Alternative Investment Research

Date: Thursday, May 15, 2008
Author: Kara Stapleton, Investmentadvisor.com

Morningstar’s Web-based platform covers about 8,700 products:

Morningstar, Inc. has launched Morningstar Direct Alternative Investment Edition, a Web-based platform that enables users to conduct rigorous alternative investment research by combining timely data with analytics and reporting tools that cover about 8,700 hedge funds, funds of hedge funds, and Commodity Trading Advisor products.

Direct AIE includes approximately 300 data points for each hedge fund, 29,000 global indexes (including 251 hedge fund indexes), monthly performance data, assets under management, and Morningstar proprietary hedge fund ratings, indexes, and categories. Additionally, subscribers can customize their research by changing benchmarks, time periods, risk-free rates, and currencies for risk/return calculations. Users can export presentation-ready graphs and data into PowerPoint, pdf files, or Excel for additional analysis.

“Our qualitative and quantitative tools for researching alternative investments include an advanced search and screening capability, information about portfolio managers, and insight into investment methodologies,” said Liz Kirscher, president of Morningstar’s data services business, in a statement.