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Mar 31, 2023

Morningstar Q1 2023 Earnings Report

Morningstar's Q1 2023 financial results were released, revealing revenue growth driven by license-based product areas, but impacted by soft credit issuance and market volatility.

Key Takeaways

Morningstar's first-quarter revenue grew by 5.0% to $479.7 million, with organic revenue up 2.8%. Growth was driven by license-based product areas, while asset-based and transaction-based areas faced headwinds. The company reported a net loss of $7.6 million, or ($0.18) per diluted share.

Revenue increased by 5.0% to $479.7 million, with organic revenue growing by 2.8%.

License-based revenue rose by 16.7%, driven by PitchBook, Morningstar Sustainalytics, Morningstar Data, and Morningstar Direct.

Asset-based revenue decreased by 4.7% due to lower revenue from Investment Management and Workplace Solutions.

The company is managing the business cautiously during this period of economic uncertainty and have slowed our headcount growth significantly in 2023.

Total Revenue
$480M
Previous year: $457M
+5.0%
EPS
$0.56
Previous year: $1.41
-60.3%
Assets under management and advisement
$249B
Previous year: $265B
-6.0%
Gross Profit
$261M
Previous year: $266M
-1.8%
Cash and Equivalents
$385M
Previous year: $545M
-29.3%
Free Cash Flow
-$6.1M
Previous year: -$4.5M
+35.6%
Total Assets
$5.14B
Previous year: $2.87B
+79.2%

Morningstar

Morningstar

Morningstar Revenue by Segment

Forward Guidance

The company expects significant product enhancements in the coming months, including the integration of LCD into PitchBook, the launch of our index calculation capability, the introduction of our climate data, the buildout of our wealth platform, and the expansion of our ratings effort across even more managed investment products.

Positive Outlook

  • Integration of LCD into PitchBook
  • Launch of index calculation capability
  • Introduction of climate data
  • Buildout of wealth platform
  • Expansion of ratings effort across more managed investment products

Challenges Ahead

  • Soft credit issuance
  • Market volatility
  • Economic uncertainty
  • Decline in asset-based revenue
  • Decline in transaction-based revenue

Revenue & Expenses

Visualization of income flow from segment revenue to net income