晨星二季度收入、利润和现金流同比增长，但财报惊喜不足以追买

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Morningstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment insights, reported growth in revenue, operating and adjusted operating income, and margins in the second quarter.

“We are continuing to deliver profitable growth with meaningful increases in operating and free cash flows," said Kunal Kapoor, Morningstar's CEO. "Morningstar is accelerating an ambitious strategy, unlocking speed to insights by building agentic workflows and tools atop our data, research, and intellectual property. We’re enabling broader access to this content through new and expanded collaborations with leading model and enterprise technology providers.

"We are also doubling down on helping investors navigate the convergence of public and private markets. Momentum is building with continued strength in Morningstar Credit partly driven by private ratings activity, Morningstar Wealth’s recent announcement of a collaboration to create public/private models with leading asset managers, and expanded research coverage including the latest State of Semiliquid Fund s report."

The Company's quarterly shareholder letter available at shareholders.morningstar.com provides more context on its second-quarter results and business performance.

Second-Quarter 2026 Financial Highlights

Reported revenue increased 9.6% to $663.2 million compared to the prior-year period; organic revenue increased 6.8%. Excluding the impact from the sunsetting of certain products, organic revenue would have increased 8.2%.

Reported operating income increased 28.4% to $160.6 million; adjusted operating income increased 22.7%.

Diluted net income per share increased 35.4% to $2.83; adjusted diluted net income per share increased 29.2% to $3.10.

Cash provided by operating activities increased 57.3% to $155.7 million; free cash flow increased 96.3% to $122.5 million.

Share repurchases totaled 567,844 shares for $100.0 million.

Year-To-Date Financial Highlights

Reported revenue increased 10.2% to $1.3 billion compared to the prior-year period; organic revenue increased 7.2%. Excluding the impact from the sunsetting of certain products, organic revenue would have increased 8.5%.

Reported operating income increased 32.3% to $316.5 million; adjusted operating income increased 27.2%.

Diluted net income per share increased 41.9% to $5.55; adjusted diluted net income per share increased 35.4% to $6.27.

Cash provided by operating activities increased 30.1% to $247.2 million; free cash flow increased 45.3% to $176.1 million.

Share repurchases totaled 2,291,256 shares for $400.0 million.

Second-Quarter 2026 Results

Revenue increased 9.6% to $663.2 million on a reported basis and 6.8% on an organic basis versus the prior-year period. Morningstar Credit, Morningstar Direct Platform, and PitchBook were the largest contributors to organic revenue growth. Excluding the impact of the sunsetting of Morningstar Office in Morningstar Wealth and the second-party opinions product in Morningstar Sustainalytics, organic revenue would have increased 8.2%.

Operating expense increased 5.9% to $509.4 million versus the prior-year period. The largest driver was a $7.4 million increase in compensation costs, primarily due to higher stock-based compensation and bonus expense, which included the impact of strong performance compared to targets. A $6.7 million increase in certain technology infrastructure costs, including higher cloud spending primarily related to the migration from on-premise data centers and computer and software costs associated with AI initiatives also contributed, as did a $5.6 million increase in intangible amortization expenses primarily due to the February 2026 acquisition of the Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP).

Second-quarter operating income increased 28.4% to $160.6 million. Adjusted operating income was $175.9 million, an increase of 22.7%. Second-quarter operating margin was 24.2%, compared with 20.7% in the prior-year period. Adjusted operating margin was 26.5% in the second quarter of 2026, versus 23.7% in the prior-year period. The acquisition of CRSP was accretive to adjusted operating margin in the quarter.

Net income in the second quarter of 2026 was $107.8 million, or $2.83 per diluted share, compared with net income of $89.0 million, or $2.09 per diluted share, in the prior-year period, an increase of 35.4% on a per diluted share basis. Adjusted diluted net income per share increased 29.2% to $3.10 in the second quarter of 2026, compared with $2.40 in the prior-year period.

The Company's effective tax rate increased to 26.2% in the second quarter of 2026 versus 22.8% in the prior-year period, primarily due to a negative tax impact resulting from the vesting of employee stock-based compensation in 2026 compared with a tax benefit resulting from vesting activity in 2025. Deferred taxes recorded in the second quarter of 2026 with respect to unremitted foreign earnings also contributed.

Segment Highlights

Morningstar Direct Platform

Morningstar Direct Platform contributed $222.1 million to consolidated revenue and $12.9 million to consolidated revenue growth, with revenue increasing 6.2% compared to the prior-year period, or 4.8% on an organic basis. Higher revenue was primarily driven by Morningstar Data and Morningstar Direct. Morningstar Data organic revenue growth was driven in part by expansion with existing clients supported by new use cases, with continued strength in the managed investment data and Morningstar Essentials products, partially offset by softness in exchange market data. Morningstar Direct growth reflected increased revenue per license and expansion with existing clients in reporting solutions. Direct licenses were relatively flat compared with the prior-year period.

Morningstar Direct Platform adjusted operating income increased 4.2% to $100.3 million, and adjusted operating margin decreased 0.8 percentage points to 45.2%, due in part to higher compensation costs largely driven by a shift of additional research and sales resources to support Direct Platform growth priorities, partially offset by targeted reorganizations in the fourth quarter of 2025. Increased technology infrastructure costs primarily driven by cloud migration also contributed.

PitchBook

PitchBook contributed $174.7 million to consolidated revenue and $8.2 million to consolidated revenue growth, with revenue increasing 4.9% on a reported and organic basis compared to the prior-year period. The increase in revenue was primarily driven by the PitchBook platform and strength in the direct data business, which continued to expand from a smaller revenue base. Growth reflected contributions from most core investor and advisor client segments, partially offset by softness in venture capital and elevated churn in the corporate client segment. Licensed user counts were relatively flat compared to the prior-year period.

PitchBook adjusted operating income increased 0.4% to $53.0 million, and adjusted operating margin decreased 1.4 percentage points to 30.3%. The decline in adjusted operating margin was largely driven by an increase in compensation costs, which included the impact of additional headcount to support new growth initiatives. Increased technology infrastructure costs primarily related to AI initiatives also contributed.

Morningstar Credit

Morningstar Credit contributed $104.9 million to consolidated revenue and $19.9 million to consolidated revenue growth, with revenue increasing 23.4% compared to the prior-year period, or 23.3% on an organic basis, supported by robust issuance. Revenue grew across geographies and most asset classes, with particular strength in US structured finance ratings and Canadian and US corporates.

Morningstar Credit adjusted operating income increased 26.2% to $38.5 million, and adjusted operating margin increased 0.8 percentage points to 36.7%. The increase in adjusted operating income and margin reflected rev