Leading Independent Investment Research, Morningstar, Inc.

Morningstar

Leading Independent Investment Research

Morningstar, Inc.

Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. We offer an extensive line of products and services for individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers, and retirement plan providers and sponsors. 

Morningstar provides data on more than 500,000 investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, along with real-time global market data on more than 16 million equities, indexes, futures, options, commodities, and precious metals, in addition to foreign exchange and Treasury markets. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its investment advisory subsidiaries, with more than $180 billion in assets under advisement or management as of June 30, 2015. We have operations in 27 countries.

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Thematic (Sector/Industry)

Australia Financials / Thematic (Sector/Industry)

Australia’s economic outlook is brighter following the release of better-than-expected fourth-quarter 2016 national accounts. We have long argued recession fears in Australia are overblown and growth in exports, consumption and public sector spending in the quarter underpin a more promising economic outlook. Real GDP growth of 2.4% for 2016 supports modestly positive operating conditions for the major banks. Despite GDP growth remaining below trend, it is in line with our medium-term GDP growth rate estimate of about 2.5% per year. In February 2017, the Reserve Bank of Australia, or RBA's, outlook predicts GDP growth around 3% in 2017 and 2018, with inflation to slowly return to the 2%-3% target band by 2018 and unemployment likely to remain around 5.75%.No changes to our fair value estimates, and at current prices, each bank is trading close to our valuations. <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/15" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:15:1">National Australia Bank Ltd (NAB AU)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/444" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:444:1">Westpac Banking Corp (WBC AU)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/14" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:14:1">Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (CBA AU)</a> are fairly valued with <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/443" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:443:1">Australia And New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) (ANZ AU)</a> trading 8% above our AUD 29 fair value estimate.Analysts: David Ellis and Ravi Reddy

Australia’s economic outlook is brighter following the release of better-than-expected fourth-quarter 2016 national accounts. We have long argued recession fears in Australia are overblown and growth in exports, consumption and public sector spending in the quarter underpin a more promising economic outlook. Real GDP growth of 2.4% for 2016 supports modestly positive operating conditions for the major banks. Despite GDP growth remaining below trend, it is in line with our medium-term GDP growth rate estimate of about 2.5% per year. In February 2017, the Reserve Bank of Australia, or RBA's, outlook predicts GDP growth around 3% in 2017 and 2018, with inflation to slowly return to the 2%-3% target band by 2018 and unemployment likely to remain around 5.75%.No changes to our fair value estimates, and at current prices, each bank is trading close to our valuations. National Australia Bank Ltd (NAB AU), Westpac Banking Corp (WBC AU) and Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (CBA AU) are fairly valued with Australia And New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) (ANZ AU) trading 8% above our AUD 29 fair value estimate.Analysts: David Ellis and Ravi Reddy

Stronger Economic Conditions and Good Credit Growth Supports Australia's Wide Moat-Rated Major Banks