Top Japanese Companies To Own In Right Now

Top Japanese Companies To Own In Right Now: Morningstar Inc.(MORN)

Morningstar, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides independent investment research to investors worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Investment Information and Investment Management. The Investment Information segment offers data, software, and research products and services for individual investors, financial advisors, and institutional clients. It provides Licensed Data, a set of investment data spanning various investment databases, including real-time pricing data available through electronic data feeds; Morningstar Advisor Workstation, a Web-based investment planning system; Morningstar.com, a membership service and Internet advertising space; Morningstar Direct, a Web-based institutional research platform; integrated Web tools to build customized Websites or enhance existing sites; Morningstar Principia, a CD-ROM-based investment research and planning software; Morningstar commodity data that provides data and analytics for the energy, financial, and agriculture sectors; equity and corporate credit research; and Morningstar structured credit ratings and research services. This segment also offers various financial communications materials, real-time data and desktop software, investment software, and investment indexes, as well as various print and online publications. The Investment Management segment offers various products and services, such as Investment Consulting that focuses on investment monitoring and asset allocation for funds of funds, including mutual funds and variable annuities; Retirement Solutions comprising the Morningstar Retirement Manager and Advice by Ibbotson platforms; and Morningstar Managed Portfolios, a asset management service includes series of mutual fund, exchange-traded fund, and stock portfolios. This segment serves banks, brokerage firms, insurance companies, mutual fund companies, and retirement plan sponsors and providers. Morningstar, Inc. was founded in 1984 and! is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Calling all cash flows
  When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Morningstar (Nasdaq: MORN  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Financial information provider Morningstar (NASDAQ: MORN  ) announced yesterday its second-quarter dividend of $0.125 per share, the same rate it's paid the last two quarters after it increased it 25% from $0.10 per share.

• [By Bill Smith]

  FDS operates in a highly competitive industry, some with more resources. Their competitors include:
  Thomson Reuters Corp. (TRI)BloombergInteractive (IDC)MSCI Inc. (MXB)Morningstar Inc. (MORN)Track Data Corp. (TRAC)Edgar Online (EDGR)McGraw-Hill (MHP )

• [By Reuters]

  Mark Lennihan/APAbercrombie & Fitch CEO Michael Jeffries An Abercrombie & Fitch shareholder urged the teen apparel retailer to replace Chief Executive Officer Mike Jeffries after his contract expires in February, failing which the company should look to sell itself. Engaged Capital, which owns less than 1 percent of the company's shares, said in a letter to the board Tuesday that the expiration of Jeffries' term is an opportunity for the board to set a new direction for the company. Engaged Capital, a young activist investment firm led by former Relational Investors managing director Glenn Welling, said a sale of the company to a private equity buyer may represent the best option for shareholders. "However, as we have learned through discussions with industry insiders and private equity firms, Mr. Jeffries' presence represents a major stumbling block to a transaction," the activist investment! firm sai! d in the letter. Abercrombie's (ANF) shares, which have lost about 30 percent of their value this year, rose 6.4 percent to $36.20 by midday. Analysts have raised concerns about the company's ability to revitalize its merchandise, citing management's focus on cost-cutting, marketing and distribution instead of product and design. "A little fresh blood would definitely benefit the company," Morningstar (MORN) analyst Bridget Weishaar told Reuters. However, she said the board has been very supportive of Jeffries. "So, I'd be highly doubtful if this letter changes anything." Engaged Capital said there appeared to be no qualified successor within the company to replace 69-year-old Jeffries, who has been CEO for 16 years. His current contract includes a clause that he would receive over $100 million if the company changes control. Jeffries owned about 1.3 percent of Abercrombie's shares as of July 30. The company wasn't immediately available for comment. Engaged Capital said it owned about 400,000 shares of Abercrombie. The company has about 76.4 mil

source from Top Penny Stocks For 2015:http://www.topstocksforum.com/top-japanese-companies-to-own-in-right-now.html