CHICAGO, Feb. 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, today announced its fourth-quarter and full-year 2016 financial results. Net income in the fourth quarter was $70.3 million, or $1.63 per diluted share, compared with $37.3 million, or 85 cents per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2015. For the year ended Dec. 31, 2016, net income was $161.0 million, or $3.72 per diluted share, compared with $132.6 million, or $3.00 per diluted share, in 2015. Net income for the fourth quarter and full year in 2016 includes a holding gain of $37.1 million, or 86 cents per share, in connection with Morningstar's December 2016 acquisition of the remaining ownership interest in PitchBook Data, Inc. The holding gain reflects the higher price paid to acquire the remaining ownership interest versus the prices Morningstar previously paid for its minority ownership.

Key Operating Metrics


    --  Revenue for the quarter was $212.2 million, an increase of 5.3% compared
        with the same period in 2015. For the year, revenue was $798.6 million,
        an increase of 1.2% compared with $788.8 million in 2015. Organic
        revenue, which excludes acquisitions, divestitures, and the effect of
        foreign currency translations, rose 4.6%, or $9.3 million, in the fourth
        quarter, and 1.7%, or $13.8 million, for the year.
    --  Fourth-quarter operating income was $49.9 million, a decrease of 0.5%
        compared with the fourth quarter of 2015. Fourth-quarter operating
        margin was 23.5%, compared with 24.9% in the fourth quarter of 2015. For
        the year, operating income was $180.8 million, a decrease of 5.2%
        compared with $190.6 million in 2015. Full-year operating margin was
        22.6%, compared with 24.2% in 2015.
    --  Free cash flow for the quarter was $55.2 million, reflecting cash
        provided by operating activities of $70.5 million and capital
        expenditures of $15.3 million, an increase of $19.7 million in free cash
        flow compared with the same period in 2015. For the year, free cash flow
        was $150.9 million, reflecting cash provided by operating activities of
        $213.7 million and capital expenditures of $62.8 million, a decrease of
        $33.3 million in free cash flow compared with 2015.

Joe Mansueto, Morningstar founder and executive chairman, said, "While our 2016 revenue growth rate was lower than historical norms, we started to see some more positive signs toward the end of the year. Organic revenue was up 4.6% for the fourth quarter, led by strong growth in revenue from asset-based fees and a rebound in structured credit issuance. The investments we continued making in our workforce during 2016 should put us in a strong position to accelerate innovation, focus on execution, and drive long-term results for our shareholders."

Kunal Kapoor, chief executive officer, added, "We're concentrating on supporting our clients as they go through a period of significant change with a growing trend toward protecting investors' interests and reducing costs. We view the change happening in our industry as an opportunity to innovate, grow, and help meet investors' evolving needs. I'm particularly excited about our growth prospects in areas such as managed retirement accounts, Morningstar Direct, PitchBook, and Morningstar Managed Portfolios, as well as our core data and research capabilities."

Mansueto outlined some of the company's key accomplishments and challenges in 2016:

Accomplishments:


    --  Despite some uncertainty related to the future of the U.S. Department of
        Labor's fiduciary rule, which was previously scheduled to go into effect
        in April 2017, we believe recent shifts such as a greater emphasis on
        serving investors' interests and lowering fees are fundamental changes
        that are here to stay. We introduced several new product offerings and
        bundled solutions to help financial advisors determine, demonstrate, and
        document that their advice is in the best interest of the investor. We
        believe Morningstar is well-positioned to help our clients adapt to this
        new landscape and have had many positive discussions with financial
        advisors and asset managers about the solutions we can provide. In
        particular, we've increased our manager research coverage in response to
        growing demand for information that helps financial advisors show
        investors the thought process behind their investment recommendations.
    --  We added coverage of private capital markets--an area of growing
        investor interest--with our acquisition of PitchBook, which delivers
        data, research, and technology covering the breadth of the private
        capital markets, including venture capital, private equity, and mergers
        and acquisitions.
    --  To help investors evaluate funds based on environmental, social, and
        governance (ESG) factors, we introduced the Morningstar Sustainability
        Rating(TM) for Funds, which helps investors evaluate mutual funds and
        exchange-traded funds based on how well the companies held in their
        funds are managing their ESG risks and opportunities. We now provide
        ratings and related ESG metrics for approximately 35,000 funds globally.
        In addition, we purchased InvestSoft Technology, which helps investors
        analyze fixed-income securities and portfolios. We plan to incorporate
        InvestSoft's analytics in our software and data offerings during 2017,
        which will help us meet client requests for more robust fixed-income
        capabilities.
    --  Our Morningstar Managed Portfolios and Workplace Solutions product lines
        both had asset growth of more than 15% year over year, reflecting both
        new client additions and higher net inflows from existing clients.

Challenges:


    --  Overall, transaction-based revenue was down about 24% year over year.
        While new-issue volume for commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS)
        picked up during the fourth quarter of 2016, it was down about 25% for
        the full year, which had a negative effect on revenue for Morningstar
        Credit Ratings. Internet advertising sales also showed continued
        weakness as many advertisers have been shifting to programmatic buying
        platforms that target users based on key words instead of specific
        sites.
    --  Political and regulatory uncertainty has made some of our clients more
        cautious, resulting in longer-than-usual sales cycles for some products
        and lower revenue growth for some of our license-based products.
    --  Some legacy product lines within Morningstar Investment Management
        (institutional asset management, asset allocation, and manager
        selection) declined year over year, partly reflecting a strategic shift
        away from more customized investment advisory work in favor of
        Morningstar-branded, scalable investment management offerings that are
        built around a core set of select lists and investment strategies
        leveraging our proprietary research.

Update on Key Investment Areas


    --  Total assets under management and advisement for Workplace Solutions
        rose 16.4% during the year to $104.4 billion.
    --  Licenses for Morningstar Direct rose 9.3% to 12,492 as of Dec. 31, 2016,
        compared with 11,428 as of Dec. 31, 2015.
    --  Assets under management and advisement for Morningstar Managed
        Portfolios totaled $29.8 billion as of the end of the year, compared
        with $25.8 billion in 2015. More than 10,000 financial advisors globally
        now use Morningstar Managed Portfolios.
    --  Morningstar Credit Ratings completed 27 CMBS new-issue ratings in 2016,
        compared with 56 in 2015, reflecting both lower industry-wide issuance
        and negative market share trends. Separately, the Securities and
        Exchange Commission authorized an expansion of the registration for
        Morningstar Credit Ratings to rate corporate issuers and financial
        institutions as a nationally recognized statistical rating organization
        (NRSRO). This development will help Morningstar bring its
        investor-focused approach to a much broader portion of the U.S.
        fixed-income markets.
    --  The company introduced a family of Global Sustainability Indexes that
        incorporate ESG factors into the investment process. The indexes serve
        as benchmarks for active managers and as portfolio building blocks for
        creating passively managed investment products. Morningstar also
        launched the Morningstar Open Indexes Project, which provides
        open-source access to Morningstar's global equity indexes to the
        industry for benchmarking at no cost. The Open Indexes Project has the
        potential to change the index landscape and, in the long term,
        contribute to lower costs for institutional and individual investors.

Balance Sheet and Capital Allocation


    --  As of Dec. 31, 2016, the company had cash, cash equivalents, and
        investments totaling $304.0 million and $250.0 million of long-term
        debt, compared with cash, cash equivalents, and investments of $248.6
        million and $35.0 million of short-term debt as of Dec. 31, 2015. Debt
        increased mainly because the company expanded its existing revolving
        credit facility to fund the PitchBook acquisition in December 2016.
    --  Morningstar expects to make annual bonus payments of approximately $38.0
        million in the first quarter of 2017, compared with $50.0 million in the
        first quarter of 2016.
    --  In the fourth quarter of 2016, the company repurchased approximately
        147,000 shares of common stock for $10.7 million. For the full year, the
        company repurchased approximately 645,000 shares of common stock for
        $49.5 million. As of Dec. 31, 2016, the company had $327.1 million
        remaining under the current authorization for future repurchases and
        42.9 million shares of common stock outstanding.
    --  The company paid $37.9 million in dividends in 2016.

Comparability of Year-Over-Year Results
Certain items affected the comparability of fourth-quarter and full-year 2016 results versus the same periods in 2015.


    --  As mentioned above, net income for 2016 includes a holding gain of $37.1
        million, or 86 cents per share, in connection with Morningstar's
        December 2016 acquisition of the remaining ownership interest in
        PitchBook.
    --  Fourth-quarter results included $4.5 million in revenue and
        approximately $8.6 million of incremental operating expense from
        acquisitions. These totals include the results of PitchBook, which
        contributed $4.1 million of revenue and approximately $7.5 million of
        incremental operating expense (including about $1.1 million of
        acquisition-related expense incurred by Morningstar) during the
        one-month period that PitchBook was included in Morningstar's
        consolidated results for 2016.
    --  For the full year, acquired companies (primarily PitchBook) contributed
        revenue of $5.5 million and incremental operating expense of $11.2
        million.
    --  Foreign currency translations increased operating income by $1.2 million
        during the fourth quarter, reducing revenue by $3.2 million and
        operating expense by $4.4 million. For the year, foreign currency
        translations increased operating income by $2.0 million, reducing
        revenue by $9.5 million and operating expense by $11.5 million.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
The tables at the end of this press release include a reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measures used by the company to comparable GAAP measures and an explanation of why the company uses them.

Investor Communication
Morningstar encourages all interested parties--including securities analysts, current shareholders, potential shareholders, and others--to submit questions in writing. Investors and others may send questions about Morningstar's business to investors@morningstar.com.

Morningstar will make written responses to selected inquiries available to all investors at the same time in Form 8-Ks furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission, generally on the first Friday of every month.

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 $200 billion in assets under advisement and management as of Dec. 31, 2016. The company has operations in 27 countries.

Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements as that term is used in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on our current expectations about future events or future financial performance. Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain, and often contain words such as "may," "could," "expect," "intend," "plan," "seek," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "prospects," or "continue." These statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause the events we discuss not to occur or to differ significantly from what we expect. For us, these risks and uncertainties include, among others, liability for any losses that result from an actual or claimed breach of our fiduciary duties; failing to maintain and protect our brand, independence, and reputation; failing to differentiate our products and continuously create innovative, proprietary research tools; failing to respond to technological change, keep pace with new technology developments, or adopt a successful technology strategy; liability related to our storage of personal information related to individuals as well as portfolio and account-level information; liability relating to the acquisition or redistribution of data or information we acquire or errors included therein; compliance failures, regulatory action, or changes in laws applicable to our investment advisory or credit rating operations; failing to achieve the anticipated results with our acquisition of PitchBook or other acquisitions or minority investments; downturns in the financial sector, global financial markets, and global economy; the effect of market volatility on revenue from asset-based fees; the effect of changes in industry-wide issuance volume for commercial mortgage-backed securities; a prolonged outage of our database, technology-based products and services, or network facilities; challenges faced by our non-U.S. operations, including the concentration of data and development work at our offshore facilities in China and India; and trends in the mutual fund industry, including the increasing popularity of passively managed investment vehicles. A more complete description of these risks and uncertainties can be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015. If any of these risks and uncertainties materialize, our actual future results may vary significantly from what we expected. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements as a result of new information or future events.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures
To supplement Morningstar's condensed consolidated financial statements presented in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), Morningstar uses the following measures considered as non-GAAP by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: consolidated revenue excluding acquisitions, divestitures, and the effect of foreign currency translations (organic revenue) and free cash flow. These non-GAAP measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies.

Morningstar presents consolidated revenue excluding acquisitions, divestitures, and the effect of foreign currency translations (organic revenue) because the company believes this non-GAAP measure helps investors better compare period-over-period results.

In addition, Morningstar presents free cash flow solely as supplemental disclosure to help investors better understand how much cash is available after making capital expenditures. Morningstar's management team uses free cash flow to evaluate its business. Free cash flow should not be considered an alternative to any measure required to be reported under GAAP (such as cash provided by (used for) operating, investing, and financing activities).

For more information about these non-GAAP measures, please see the reconciliations provided in the accompanying financial tables.

All dollar and percentage comparisons, which are often accompanied by words such as "increase," "decrease," "grew," "declined, " or "was similar" refer to a comparison with the same period in the previous year unless otherwise stated.

©2017 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

MORN-E

Contacts:
Media: Sasha Bigda, +1 312 244-7493 or sasha.bigda@morningstar.com
Investors may submit questions to investors@morningstar.com.



    Morningstar, Inc. and Subsidiaries

    Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income


                                                                                               Three months ended December 31           Year ended December 31

    (in millions, except per share amounts)                                               2016               2015                change          2016                2015      change
    --------------------------------------                                                ----               ----                ------          ----                ----      ------



    Revenue                                                                             $212.2             $201.6                  5.3%        $798.6              $788.8        1.2%

    Operating expense:

                                                            Cost of revenue                                 88.0                  84.9           3.5%              344.3       330.1           4.3%

                                                            Sales and marketing                             26.5                  22.8          16.5%               97.6        96.6           1.0%

                                                            General and administrative                      29.1                  27.2           7.3%              105.2       107.1         (1.7%)

                                                            Depreciation and amortization                   18.7                  16.6          13.2%               70.7        64.4           9.9%

                                                               Total operating expense                     162.3                 151.5           7.2%              617.8       598.2           3.3%


    Operating income                                                                                     49.9                  50.1         (0.5%)              180.8       190.6         (5.2%)

    Operating margin                                                                     23.5%             24.9%              (1.4)pp         22.6%              24.2%    (1.6)pp


    Non-operating income:

                                                            Interest income, net                               -                  0.8            NMF                0.3         1.3        (77.6%)

                                                             Holding gain upon acquisition of
                                                             additional ownership of equity
                                                             method investments                             37.1                     -           NMF               37.1           -           NMF

                                                            Other income, net                                1.4                   0.6         140.3%                6.7         1.8         274.2%


                                                                 Non-operating income, net                  38.5                   1.4            NMF               44.1         3.1            NMF



                                                                                                         88.4                  51.5          71.8%              224.9       193.7          16.1%
    Income before income taxes and equity
     in net income (loss) of unconsolidated
     entities

    Equity in net income (loss) of
     unconsolidated entities                                                                            (0.9)                  0.3       (416.4%)              (0.2)        1.8       (112.3%)

    Income tax expense                                                                                   17.2                  14.5          18.9%               63.7        62.7           1.7%
                                                                                                         ----                  ----                              ----        ----

    Consolidated net income                                                                              70.3                  37.3          88.5%              161.0       132.8          21.2%

    Net income attributable to
     noncontrolling interest                                                                 -                 -                    -             -              (0.2)        NMF

    Net income attributable to Morningstar,
     Inc.                                                                                $70.3              $37.3                 88.5%        $161.0              $132.6       21.4%
                                                                                         =====              =====                              ======              ======


    Net income per share attributable to Morningstar, Inc.:

                                                            Basic                                          $1.63                 $0.85          91.8%              $3.74       $3.00          24.7%

                                                            Diluted                                        $1.63                 $0.85          91.8%              $3.72       $3.00          24.0%

    Weighted average shares outstanding:

                                                            Basic                                           43.0                  43.8         (1.8%)               43.0        44.2         (2.7%)

                                                            Diluted                                         43.2                  43.9         (1.6%)               43.3        44.3         (2.3%)



    NMF -Not meaningful, pp -
     percentage points



    Morningstar, Inc. and Subsidiaries

    Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows


                                                                             Three months ended December 31              Year ended December 31

    (in millions)                                                                       2016                     2015                        2016                  2015
    ------------                                                                        ----                     ----                        ----                  ----


    Operating activities

    Consolidated net income                                      $70.3                     $37.3                   $161.0                      $132.8
     Adjustments to reconcile
      consolidated net income to
      net cash flows from
      operating activities
                                                                                       (7.0)                    25.1                        47.5                  82.3

    Changes in operating assets
     and liabilities, net                                                                7.2                    (9.5)                        5.2                  26.4

                                            Cash provided by operating
                                             activities                                    70.5                     52.9                       213.7                 241.5

    Investing activities

    Capital expenditures                                                              (15.3)                  (17.4)                     (62.8)               (57.3)

    Acquisitions, net of cash
     acquired                                                                        (175.8)                   (7.7)                    (191.6)               (11.1)

    Purchases of equity- and
     cost-method investments                                     (0.1)                        -                  (16.5)                      (6.2)

    Other, net                                                                         (0.5)                   (1.1)                      (3.3)                (4.9)
                                                                                        ----                     ----                        ----                  ----

                                          Cash used for investing
                                           activities                                   (191.7)                  (26.2)                    (274.2)               (79.5)

    Financing activities

    Common shares repurchased                                                         (10.0)                  (66.9)                     (48.8)               (97.0)

    Dividends paid                                                                     (9.4)                   (8.4)                     (37.9)               (33.7)

    Proceeds from short-term
     debt                                                            -                     35.0                     40.0                        50.0

    Repayments of short-term
     debt                                                            -                        -                  (15.0)                     (45.0)

    Proceeds from long-term
     debt                                                        190.0                         -                   190.0                           -

    Other, net                                                                         (0.6)                   (0.7)                      (4.6)                (1.8)
                                                                                        ----                     ----                        ----                  ----

                                        Cash provided
                                          by (used
                                          for)
                                          financing
                                          activities                   170.0                           (41.0)                123.7                    (127.5)

    Effect of exchange rate
     changes on cash and cash
     equivalents                                                                       (9.1)                   (2.3)                     (11.2)               (12.6)
                                                                                        ----                     ----                       -----                 -----

    Net increase (decrease) in
     cash and cash equivalents                                                          39.7                   (16.6)                       52.0                  21.9

    Cash and cash equivalents-
     Beginning of period                                                               219.4                    223.7                       207.1                 185.2
                                                                                       -----                    -----                       -----                 -----

    Cash and cash equivalents-
     End of period                                              $259.1                    $207.1                   $259.1                      $207.1
                                                                ======                    ======                   ======                      ======



    Morningstar, Inc. and Subsidiaries

    Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets


                                                          December 31       December 31

    (in millions)                                               2016               2015
    ------------                                                ----               ----


    Assets

    Current assets:

              Cash and cash equivalents                        $259.1             $207.1

              Investments                                        44.9               41.5

              Accounts receivable, net                          145.8              139.3

              Other                                              22.2               22.0


                        Total current assets                    472.0              409.9


    Property, equipment, and capitalized
     software, net                                          152.1              134.5

    Investments in unconsolidated entities                   40.3               35.6

    Goodwill                                                 556.8              364.2

    Intangible assets, net                                   120.9               74.2

    Other assets                                               8.8               10.6

              Total assets                                   $1,350.9           $1,029.0



    Liabilities and equity

    Current liabilities:

               Accounts payable and
               accrued liabilities                  $44.6             $39.2

              Accrued compensation                               71.7               80.9

              Deferred revenue                                  165.4              140.7

              Short-term debt                                       -              35.0

              Other                                              13.2                8.6


                        Total current liabilities               294.9              304.4


    Accrued compensation                                      10.3                8.9

    Deferred tax liability, net                               38.2               19.8

    Long-term debt                                           250.0                  -

    Other long-term liabilities                               60.7               55.3
                                                              ----               ----

              Total liabilities                                 654.1              388.4

              Total equity                                      696.8              640.6

              Total liabilities and equity                   $1,350.9           $1,029.0



    Morningstar, Inc. and Subsidiaries

    Supplemental Data (Unaudited)


                                                             As of December 31

                                                                                               2016               2015                         change
                                                                                               ----               ----                         ------


    Our business

    Morningstar.com Premium Membership subscriptions
     (U.S.)                                                                              118,339            120,557                         (1.8%)

    Morningstar.com registered users (U.S.)                                            8,892,203          8,529,792                           4.2%

    Advisor Workstation clients (U.S.)                                                       175                189                         (7.4%)

    Morningstar Office licenses (U.S.)                                                     4,286              4,342                         (1.3%)

    Morningstar Direct licenses                                                           12,492             11,428                           9.3%

    Assets under management and advisement (approximate)

                               Workplace
                               Solutions
                               (Retirement)

                              Managed Retirement Accounts                                 $46.9 bil         $40.3 bil                         16.4%

                              Plan Sponsor Advice                                          34.3 bil          30.7 bil                         11.7%

                              Custom Models                                                23.2 bil          18.7 bil                         24.1%
                                                                                           --------          --------

                               Workplace
                               Solutions
                               (total)                                                   $104.4 bil         $89.7 bil                         16.4%

                               Morningstar
                               Investment
                               Management

                              Morningstar Managed Portfolios                              $29.8 bil         $25.8 bil   (1)                   15.5%

                              Institutional Asset Management                               58.0 bil          59.4 bil   (2)                  (2.4%)

                              Asset Allocation Services                                     7.2 bil           7.6 bil   (2)                  (5.3%)

                              Manager Selection Services                                    1.2 bil           2.1 bil                       (42.9%)

                                                                                                                        (2)


                               Morningstar
                               Investment
                               Management
                               (total)                                                    $96.2 bil         $94.9 bil                          1.4%


    Our employees (approximate)

    Worldwide headcount                                                                    4,595              3,930                          16.9%

                                                                                                    (3)


                                                             Three months ended December 31                                 Year ended December 31

    (in millions)                                                                           2016               2015                         change            2016          2015          change
    ------------                                                                            ----               ----                         ------            ----          ----          ------

    Key product revenue (4)

    Morningstar Data                                                                       $39.3              $38.5                           2.1%          $152.1        $144.5            5.3%

    Morningstar Direct                                                                      28.4               26.7                           6.1%           110.5         101.7            8.7%

    Morningstar Investment Management                                                       24.7               23.9                           3.1%            98.4          98.8          (0.4%)

    Morningstar Advisor Workstation                                                         20.4               20.8    (5)                  (1.9%)            82.4          81.4 (5)        1.2%

    Workplace Solutions                                                                     20.7               18.3                          12.9%            71.3          66.6            7.0%


    Revenue by Type (4)

    License-based (6)                                                                     $149.9             $144.3                           3.8%          $573.4        $552.3            3.8%

    Asset-based (7)                                                                         44.4               39.6                          12.2%           169.8         163.6            3.8%

    Transaction-based (8)                                                                   17.9               17.7                           1.4%            55.4          72.9         (24.1%)


    Other metrics

    Average assets under management and advisement                                    $200.9 bil        $181.0 bil                         11.0%      $192.6 bil   $179.7 bil           7.2%

    Number of commercial mortgage-backed securities
     (CMBS) new-issue ratings completed                                                       14                 11                          27.3%              27            56         (51.8%)

    Asset value of CMBS new-issue ratings                                               $9.3 bil          $8.5 bil                          9.4%       $17.9 bil    $46.4 bil        (61.4%)





    (1) We revised the asset totals for Morningstar Managed Portfolios to
     include third-party platform assets, which were previously not
     included in the total.


    (2) Revised to include assets from Ibbotson Associates Japan K.K.


    (3) Includes approximately 330 employees who joined Morningstar as a
     result of the PitchBook acquisition in December 2016.


    (4) Key product revenue and revenue by type includes the effect of
     foreign currency translations.


    (5) Revised to exclude Morningstar Office.


    (6) License-based revenue includes Morningstar Data, Morningstar
     Direct, Morningstar Advisor Workstation, Morningstar Enterprise
     Components, Morningstar Research, and other similar products.


    (7) Asset-based revenue includes Morningstar Investment Management,
     Workplace Solutions, and Morningstar Indexes.


    (8) Transaction-based revenue includes Morningstar Credit Ratings,
     Internet advertising sales, and Conferences.



    Morningstar, Inc. and Subsidiaries

    Reconciliations of Non-GAAP Measures with the Nearest Comparable GAAP Measures (Unaudited)


    To supplement Morningstar's condensed consolidated financial statements presented in accordance with U.S. Generally
    Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), Morningstar uses the following measures considered as non-GAAP by the
    Securities and Exchange Commission: consolidated revenue excluding acquisitions, divestitures, and the effect of foreign
    currency translations (organic revenue) and free cash flow. These non-GAAP measures may not be comparable to similarly
    titled measures reported by other companies.


    Morningstar presents consolidated revenue excluding acquisitions, divestitures, and the effect of foreign currency
    translations (organic revenue) because the company believes this non-GAAP measure helps investors better compare
    period-over-period results.


    In addition, Morningstar presents free cash flow solely as supplemental disclosure to help investors better understand how
    much cash is available after making capital expenditures. Management uses free cash flow to evaluate its business. Free
    cash flow should not be considered an alternative to any measure required to be reported under GAAP (such as cash
    provided by (used for) operating, investing, and financing activities).


                                                        Three months ended December 31                     Year ended December 31

    (in millions)                                                                    2016                                            2015    change     2016      2015   change
    ------------                                                                     ----                                            ----    ------     ----      ----   ------


    Reconciliation from
     consolidated revenue to
     revenue excluding
     acquisitions, divestitures,
     and the effect of foreign
     currency translations
     (organic revenue):


      Consolidated revenue                                                         $212.2                                          $201.6      5.3%   $798.6    $788.8     1.2%

      Less: divestitures                                                                -                                              -        -        -        -       -

      Less: acquisitions                                                            (4.5)                                              -      NMF    (5.5)        -     NMF

      Unfavorable effect of foreign
       currency translations                                                          3.2                                               -      NMF      9.5         -     NMF

      Revenue excluding
       acquisitions, divestitures,
       and the effect of foreign
       currency translations                                                       $210.9                                          $201.6      4.6%   $802.6    $788.8     1.7%
                                                                                   ======                                          ======             ======    ======


    Reconciliation from cash
     provided by operating
     activities to free cash flow:


      Cash provided by operating
       activities                                                                   $70.5                                           $52.9     33.3%   $213.7    $241.5  (11.5%)

      Capital expenditures                                                         (15.3)                                         (17.4)  (12.1%)   (62.8)   (57.3)    9.6%

      Free cash flow                                                                $55.2                                           $35.5     55.5%   $150.9    $184.2  (18.1%)
                                                                                    =====                                           =====             ======    ======

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/morningstar-inc-reports-fourth-quarter-full-year-2016-financial-results-300411046.html

SOURCE Morningstar, Inc.