corporate and All Other includes unallocated corporate expenses as well as adjusted operating income (loss) from Morningstar Sustainalytics and Morningstar Indexes. Unallocated corporate expenses include certain management-related costs that are not considered when segment performance is evaluated. (in millions) Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 Morningstar Direct Platform Revenue $196.7 $196.9 $198.5 $196.0 $199.2 $209.2 $211.1 $211.1 $215.2 Adjusted Operating Income $91.2 $87.3 $91.4 $85.5 $87.1 $96.3 $93.7 $92.3 $91.0 Adjusted Operating Margin 46.4% 44.3% 46.0% 43.6% 43.7% 46.0% 44.4% 43.7% 42.3% PitchBook Revenue $147.6 $151.7 $156.6 $162.5 $163.7 $166.5 $169.0 $172.6 $172.4 Adjusted Operating Income $40.0 $47.3 $50.4 $48.7 $52.3 $52.8 $52.9 $52.1 $51.6 Adjusted Operating Margin 27.1% 31.2% 32.2% 30.0% 31.9% 31.7% 31.3% 30.2% 29.9% Morningstar Credit Revenue $60.3 $77.6 $70.9 $82.3 $73.0 $85.0 $91.1 $105.3 $101.0 Adjusted Operating Income $12.3 $27.9 $15.2 $20.2 $21.4 $30.5 $28.1 $34.8 $41.2 Adjusted Operating Margin 20.4% 36.0% 21.4% 24.5% 29.3% 35.9% 30.8% 33.0% 40.8% Morningstar Wealth Revenue $59.0 $62.6 $61.8 $65.0 $61.3 $64.3 $62.1 $63.7 $58.0 Adjusted Operating Income (Loss) ($5.6) ($2.2) ($0.7) ($0.8) ($0.8) $3.0 $3.1 $4.3 $5.6 Adjusted Operating Margin (9.5%) (3.5%) (1.1%) (1.2%) (1.3%) 4.7% 5.0% 6.8% 9.7% Morningstar Retirement Revenue $28.4 $33.3 $31.8 $33.6 $32.9 $32.4 $34.2 $38.1 $38.8 Adjusted Operating Income $14.2 $17.3 $16.9 $17.2 $14.6 $15.4 $16.9 $20.8 $19.8 Adjusted Operating Margin 50.0% 52.0% 53.1% 51.2% 44.4% 47.5% 49.4% 54.6% 51.0% Consolidated Revenue Total Reportable Segments $492.0 $522.1 $519.6 $539.4 $530.1 $557.4 $567.5 $590.8 $585.4 Corporate and All Other* $50.8 $49.8 $49.8 $51.6 $51.8 $47.7 $49.9 $50.3 $59.4 Total Revenue $542.8 $571.9 $569.4 $591.0 $581.9 $605.1 $617.4 $641.1 $644.8 Consolidated Adjusted Operating Income Total Reportable Segments $152.1 $177.6 $173.2 $170.8 $174.6 $198.0 $194.7 $204.3 $209.2 Less: Corporate and All Other** ($41.3) ($46.6) ($42.9) ($49.1) ($39.2) ($54.6) ($44.1) ($50.8) ($30.6) Adjusted Operating Income $110.8 $131.0 $130.3 $121.7 $135.4 $143.4 $150.6 $153.5 $178.6 Adjusted Operating Margin 20.4% 22.9% 22.9% 20.6% 23.3% 23.7% 24.4% 23.9% 27.7%
25 Quarterly Revenue Trend: Revenue by Type ($mil) 12.9% 13.6% 10.1% 10.6% 9.1% 5.9% 9.0% 8.1% 7.6% Consolidated Organic Revenue Trend Transaction-Based Revenue* Asset-Based Revenue* License-Based Revenue* Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 $0 $100 $200 $300 $400 $500 $600 $700 27.3% 18.2% 9.9% 37.2% 25.9% 7.5% 25.9% 16.9% 6.4% 25.1% 16.4% 6.8% 21.4% 14.5% 6.2% 9.4% 0.2% 6.3% 26.1% 7.9% 5.9% 25.6% 9.4% 4.1% 30.6% 11.0% 2.6% Bars represent reported revenue. Percentages represent YOY organic revenue growth (decline). *In 2024, the Company updated its revenue-type classifications for product areas with more than one revenue type. The calculation of organic revenue growth by revenue type compares quarterly revenue in 2026, 2025, and 2024 to respective quarterly revenue in 2025, 2024, and 2023 based on the updated classifications; these adjustments are reflected in the Currency and Other line of the reconciliation tables in the appendix of this presentation. In Q1 26, license-based organic growth included a $5.5 million negative impact from the sunsetting of Morningstar Office. 26 Revenue by Type ($mil) *Corporate and All Other provides a reconciliation between revenue from the Company's Total Reportable Segments and consolidated revenue amounts. Corporate and All Other includes Morningstar Sustainalytics and Morningstar Indexes as sources of revenues. Morningstar Direct Platform Q1 25 Q1 26 Morningstar Wealth Q1 25 Q1 26 License-Based $199.2 $215.2 License-Based $19.1 $14.2 Asset-Based 0.0 0.0 Asset-Based 36.1 36.5 Transaction-Based 0.0 0.0 Transaction-Based 6.1 7.3 Morningstar Direct Platform Total $199.2 $215.2 Morningstar Wealth Total $61.3 $58.0 PitchBook Q1 25 Q1 26 Morningstar Retirement Q1 25 Q1 26 License-Based $161.8 $170.5 License-Based $0.5 $0.4 Asset-Based 0.0 0.0 Asset-Based 32.4 38.4 Transaction-Based 1.9 1.9 Transaction-Based 0.0 0.0 PitchBook Total $163.7 $172.4 Morningstar Retirement Total $32.9 $38.8 Morningstar Credit Q1 25 Q1 26 Corporate and All Other* Q1 25 Q1 26 License-Based $4.6 $5.8 License-based $32.8 $38.8 Asset-Based 0.0 0.0 Asset-based 17.2 20.2 Transaction-Based 68.4 95.2 Transaction-based 1.8 0.4 Morningstar Credit Total $73.0 $101.0 Corporate and All Other Total $51.8 $59.4 27 Key Product Area Revenue ($mil) *Includes revenue attributable to Morningstar Direct Advisory Suite. **In Q1 26, Morningstar Wealth reported and organic revenue included a $5.5 million negative impact from the sunsetting of Morningstar Office.***Beginning in Q1 26 includes revenue attributable to Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP). Q1 25 Q1 26 % Change % Organic Change Morningstar Direct Platform $199.2 $215.2 8.0% 5.0% Morningstar Data $99.8 $109.2 9.4% 6.3% Morningstar Direct $72.2 $79.0 9.4% 6.0% Morningstar Advisor Workstation* $23.0 $22.4 (2.6%) (3.3%) PitchBook $163.7 $172.4 5.3% 4.8% Morningstar Credit $73.0 $101.0 38.4% 34.3% Morningstar Wealth $61.3 $58.0 (5.4%) (1.6%) Investment Management** $36.1 $36.5 1.1% 10.6% Morningstar Retirement $32.9 $38.8 17.9% 17.9% Corporate and All Other Morningstar Sustainalytics $28.8 $26.6 (7.6%) (14.1%) Morningstar Indexes*** $23.0 $32.8 42.6% (0.7%) 28 License Trends 28 *In Q3 25, the Company updated its definition of PitchBook licensed users, primarily to remove Morningstar and PitchBook employee users. Q1 25 user counts reported here reflects the updated methodology. The timing of activities, such as user maintenance, user audits, provisioning access, shutting off of users, and updates to the user lists when enterprise clients renew, results in fluctuations in licensed user counts over time. As a result, licensed user growth trends are best assessed on a rolling 12-month basis. (1.8%) 18,799 18,455 Morningstar Direct Licenses Q1 25 Q1 26 +0.3% 114,259 114,646 PitchBook Platform Licensed Users* Q1 25 Q1 26
29 Quarterly Segment Product Trends: Morningstar Direct Platform 29 12.0% 11.7% 9.6% 9.2% 6.8% 4.5% 5.6% 6.3% 6.0% Morningstar Direct Revenue YOY Organic Revenue Trend Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 $0 $20 $40 $60 $80 $100 $120 9.5% 5.3% 4.2% 1.8% 4.1% 10.1% 7.7% 7.8% 6.3% Morningstar Data Revenue YOY Organic Revenue Trend Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 $0 $20 $40 $60 $80 $100 $120 Morningstar Data ($mil) Morningstar Direct ($mil) 30 Quarterly Segment Product Trends: Morningstar Direct Platform 30 5.2% 2.5% (2.4% ) (0.5% ) (0.4% ) (0.2% ) 5.1% 2.4% (3.3% ) Morningstar Advisor Workstation Revenue YOY Organic Revenue Trend Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 $0 $10 $20 $30 $40 *Includes revenue attributable to Morningstar Direct Advisory Suite. Morningstar Advisor Workstation* ($mil) 31 Quarterly Segment Trends: Morningstar Credit 31 Bars represent reported revenue. Percentages represent organic revenue growth (decline). 27.9% 44.2% 34.0% 34.5% 23.2% 8.4% 27.0% 25.7% 34.3% $0 $10 $20 $30 $40 $50 $60 $70 $80 $90 $100 $110 $120 Revenue by Geography ($mil) Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 USA 43.0% 59.9% 51.7% 46.2% 27.0% 11.9% 22.4% 27.2% 37.1% Canada 14.6% 30.3% 13.1% 36.9% 6.4% (2.7%) 50.0% 18.9% 40.3% EMEA 13.5% 27.6% 19.6% 6.6% 37.1% 15.5% 13.6% 30.6% 19.7% Organic revenue growth 32 32 Bars represent reported revenue. In Q1 26, structured finance ratings, fundamental ratings, and data licensing accounted for 59.5%, 34.7%, and 5.8% of revenue, respectively. Transaction-based new issuance revenue increased 53.8%, transaction-based recurring revenue increased 14.9%, and license-based revenue increased 27.8% in Q1 26 compared to the prior-year period. *Structured Finance Ratings includes Asset-Backed Securities, Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities, Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities. **Fundamental Ratings includes Corporate, Financial Institutions, Sovereign, and Other. 46.6% 37.6% 43.5% 37.6% 41.5% 39.4% 40.3% 34.7% 35.0% Structured Finance Ratings* Fundamental Ratings** Data Licensing % Recurring Revenue Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 $0 $10 $20 $30 $40 $50 $60 $70 $80 $90 $100 $110 $120 Revenue by Asset Class ($mil) Quarterly Segment Trends: Morningstar Credit
33 Quarterly Segment Product Trends: Morningstar Wealth 33 13.9% 22.0% 13.3% 16.2% 14.8% 6.2% 16.1% 12.3% 10.6% Investment Management Revenue YOY Organic Revenue Trend Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 $0 $10 $20 $30 $40 Investment Management ($mil) 34 34 Morningstar Wealth AUMA Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 $0 $20 $40 $60 $80 $100 Morningstar Wealth Assets Under Management and Advisement (AUMA) ($bil) Quarterly Segment Trends: Morningstar Wealth 35 35 Morningstar Retirement AUMA Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 $0 $100 $200 $300 $400 Morningstar Retirement AUMA ($bil) Quarterly Segment Trends: Morningstar Retirement 36 Quarterly Product Trends: Corporate and All Other 36 37.1% 37.8% 23.7% 21.9% 15.7% (1.3% ) (0.8% ) 0.9% (0.7% ) Morningstar Indexes Revenue YOY Organic Revenue Trend Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 $0 $10 $20 $30 $40 12.2% 0.7% (10.3% ) (3.3% ) (4.9% ) (9.8% ) (3.0% ) (10.3% ) (14.1% ) Morningstar Sustainalytics Revenue YOY Organic Revenue Trend Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 $0 $10 $20 $30 $40 *Beginning in Q1 26 includes revenue attributable to CRSP. **Revenue for Morningstar Sustainalytics’ transaction-based products decreased 74.2% on an organic basis in Q1 26 due to the retirement of the second-party opinion business. Morningstar Sustainalytics’ license-based products decreased 10.1% on an organic basis. Morningstar Indexes* ($mil) Morningstar Sustainalytics** ($mil)
Appendix B: Reconciliations 38 Reconciliation from Reported to Organic Revenue Change by Revenue Type Consolidated Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 Reported Change in Revenue 13.2% 13.3% 10.5% 9.7% 7.2% 5.8% 8.4% 8.5% 10.8% Acquisitions, divestitures, and accounting changes 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.8% 0.9% 1.0% 1.2% 0.9% (1.0%) Effect of foreign currency transactions (0.3%) 0.3% (0.4%) 0.1% 1.0% (0.9%) (0.6%) (1.3%) (2.2%) Organic Change in Revenue 12.9% 13.6% 10.1% 10.6% 9.1% 5.9% 9.0% 8.1% 7.6% License-Based Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 Reported Change in Revenue 9.9% 6.8% 6.3% 5.4% 4.4% 6.6% 6.4% 5.6% 6.4% Acquisitions, divestitures, and accounting changes 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.9% 0.8% 0.6% 0.3% (0.1%) (1.7%) Effect of foreign currency transactions 0.0% 0.7% 0.1% 0.5% 1.0% (0.9%) (0.8%) (1.4%) (2.1%) Organic Change in Revenue 9.9% 7.5% 6.4% 6.8% 6.2% 6.3% 5.9% 4.1% 2.6% 39 Reconciliation from Reported to Organic Revenue Change by Revenue Type Asset-Based Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 Reported Change in Revenue 17.9% 25.9% 17.2% 16.2% 11.3% (2.7%) 1.1% 2.9% 11.0% Acquisitions, divestitures, and accounting changes 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.5% 2.0% 3.6% 6.9% 6.8% 1.3% Effect of foreign currency transactions 0.3% 0.0% (0.3%) (0.3%) 1.2% (0.7%) (0.1%) (0.3%) (1.3%) Organic Change in Revenue 18.2% 25.9% 16.9% 16.4% 14.5% 0.2% 7.9% 9.4% 11.0% Transaction-Based Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 Reported Change in Revenue 30.2% 39.3% 29.1% 26.6% 19.2% 10.3% 27.2% 27.2% 34.0% Acquisitions, divestitures, and accounting changes 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% Effect of foreign currency transactions (2.9%) (2.1%) (3.2%) (1.5%) 2.2% (0.9%) (1.1%) (1.6%) (3.4%) Organic Change in Revenue 27.3% 37.2% 25.9% 25.1% 21.4% 9.4% 26.1% 25.6% 30.6% 40 Reconciliation from Reported to Organic Revenue Change by Segment Morningstar Direct Platform Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 Reported Change in Revenue 9.4% 5.9% 5.2% 1.7% 1.3% 6.2% 6.3% 7.7% 8.0% Acquisitions, divestitures, and accounting changes 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 2.0% 1.9% 1.6% 1.1% 0.3% 0.2% Effect of foreign currency transactions (0.5%) 0.3% (0.5%) (0.1%) 1.0% (1.5%) (1.2%) (2.0%) (3.2%) Organic Change in Revenue 8.9% 6.2% 4.7% 3.6% 4.2% 6.3% 6.2% 6.0% 5.0% PitchBook Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 Reported Change in Revenue 12.6% 10.9% 12.2% 12.5% 10.9% 9.8% 7.9% 6.2% 5.3% Acquisitions, divestitures, and accounting changes 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% (0.2%) (0.2%) (0.3%) (0.2%) Effect of foreign currency transactions 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.2% 0.2% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% (0.3%) Organic Change in Revenue 12.6% 10.9% 12.2% 12.7% 11.1% 9.6% 7.7% 5.9% 4.8% Morningstar Credit Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 Reported Change in Revenue 28.8% 43.2% 34.0% 33.8% 21.1% 9.5% 28.5% 27.9% 38.4% Acquisitions, divestitures, and accounting changes 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.4% (0.3%) (0.7%) (0.7%) (0.6%) Effect of foreign currency transactions (0.9%) 1.0% 0.0% 0.7% 1.7% (0.8%) (0.8%) (1.5%) (3.5%) Organic Change in Revenue 27.9% 44.2% 34.0% 34.5% 23.2% 8.4% 27.0% 25.7% 34.3%
41 Reconciliation from Reported to Organic Revenue Change by Segment Morningstar Wealth Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 Reported Change in Revenue 7.5% 12.2% 6.6% 6.2% 3.9% 2.7% 0.5% (2.0%) (5.4%) Acquisitions, divestitures, and accounting changes 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.5% 2.4% 5.0% 9.6% 9.3% 7.5% Effect of foreign currency transactions 0.2% 0.2% (0.5%) (0.5%) 1.6% (0.5%) (0.3%) (1.0%) (3.7%) Organic Change in Revenue 7.7% 12.4% 6.1% 6.2% 7.9% 7.2% 9.8% 6.3% (1.6%) Morningstar Retirement Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 Reported Change in Revenue 12.7% 21.5% 14.8% 11.3% 15.8% (2.7%) 7.5% 13.4% 17.9% Acquisitions, divestitures, and accounting changes 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% Effect of foreign currency transactions 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% Organic Change in Revenue 12.7% 21.5% 14.8% 11.3% 15.8% (2.7%) 7.5% 13.4% 17.9% 42 Reconciliation from Reported to Organic Revenue Change by Product Area Morningstar Data Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 Reported Change in Revenue 10.2% 5.0% 4.9% 1.9% 3.1% 12.6% 10.9% 9.6% 9.4% Acquisitions, divestitures, and accounting changes 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% (0.4%) (1.4%) 0.5% 0.3% Effect of foreign currency transactions (0.7%) 0.3% (0.7%) (0.1%) 1.0% (2.1%) (1.8%) (2.3%) (3.4%) Organic Change in Revenue 9.5% 5.3% 4.2% 1.8% 4.1% 10.1% 7.7% 7.8% 6.3% Morningstar Direct Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 Reported Change in Revenue 12.5% 11.3% 10.0% 9.2% 5.6% 6.0% 7.3% 8.5% 9.4% Acquisitions, divestitures, and accounting changes 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% Effect of foreign currency transactions (0.5%) 0.4% (0.4%) 0.0% 1.2% (1.5%) (1.7%) (2.2%) (3.4%) Organic Change in Revenue 12.0% 11.7% 9.6% 9.2% 6.8% 4.5% 5.6% 6.3% 6.0% Morningstar Advisor Workstation* Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 Reported Change in Revenue 5.3% 2.3% (2.6%) (0.7%) (1.3%) 0.0% 4.5% 2.7% (2.6%) Acquisitions, divestitures, and accounting changes 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% Effect of foreign currency transactions (0.1%) 0.2% 0.2% 0.2% 0.9% (0.2%) 0.6% (0.3%) (0.7%) Organic Change in Revenue 5.2% 2.5% (2.4%) (0.5%) (0.4%) (0.2%) 5.1% 2.4% (3.3%) *Includes revenue attributable to Morningstar Direct Advisory Suite. 43 Reconciliation from Reported to Organic Revenue Change by Product Area Morningstar Credit Canada Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 Reported Change in Revenue 15.1% 27.9% 11.2% 33.0% 0.0% (3.5%) 48.5% 19.4% 46.8% Acquisitions, divestitures, and accounting changes 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% Effect of foreign currency transactions (0.5%) 2.4% 1.9% 3.9% 6.4% 0.8% 1.5% (0.5%) (6.5%) Organic Change in Revenue 14.6% 30.3% 13.1% 36.9% 6.4% (2.7%) 50.0% 18.9% 40.3% Morningstar Credit EMEA Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 Reported Change in Revenue 16.5% 27.3% 22.1% 7.9% 36.4% 26.9% 24.2% 43.1% 32.7% Acquisitions, divestitures, and accounting changes 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% (4.6%) (4.8%) (4.0%) (2.9%) Effect of foreign currency transactions (3.0%) 0.3% (2.5%) (1.3%) 0.7% (6.8%) (5.8%) (8.5%) (10.1%) Organic Change in Revenue 13.5% 27.6% 19.6% 6.6% 37.1% 15.5% 13.6% 30.6% 19.7% 44 Reconciliation from Reported to Organic Revenue Change by Product Area Investment Management Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 Reported Change in Revenue 13.5% 21.8% 14.5% 14.8% 7.4% (1.7%) (1.1%) (3.5%) 1.1% Acquisitions, divestitures, and accounting changes 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 1.0% 4.6% 9.4% 17.9% 17.5% 13.5% Effect of foreign currency transactions 0.4% 0.2% (1.2%) 0.4% 2.8% (1.5%) (0.7%) (1.7%) (4.0%) Organic Change in Revenue 13.9% 22.0% 13.3% 16.2% 14.8% 6.2% 16.1% 12.3% 10.6% Morningstar Indexes Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 Reported Change in Revenue 37.0% 37.3% 24.4% 22.0% 15.0% (1.0%) (0.5%) 1.4% 42.6% Acquisitions, divestitures, and accounting changes 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% (42.3%) Effect of foreign currency transactions 0.1% 0.5% (0.7%) (0.1%) 0.7% (0.3%) (0.3%) (0.5%) (1.0%) Organic Change in Revenue 37.1% 37.8% 23.7% 21.9% 15.7% (1.3%) (0.8%) 0.9% (0.7%) Morningstar Sustainalytics Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 Reported Change in Revenue 12.8% 0.0% (9.7%) (3.3%) (6.5%) (6.5%) 0.7% (5.4%) (7.6%) Acquisitions, divestitures, and accounting changes 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% Effect of foreign currency transactions (0.6%) 0.7% (0.6%) 0.0% 1.6% (3.3%) (3.7%) (4.9%) (6.5%) Organic Change in Revenue 12.2% 0.7% (10.3%) (3.3%) (4.9%) (9.8%) (3.0%) (10.3%) (14.1%)
45 Reconciliation from Consolidated Adjusted Operating Income to Consolidated Operating Income ($mil) *Corporate and All Other includes unallocated corporate expenses as well as adjusted operating income/loss from Morningstar Sustainalytics and Morningstar Indexes. Unallocated corporate expenses include certain management-related costs that are not considered when segment performance is evaluated. Q1 25 Q1 26 Adjusted Operating Income (Loss) Morningstar Direct Platform $87.1 $91.0 PitchBook 52.3 51.6 Morningstar Credit 21.4 41.2 Morningstar Wealth (0.8) 5.6 Morningstar Retirement 14.6 19.8 Total Reportable Segments $174.6 $209.2 Less: Corporate and All Other* (39.2) (30.6) Total Adjusted Operating Income $135.4 $178.6 Intangible amortization expense (14.4) (19.0) M&A-related expenses (6.9) (4.6) Other non-recurring items 0.0 0.9 Operating Income $114.1 $155.9 46 Reconciliation from Operating Margin to Adjusted Operating Margin Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 Operating Margin 17.1% 19.0% 20.3% 28.5% 19.6% 20.7% 20.7% 24.9% 24.2% Excluding (1) intangible amortization expense, (2) M&A-related expenses, and (3) other non-recurring items. 3.3% 3.9% 2.6% (7.9%) 3.7% 3.0% 3.7% (1.0%) 3.5% Adjusted Operating Margin 20.4% 22.9% 22.9% 20.6% 23.3% 23.7% 24.4% 23.9% 27.7% 47 Reconciliation from Total Operating Expenses to Adjusted Operating Expense ($mil) Q1 24 Q2 24 Q3 24 Q4 24 Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 Operating Expense $450.2 $463.4 $453.9 $486.8 $467.8 $480.8 $490.1 $505.1 $489.8 Excluding (1) intangible amortization expense, (2) M&A-related expenses, and (3) other non-recurring items. (18.2) (22.5) (14.8) (17.5) (21.3) (19.1) (23.3) (17.5) (23.6) Adjusted Operating Expense $432.0 $440.9 $468.7 $469.3 $446.5 $461.7 $466.8 $487.6 $466.2 48 Q1 26 Operating and Free Cash Flow ($mil) Q1 25 Q1 26 % Change Cash provided by operating activities $91.0 $91.5 0.5% Capital expenditures (32.2) (37.9) 17.7% Free cash flow $58.8 $53.6 (8.8%)
Appendix C: Additional Information 50 Investor Q&A Schedule For questions received by 5pm CT on: Expected 8-K Response Date: May. 5, 2026 May. 22, 2026* Jun. 5, 2026 Jun. 25, 2026 Aug. 5, 2026 Aug. 25, 2026 The Company follows a schedule for responding to investor questions. It provides responses during months when it is not reporting earnings. The Company continues to consolidate responses to questions addressing similar themes. If we have not received any questions for which we are providing a new or updated response, we will not file an 8-K. Please see below for the expected schedule. *Responses to questions addressed at Morningstar's Annual Shareholder Meeting will not be included in the 8-K expected to be filed on May 22, 2026.
© April 29, 2026. Morningstar. All Rights Reserved. Letter from CEO Kunal Kapoor First-Quarter Earnings 2026 Dear Morningstar shareholders, Morningstar reported strong results to open 2026, with first quarter revenue increasing 10.8%, or 7.6% on an organic basis, while operating income and adjusted operating income increased 36.6% and 31.9%, respectively. We remained active in the market for our shares, repurchasing 1.7 million shares for a total of $300.0 million. I am taking a different approach for this quarter’s communications. Late last month, I shared my latest thoughts on the business in our annual report, so this quarter, in place of a longer letter from me, I am sharing a written Q&A with President of Morningstar Credit Detlef Scholz. Today, Morningstar Credit is our third-largest business after Morningstar Direct Platform and PitchBook. It is coming off a standout year and first quarter in 2026, as it surpassed $100 million in revenue for a second consecutive quarter, with broad-based growth across asset classes and geographies and meaningful contributions to adjusted operating income. While the business will be more volatile than our subscription businesses, I am bullish about its long-term prospects. Detlef shares his perspective on how that business has changed since we acquired DBRS in 2019, how the team is thinking about the opportunity and risks in the private credit markets, and where else he is seeing growth potential. But first, a quick recap of our progress in the overall business. Business Highlights Morningstar Direct Platform and PitchBook continued to make important contributions to growth in the first quarter. PitchBook reported revenue growth of 5.3%, or 4.8% on an organic basis. This represented a slowdown from 2025 revenue growth. Softness in corporates remains a challenge, as we experience a more competitive environment for customers with narrower use cases. We have also seen slower growth in our core client segments, especially in venture capital where smaller firms are navigating a tough environment for fundraising and exits. Still, we believe the long-term demand for high-quality, trusted data in the private markets remains intact. With the commercial organization restructuring we completed in late 2025, we have sharpened our focus on our highest-value segments and deepest client relationships. We continue to enhance our product offering with the extension of PitchBook Navigator, our in-platform generative AI assistant, and expansion of our AI capabilities and collaborations, including with Anthropic's Claude for Financial Services, ChatGPT by OpenAI, Perplexity, Rogo, and Hebbia. We believe that our foundation, built around curated data, research, intellectual property, and software, positions PitchBook to deliver improving performance as these investments mature. As you know, we closed on our acquisition of the Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP) in February. Earlier today, Vanguard announced the coming rebrand of its investable product suite based on the CRSP Market Indexes, with over $3 trillion in investor assets linked. Later this year, the CRSP indexes will be rebranded to Morningstar, and the Vanguard ETFs and mutual funds based on these indexes will undergo a name change to include the Morningstar brand. This represents an important step in our relationship with Vanguard, with whom we share a focus on providing efficient, low cost, high- quality, and transparent access to global markets for all investors. I am excited for other investors to use these indexes, too. We think Morningstar Indexes offers a terrific value proposition, and meaningful assets are now tied to our offering.
Letter from CEO Kunal Kapoor First-Quarter Earnings 2026 © April 29, 2026. Morningstar. All Rights Reserved. Closing Thoughts I am looking forward to seeing many of you at our upcoming annual shareholders’ meeting, which will be held in our Chicago offices on Thursday, May 7. If you have not already registered, I would encourage you to come and hear the latest from our management team, including a live Q&A. This year, we’ve added additional time for product demos, which will be available during breakfast and immediately following the meeting. You can register to attend in-person or virtually here. Finally, a reminder that we will be taking investor question submissions through Tuesday, May 5 with a targeted 8-K response date of Friday, May 22 for any questions that we do not address at the annual shareholders’ meeting. For the full schedule through August, see page 50 of our investor presentation. What I'm Reading Here is recent commentary by our researchers that I especially enjoyed: • Has the Stock Market Really Been More Volatile Than Usual This Year?, Dan Lefkovitz, April 15, 2026 • Private Credit Underwriting Standards Remain Disciplined, Pablo Martinez and Michael Dimler, April 14, 2026 • BDC Credit Performance Under the Microscope, Anthony Tran, Watson Tanlamai, David Laterza, April 14, 2026 • When the Magnificent Seven Meet the Magnificent Few, Dan Lefkovitz, April 8, 2026 • Q1 2026: US Credit Markets Quarterly Wrap, Marina Lukatsky, Abby Latour, John Atkins, Jonathan Hemingway, Glen Fest, Rachelle Kakouris, Taron Wade, April 1, 2026 • Semiconductor Manufacturing: 2026 Q1 - Lofty AI expectations buoy 2026 capital expenditure and capacity plans, Phelix Lee, Jing Jie Yu, Kazunori Ito, Mach. 31, 2026. • The State of ELTIFs 2026, Mara Dobrescu, Francesco Paganelli, Shannon Kirwin, March 26, 2026 • Why the Semiliquid Fund Liquidity Crunch Was Inevitable, Jack Shannon, March 25, 2026 • Oil and Gas: 2026 Q1 - Commodity prices inflect sharply as international tensions flare, but long-term view unchanged, Josh Aguilar, Christian Fleming, Allen Good, Adam Baker, March 23, 2026 • ESG Resilience in Focus, Bin Dong, March 16, 2026 • Moat Ratings Guidebook Amid AI Disruption; Ratings Updates, Winners/Losers, and Top Picks, Eric Compton and Mark Giarelli, March 15, 2026 • The Morningstar Wide Moat Focus Index and the Changing Wide-Moat Landscape, Dan Lefkovitz, March 13, 2026 • Navigating the Energy Implications of the Iran War, Benny Wong, March 5, 2026 • Ignore the Noise: Retail Investment in Private Credit Is Just Beginning, Michael McTamney, Watson Tanlamai, Tim O’Brien, March 5, 2026 • Ranking the AI Giants: A New Framework for the Frontier Five, Harrison Rolfes, March 4, 2026 • As Legendary Manager Will Danoff Leaves Fidelity, Should Investors Follow Him Out the Door?, Robby Greengold, March 3, 2026 • The 2025 State of ESG Data Report, Morningstar Sustainalytics, March 3, 2026 • SpaceX Initiation Report: When Venus and Jupiter Align, Franco Granda, March 2, 2026 • Conflict in the Middle East Brings Economic Disruptions for the Gulf Countries and Beyond, Adriana Alvarado and Elisabeth Rudman, March 2, 2026 • How a Prominent Fund Manager Dodged 2026’s Software Stock Rout, Gregg Wolper, Feb. 25, 2026
Letter from CEO Kunal Kapoor First-Quarter Earnings 2026 © April 29, 2026. Morningstar. All Rights Reserved. • The Many Problems of Incentive Fees in Semiliquid Funds, Jack Shannon, Feb. 24, 2026 • Lessons From a Private Markets Bust: Why This ETF’s Investors Missed Out on SpaceX Gains, Jeffrey Ptak, Feb. 23, 2026 You may also appreciate these recent pieces that share more about our strategy and product innovations: • Kunal Kapoor, CEO, Morningstar On Leading A Financial Services Giant Through Change And Growth, Innovator's Exchange, April 15, 2026 • Morningstar CEO Kunal Kapoor on Market Crashes, AI, and Investing, The CEO Series, March 19, 2026 • Market Intelligence in the Age of AI: An Interview with Morningstar CEO, Kunal Kapoor, Net Interest Extra, March 17, 2026 • Morningstar Launches AI Assistant for Flagship Platform, WealthManagement.com, March 9, 2026 • Morningstar DBRS flags worsening private credit quality as downgrades increase, Reuters, Feb. 23, 2026 • Morningstar taps Experian veteran to lead direct platform push, InvestmentNews, Feb. 19, 2026 Thank you for your continued trust. Best regards, Kunal
© April 29, 2026. Morningstar. All Rights Reserved. Q&A with Detlef Scholz April 2026 Question: Morningstar DBRS is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary. Congratulations! You’ve been President of the Credit business since 2019, when Morningstar acquired DBRS. How has Morningstar Credit changed over that time? Answer: We’re excited to celebrate our 50th anniversary. It’s a big milestone. A lot has changed since the business was launched, particularly from its early years, when it was focused solely on the Canadian credit market. We’re now one of the four largest global credit rating agencies, with offices around the world. We believe that our success has been rooted in our nimble, service-driven, and customer-focused approach. Our investor- first mindset is grounded in the integrity of our analytical processes and our independence, best demonstrated by the unfettered views expressed by our analysts across sectors and geographies. An important part of our growth began with Morningstar’s acquisition of DBRS in 2019. Morningstar Credit’s trailing 12- month revenue through March 31, 2026, totaled $382.4 million. That is more than double our revenue in 2018. When you look at what has supported that growth, the first thing is that, despite strong competition, we’ve done a great job of maintaining our leadership position in Canada. And, as we’ve grown, one of our objectives has been seeking out close adjacencies, building on areas of expertise, and following our clients into new international markets. This has worked well. Outside of Canada, for example, it’s led us to areas where we’re able to compete on a level playing field with incumbent rating agencies. We’ve invested significantly to expand our Fundamental Credit Ratings business outside Canada. European corporate ratings, including coverage of middle-market lending, investment-grade private placements, and infrastructure and project financings, were an important driver of growth in 2025 and again in the first quarter of 2026. That’s an area where we didn’t have a meaningful business four years ago. We’ve also had success growing our business in structured finance, including so-called esoteric asset-backed securities (ABS). Most recently, as private credit has grown across asset classes, we are focused on applying the same rigorous analysis and transparent research that define our work in public markets. When you look at our business today compared to 2019, we’ve grown not only in terms of revenue, but also from a diversification perspective. We cover sovereigns, corporates, infrastructure and project financings, ABS, commercial real estate, residential mortgages, as well as all types of financial institutions. We’re active in Canada, Europe, and the United States, and recently opened an office in Sydney to support growth in the Asia Pacific region. Finally, we have been building a credit data and analytics business, which, while still small, has seen strong growth as clients look for ways to apply our credit ratings and analytical tools to support their own workflows. Finally, as Morningstar DBRS has grown, we have also leveraged Morningstar’s resources more broadly and, in particular, the depth and breadth of its data and research capabilities. For example, we have been able to replace certain external vendor services with Morningstar’s unique datasets. As we look to our next phase of growth, there’s a natural alignment between Morningstar Credit and PitchBook’s investments in LCD and Lumonic, with our shared focus on expanding private credit capabilities.
Q&A with Detlef Scholz April 2026 © April 29, 2026. Morningstar. All Rights Reserved. Question: Let’s talk a little more about private credit. What exactly is private credit, and how does it factor into Morningstar Credit’s growth? Answer: We’ve all read the recent private credit headlines. Part of the challenge is that the term means different things to different people. Many define private credit as directly originated loans provided by non-bank lenders that are not broadly syndicated. In practical terms, instead of a company issuing bonds that trade openly in the public debt markets, it borrows directly from a smaller group of lenders. When we talk about private credit ratings at Morningstar DBRS, we’re specifically talking about credit ratings that we have assigned, but, at the request of the issuer or lender, are not available on our website. These unpublished or “private” credit ratings may relate to private placements, asset-backed loans, and middle-market loans as well as project finance and infrastructure finance transactions. Importantly, these credit ratings span the full credit spectrum—from high investment grade to non-investment grade. Private credit ratings present an exciting growth opportunity for Morningstar DBRS. First, it’s a market that’s growing rapidly, as banks have stepped back from certain types of long-term lending after the global financial crisis. Second, it’s an area in which we can compete on a level playing field with incumbents. That’s because these markets don’t have the same index eligibility constraints that exist for the public bond markets or legacy investment mandates that often go unreviewed for decades at a time. In short, private credit ratings have been an important driver of growth for Morningstar DBRS in recent years. Unpublished credit ratings accounted for roughly a quarter of our credit ratings revenue and a quarter of our outstanding credit ratings in 2025. That’s roughly double the proportion of Morningstar DBRS outstanding credit ratings that were associated with unpublished credit ratings in 2019. Question: Concerns over private credit have been making headlines. What is Morningstar DBRS’ view of the risk here? Does private credit represent a systemic risk? Answer: First, private credit comes in many flavors. If you look at the broadest definition, according to Apollo Global Management, roughly $38 trillion of the roughly $51 trillion in the U.S. credit market is financed outside of traditional public markets. And of that, only 5% is sub-investment grade. That’s actually a lower proportion of below-investment grade exposure than you see in the public credit rating markets. If you focus specifically on the small slice of middle-market lending, which capital market participants often reference when talking about private credit, it’s true that this is predominantly a below-investment grade market. These are riskier credits with higher yields, so it’s not surprising to see higher default rates for this sector relative to investment-grade issuers, consistent with what you see in the public high-yield markets. Other than the default risk, investors are also considering the recoveries they can obtain post default. And, here again, middle-market lending compares well to the public high-yield markets. What’s important, though, is that you assess the credit risk appropriately. This is where we, as a credit rating agency, can add our value. As we look across the private middle-market portfolio that we rate today, default rates remain elevated, consistent with what we anticipated. We expect these conditions to persist at least through 2026. We’re seeing pressure on the weakest
Q&A with Detlef Scholz April 2026 © April 29, 2026. Morningstar. All Rights Reserved. borrowers in the market, largely coming from margin compression and rising debt levels, and in line with what we’d expect from borrowers in the deep non-investment grade space, those with single-B credit ratings or lower. Stepping back, however, we do not currently believe that this segment, which accounts for a rather small component of the broader private credit markets, poses a systemic risk. For more on how our analysts are thinking about risks in the private credit issuers we cover, please see our April 2026 Private Credit Rating Action Chartbook. Question: Critics have raised concerns about whether some rating agencies are assigning “inflated” credit ratings relative to their competitors, including in the private credit sector. How do you approach those issues? Answer: Rather than comparing credit ratings as “higher” or “lower” and credit rating agencies as more “conservative” or “aggressive,” we should compare credit rating performance to real outcomes. Our methodologies, and the actual performance of our credit ratings over our 50-year track record, are front and center for all to see. We believe transparency and the actual track record are the key ingredients necessary for a more informed discussion. The real questions are: Do lower-rated credits actually default more frequently, as suggested in the idealized default tables? Are higher-rated credits of a superior credit quality? The predictive power of a rating system suffers when credit rating agencies consistently rate highly performing credits too low and vice versa. On an annual basis, Morningstar DBRS publishes performance studies calculating the historical transition and default rates for our various credit rating categories and how they’ve changed over time. Across our portfolio, our most recent transition and default study shows that Morningstar DBRS credit ratings on bonds rated between 1976 and 2024, including private credit ratings, continue to perform as expected. We continue to see the incidence of defaults gradually picking up as credit ratings move down the credit rating scale. Another important performance indicator is the timeliness of updates by rating agencies when credit ratings should change up or down. Here, some rating agencies also tend to overshoot during times of market volatility, where they downgrade too quickly and later reverse the rating action. In short, we believe that the debate should be about the predictive quality of the credit ratings assigned by different agencies. And importantly, we’d also note that when providing private credit ratings, we’re using the exact same methodologies as we do in the public markets. The analysis and standards don’t change because a credit rating isn’t published. Question: Beyond private credit, what opportunities are you most excited about? Answer: There are a number of terrific growth opportunities we are pursuing, with application to both public and private credit markets. We continue to build our geographic footprint, most recently with the opening of a Morningstar DBRS office in Sydney to support growth in the Asia Pacific region. We’ve been rating the international offerings of Asia Pacific issuers for roughly 25 years, and with the opening of our new office, we are now able to bring our full range of services to wholesale clients and investors active in Australia and New Zealand. The response from existing and new clients has been really impressive. Next, I would highlight the increasing acceptance of our credit ratings globally, which supports growth across our business. We were pleased with the recent integration of Morningstar DBRS credit ratings into the Bank of New York Mellon’s Global
Q&A with Detlef Scholz April 2026 © April 29, 2026. Morningstar. All Rights Reserved. Collateral Platform, increasing liquidity for institutional investors who hold bonds rated by Morningstar DBRS. We’ve also seen a broadening base of recognition of our credit ratings for solvency and other regulatory calculations. For example, Morningstar DBRS credit ratings were recently confirmed eligible under Japan’s Economic Value-Based Solvency Regulation. More broadly, the relevance of credit ratings in regulatory, collateral, and investment frameworks continues to increase globally. Finally, from a sector perspective, we are excited about opportunities in the project finance, infrastructure, and asset- financing sector, where we have made meaningful investments in analytical and business development staff. This is a large, growing market that helps finance a wide range of projects, including bridges, roads, and stadiums, and is also one type of financing alternative for new data centers necessary to meet the surge in AI capabilities. Question: Let’s explore this further. What role do you see AI playing in the market for credit ratings? Answer: There is an immediate opportunity for Morningstar DBRS to provide credit ratings on the debt that is financing the buildout of AI capacity, and the corresponding infrastructure and energy transformation. I am talking about data centers, fiber networks, GPU purchases, transmission grids, etc. This is an area where we have been active and continue to see strong growth opportunities. We are also integrating AI to better serve our clients, deliver our IP, and publish our credit opinions and research faster than ever before. These efforts include incorporating AI to help our customers more easily understand and navigate our rating methodologies, transaction reports, surveillance and performance data, and making our software, data, and product offerings easier to use and more comprehensive for the benefit of our customers. Finally, consistent with a broader drive across Morningstar, we are focused on using AI to steadily increase the quality of our analytics and data while making our processes as efficient as possible. We believe we are one of the most agile and service-driven credit rating agencies, with AI further strengthening this advantage. Question: There is a lot of uncertainty in the markets as we wrap up the first quarter. How do you expect the current environment to affect issuance trends? Answer: It’s true that we are in a more uncertain economic environment. Visibility on what to expect seems more limited than six months ago. It is remarkable how the fixed-income markets have adapted to elevated volatility and ever-changing macroeconomic scenarios. So far, we haven’t seen any meaningful impact on issuance, which remained robust through the first quarter of the year. At this point, we’re seeing market participants continue their work without pause or hesitation, although geopolitical instability is clearly on everyone’s mind. If we see risks of a recession rise, or a sustained jump in inflation and/or interest rates, that would pose a challenge for all markets, including the credit markets. That said, credit markets have proven to be more resilient to short-term shocks, and our clients continue to exhibit confidence in executing on their strategic plans.
Q&A with Detlef Scholz April 2026 © April 29, 2026. Morningstar. All Rights Reserved. Question: What can market participants do to encourage greater competition in the credit ratings space and a level playing field for all credit rating agencies? Answer: The credit ratings market continues to be highly concentrated, with the two largest rating agencies’ dominance most pronounced in the U.S. corporate public bond markets. Despite attempts by policy makers to address this issue, the market dominance of the legacy rating agencies in corporate bond ratings remains frozen in their pre-great-financial-crisis configuration1. The issue isn’t the complexity of the required credit analysis. Instead, it is the switching costs and structural barriers preventing change. In structured finance, generally speaking, switching costs between credit rating agencies from one transaction to the next are nominal. In corporate finance, those costs are prohibitively high, thanks to investors’ legacy investment mandates, restrictive bond index eligibility definitions, and decades of embedded regulatory references that all point back to the same two or three firms. We believe that greater competition in the provision of credit ratings would benefit investors by increasing the diversity of opinions, broadening the range of analytical approaches available, encouraging innovation, and reducing systemic risk. Market participants can support this evolution. For starters, investors can insist on multiple credit opinions on their credit exposures. Further, they can support the broadening of accepted credit ratings in bond index definitions, and they can review and expand fund by-laws and investment mandates to recognize all U.S. nationally recognized statistical rating organizations (NRSROs) or the equivalent regulatory registrations elsewhere. This letter and the attached Q&A contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on our current expectations about future events or future financial or operating 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,” “will,” “think,” “can,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” “prospects,” or “continue.” These statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause the events we discuss not to occur or to differ significantly from what we expect. More information about factors that could affect Morningstar’s business and financial results, including expectations regarding the CRSP acquisition and Morningstar Indexes, Morningstar Credit, growth, market conditions, demand and product offerings, among other topics, are in our filings with the SEC, including our most recent reports on Forms 8-K, 10-K and 10-Q. Morningstar undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by law. In addition, this letter and the attached Q&A references non-GAAP financial measures including, but not limited to, organic revenue, free cash flow, adjusted operating income and adjusted operating margin. These non-GAAP measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies. A discussion of our first-quarter results, including a reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures described in this letter, is provided in our earnings release for the first quarter and ended March 31, 2026, which has been furnished to the SEC and is available on our website. This letter and the attached Q&A does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities of Morningstar in any jurisdiction. Articles and links referred to or included in this letter are not incorporated by reference into this letter or any other SEC filing. 1 For more detail see the Staff Report on Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations Section IV., page 16
FAQ
How did Morningstar (MORN) perform financially in the first quarter of 2026?
Morningstar delivered solid Q1 2026 results, with revenue up 10.8% to $644.8 million and operating income rising 36.6% to $155.9 million. Adjusted operating income reached $178.6 million, reflecting a stronger 27.7% adjusted operating margin and broad contributions across major segments.
Which Morningstar (MORN) segments drove growth in Q1 2026?
Growth was led by Morningstar Credit, where revenue rose 38.4% to $101.0 million and adjusted operating margin reached 40.8%. Morningstar Retirement revenue increased 17.9% to $38.8 million with a 51.0% margin, while Morningstar Direct Platform and PitchBook also contributed higher revenue.
How did Morningstar (MORN) use cash and manage its balance sheet in Q1 2026?
Morningstar generated $91.5 million in operating cash flow and $53.6 million in free cash flow. It increased debt to $1,712.8 million, spent $359.6 million on the CRSP acquisition, repurchased $300.0 million of stock, and paid $19.9 million in dividends, signaling active capital deployment.
How are Morningstar’s (MORN) non-GAAP metrics trending?
Non-GAAP metrics improved notably: organic revenue grew 7.6% to $617.8 million, adjusted operating income increased 31.9% to $178.6 million, and adjusted operating margin expanded to 27.7%, supported by disciplined expense growth and strong performance in Morningstar Credit and Retirement.