Hello again. This is a return to July concerns about Morningstar...

Hello again.
This is a return to  July concerns about Morningstar (and probably other ‘dependable ‘ entities whose information may not be trustworthy or even accurate) with some updates :

A few months ago ( July 2018 ) I was upset at  misreporting of NRW by Morningstar.
At first I thought Commsec was at issue but I when I called them I was told the information had been  purchased by CBA from Morningstar.
It was  displayed on the Commsec Peer Analysis page as per this picture :

The wrong analysis  was allowed because there was a disclaimer on the page
(Yes it was wrong taking no account of up to the minute information widely picked up by media and various share information companies.

Here is the now updated version :


I thought it a bit odd that in a world where up to date data is one of the most valuable commodities Morningstar doesn’t have it .
Or if it does have it, doesn’t  share it .
Although it does sell its old information to the banks .. ( Like a baker selling stale bread?)

What about to the ordinary retail people who are also buying  Morningstar reports ?
“As of March 2016, Morningstar offers a free 14-day trial period with the premium membership. After that, there are four different options: one year for $199, two years for $339, three years for $439 and monthly for $23.95. Oct 2, 2018”https://www.investopedia.com/articl...rningstar-comparing-mf-research-providers.asp

And what is Morningstar anyway ? (Beyond a household name and a NASDAQ listed public company )

“Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN) is known as being the financial industry's lead independent research company for mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The company has also ventured into research reports for stocks, bonds, annuities, and even separately-managed accounts. Created in 1984 by Joe Mansueto, the Chicago-based company is now publicly traded and, as of 2016, had 3,930 employees worldwide. The company provides data on more than 510,000 investment offerings.”

Morningstar actually sells  its information to more entities than the Commonwealth Bank .
..Like Google .
Based on the information (that it pays for fromreputable sources ) Google puts out IT’S information .

Using Google to research NRW Holdings, I am immeduately advised ( as per image) NRW has several subsidiaries :
One of them is Promac.
That’s the only one I have looked up so far .
Turns out we don’t have it at all .
In fact NRW Holdings CLOSED DOWN the business in 2010!
https://www.businessnews.com.au/article/McGlinn-takes-on-Promac-Sales.
It was resurrected in February 11 by ex NRW Director, Jeff McGlinn and still exists today in some form,  but there are no links on the website that I can find to NRW anymore. Nor does it get a mention in the annual report .



Notably BRIERTY is also up there on Google’s (MORNINGSTAR, REUTER’s and more supplied)  data page.
But I disagree people are ‘also’ searching for it .
(Or they are having a hard time if they are .)
It went into administration in September 2017.
https://thewest.com.au/business/mining/brierty-warns-market-over-divisions-performance-ng-b88590777z

Anyway the point is that fake news is everywhere .
Here’s Google’s disclaimer: https://www.google.com.au/intl/en-AU_AU/googlefinance/disclaimer/


...And it worries me.
And that’s another reason why I agree with @Pioupiou it would be great to have more Fundamentals discussion in the NRW forum here

Cheers