The Calvin T. Ryan Library has recently subscribed to Morningstar Library Edition. One of the most comprehensive financial databases, Morningstar is designed to provide information to assist investors in making decisions about stocks, funds, industries, and portfolio makeup. It contains three main features:
1. "Screeners." Morningstar's screens allow the user to create short lists of possible investments in mutual funds, stocks, and exchange traded funds (ETF's), based on the user's choice of criteria. Users can choose from 220 "data points," or criteria, to create customized lists of mutual funds, 470 data points to create lists of stocks, and 100 data points to create lists of ETF's. For instance, a user might want a list of stocks with low debt in the utility industry; these screens are a handy tool to use to create such a list.
2. "Reports and Returns." Data reports in this section cover more than 20,000 stocks, mutual funds, and ETF's. In addition, Morningstar's analysts provide what they call "in-depth" analysis for 1,800 stocks, 2,000 funds, and 150 ETF's, as well as the analyst's buy/sell timing advice. The information in the data reports is real-time and includes not only stock price quotes but also prices of trades in put and call options. The "Reports and Returns" section also provides performance data for indexes, sectors, industries, and fund categories.
3. "Portfolio X-Ray." According to Morningstar, "Portfolio X-Ray" is a sophisticated analytical tool that allows users to view their portfolios in a variety of ways, and then make intelligent decisions about adding, dropping, or reallocating investments. "While the tool and the resulting analysis are quite sophisticated, Morningstar's graphical representation of results are [sic] easy for even novice investors to understand."
To access Morningstar Library Edition, go to the Library's home page at http://rosi.unk.edu and select "Online Reference Resources". Then select "Business" and then "Morningstar Library Edition".
Previous In Brief Online articles are available at this link:
http://www.unk.edu/acad/library/inbrief/index.php?id=3065
John Lillis, Archives Librarian
308.865.8544
lillisj@unk.edu