Morningstar's June Winners & Losers

Morningstar published its monthly summary of its Analyst Rating activity for 785 fund share classes, ETFs, separately managed accounts and collective investment trusts for June 2020. The firm upgraded 93, downgraded 144 and added 53 to its coverage.

Of the 187 unique strategies (after “sifting out” multiple share classes and vehicles), analysts assigned first-time ratings to seven.

The Morningstar Analyst Rating keeps track of a fund’s ability to outperform on a risk-adjusted basis over the long term. The five-tiered, qualitative Morningstar Analyst Rating scale has three positive levels, indicating Morningstar Medalists — Gold, Silver, and Bronze — in addition to Neutral and Negative ratings.

Changes to its analyst rating methodology went live in October. The new system gives more weight to fees and sets the bar higher for for active funds, while shifting how Morningstar assigns ratings to fund share classes to account for specific fees being levied on each share class.

Highlights of the latest ratings include the following:

Upgrades (93):

• Vanguard Growth ETF (to Gold from Silver)
• Vanguard International Dividend Appreciate ETF (to Silver from Bronze)
• Schwab Fundamental U.S. Large Company ETFs (to Silver from Bronze)

Downgrades (144):

• Oakmark Global Fund (to Silver from Gold)
• Dodge & Cox Balanced (to Silver from Gold)

New Ratings (7):

• DF Dent Midcap Growth Investor (Silver)

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