Winners Announced for 2019 U.S. Morningstar Awards for Investing Excellence

CHICAGO, May 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Morningstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, today announced winners of its 2019 U.S. Morningstar Awards for Investing Excellence. The awards, featured on CNBC's "Power Lunch" program today, recognize portfolio managers, asset management firms, and up-and-coming managers who demonstrate the industry's very best attributes, including investment skill, the courage to differ from the consensus to benefit investors, and an alignment of interests with the strategies' investors. Morningstar selects leaders in three categories: Outstanding Portfolio Manager, Exemplary Stewardship and Rising Talent.

"Our 2019 winners have been great drivers of investor success," said Laura Pavlenko Lutton, Morningstar's director of manager research, North America. "The managers and firm selected all have one thing in common: they are investing and operating for the long haul by maintaining value-oriented strategies that stay true to client interests instead of their own."

The 2019 Morningstar Awards for Investing Excellence award winners in the United States are:

Outstanding Portfolio Manager: Dan Fuss, Loomis Sayles Bond (LSBDX)
Dan Fuss pioneered the benchmark-agnostic, multisector approach to fixed-income that has defined the firm's flagship Loomis Sayles Bond, which currently holds a Morningstar Analyst Rating™ of Silver, since 1991.

"During his tenure at Loomis Sayles, Fuss has demonstrated a value-driven, often contrarian, and aggressive strategy that has contributed to an impressive long-term record for the fund and its siblings," said Lutton. "That said, Fuss has not just chased yield or indiscriminately purchased cheap bonds during periods of market turmoil. At the core of his approach are deep research and careful analysis. Once an investment meets his criteria, he's been willing to go against the crowd and to buy and hold through bouts of market turbulence."

Substantial risks exist in Loomis Sayles Bond, which has at times included single-digit allocations to dividend-paying common stock, but investors who have held the bond through the inevitable ups and downs have reaped topnotch long-term returns.

Exemplary Stewardship: The Vanguard Group
The Vanguard Group's unique corporate structure has made it a stand-out steward of capital since its mid-1970s origins. The firm's U.S. funds (and indirectly their shareholders) jointly own Vanguard, facilitating a commitment to rock-bottom fees and sensible investment strategies. 

"Vanguard's mission to serve investors is as broad as its influence on the U.S. asset-management industry through indexing, no-load distribution, and lowering costs for investment management," said Lutton. "The firm's investors have benefitted from its scale and its commitment to straightforward, well-executed strategies that consistently put investors first, which is the hallmark of strong stewardship."

Rising Talent: James Marchetti, PRIMECAP Odyssey Aggressive Growth (POAGX)
Marchetti is a named manager on PRIMECAP Odyssey Aggressive Growth (POAGX), and five additional strategies. All six strategies receive a Morningstar Analyst Rating of Gold. PRIMECAP has long invested heavily in biotech stocks, and successful biotech picks have been a major factor in the outstanding performance of PRIMECAP's six strategies during Marchetti's tenure at the firm despite providing occasional headaches.

"James Marchetti represents the next generation of talented investors at growth equity boutique PRIMECAP," said Lutton. "PRIMECAP has a long-standing record of investment excellence and doesn't often add to its managerial ranks. Marchetti's ascent suggests he will be a cornerstone for the firm's future."

For Morningstar's article about the winners, please click here. Live updates from the award announcement beginning today at 1 p.m. CT will be available on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/MorningstarInc or through the 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. The full methodology for the awards is available here. For more information about Morningstar Awards, visit https://go.morningstar.com/Morningstar-Awards.

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 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, and real-time global market data. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its investment advisory subsidiaries, with more than $210 billion in assets under advisement and management as of March 31, 2019. 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 or a fund'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.

©2019 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

MORN-R

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

SOURCE Morningstar, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.morningstar.com