Morningstar Announces Nominees for 2020 Morningstar Awards for Investing Excellence

CHICAGO, June 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Morningstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, today announced the nominees for the 2020 Morningstar Awards for Investing Excellence. The awards recognize portfolio managers, asset management firms, and up-and-coming managers who demonstrate excellent investment skill and an alignment of interests with the strategies' investors.

Morningstar selects nominees in three categories: Outstanding Portfolio Manager, Exemplary Stewardship, and Rising Talent. The nominees for the 2020 Morningstar Awards for Investing Excellence in the United States are:

Outstanding Portfolio Manager:

• Charles T. "Chuck" Akre of Akre Capital Management, manager of Akre Focus (AKRIX)
• Jerome Clark of T. Rowe Price, manager of T. Rowe Price Retirement Series
• Tad Rivelle, Laird Landmann, Steve Kane, and Bryan Whalen of TCW, managers of Metropolitan West Total Return Bond (MWTIX), among others
• Mary Ellen Stanek of Baird, manager of Baird Core Plus Bond (BCOIX) and Baird Aggregate Bond (BAGIX), among others
• Joel Tillinghast of Fidelity, manager of Fidelity Low-Priced Stock (FLPSX), among others

Exemplary Stewardship:

• Capital Group (American Funds)
• Dodge & Cox
• T. Rowe Price

Rising Talent:

• John Dance of Fidelity, manager of Fidelity Emerging Markets (FEMKX)
• Wyatt Lee of T. Rowe Price, manager of T. Rowe Price Retirement Series, among others
• John McClain of Diamond Hill, manager of Diamond Hill Corporate Credit (DSIYX) and Diamond Hill High Yield (DHHIX)
• Mohit Mittal of Pimco, manager of Pimco Investment Grade Credit (PIGIX) and Pimco Total Return (PTTRX), among others

"We're pleased to present this year's award nominees. Our Outstanding Portfolio Manager nominees have distinguished themselves by staying true to their process, building strong research teams, and delivering impressive long-term returns to investors," said Sarah Bush, Morningstar's director of manager research, North America. "Firms that are nominated for the Exemplary Stewardship award have all carefully nourished an 'investors-first' culture that shows in strong results for shareholders. Nominees for the Rising Talent award include portfolio managers who have excelled over shorter tenures and show great leadership potential."

Read more about each of our nominees on Morningstar.com: Outstanding Portfolio Manager, Exemplary Stewardship, and Rising Talent.

Morningstar will announce the award winners on Monday, June 22, 2020. CNBC's "Power Lunch" will feature the award winners on its program throughout the week. Live updates from award announcements will be available on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/MorningstarInc or through the event hashtag, #MstarAwards.

Morningstar has granted annual awards to accomplished portfolio managers since 1988. The Morningstar Awards for Investing Excellence winners are chosen based on research and in-depth qualitative evaluation by Morningstar's manager research group. For more information about Morningstar Awards, visit https://go.morningstar.com/Morningstar-Awards. A list of current Morningstar Medalists is available here to Morningstar.com Premium Members. 

Methodology
To be eligible for the Outstanding Portfolio Manager award, managers must run one or more investment strategies that are under Morningstar manager research analyst coverage and currently earn a Morningstar Analyst Rating™ (Analyst Rating) of Gold or Silver for at least one vehicle and/or share class. Exemplary Stewardship nominees must have received a Parent Pillar rating of Positive or High (if rated under the enhanced ratings methodology introduced in November 2019) from Morningstar's manager research analysts, which indicates the firm's stewardship practices exceed the industry standard. Rising Talent award nominees must be managers who run investment strategies that have received an Analyst Rating of Gold, Silver, or Bronze for at least one vehicle and/or share class or who have been featured in Morningstar Prospects, a publication that highlights strategies under consideration for full analyst coverage. To be eligible for the Rising Talent award, nominees must have no more than seven years of public portfolio-management and delivered promising results over that period. The full methodology for the awards is available here.

About Morningstar, Inc.
Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The Company offers an extensive line of products and services for individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers, retirement plan providers and sponsors, and institutional investors in the debt and private capital markets. Morningstar provides data and research insights on a wide range of investment offerings, including 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 $179 billion in assets under advisement and management as of March 31, 2020. The Company has operations in 27 countries. For more information, visit www.morningstar.com/company. Follow Morningstar on Twitter @MorningstarInc.

Morningstar's Manager Research Group consists of various wholly owned subsidiaries of Morningstar, Inc. including, but not limited to, Morningstar Research Services LLC. Analyst Ratings are subjective in nature and should not be used as the sole basis for investment decisions. Analyst Ratings are based on Morningstar's Manager Research Group's current expectations about future events and therefore involve unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause such expectations not to occur or to differ significantly from what was expected. Analyst Ratings are not guarantees nor should they be viewed as an assessment of a fund's, CIT's or separately managed account's underlying securities' creditworthiness. This press release is for informational purposes only; references to securities or a separately managed account investment strategy in this press release should not be considered an offer or solicitation to buy or sell the securities or to invest in accordance with that strategy.

©2020 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Media Contact: Sarah Wirth, +1 312 244-7358 or [email protected]

SOURCE Morningstar, Inc.

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