Investors looking for quality stocks and funds can use the Morningstar Economic Moat Rating and Morningstar Medalist Rating for Funds as a filter.
This economic moat rating system assesses a company’s ability to maintain a competitive advantage over time to protect its market position and maintain high returns on capital.
Morningstar identifies five sources of competitive advantage: intangible assets, switching costs, network effects, cost advantages, and economies of scale. Companies can have no moat, a narrow moat or a wide moat.
What if we combine the moat rating with the Morningstar Medalist Rating for Funds, which assesses the quality of a fund or ETF? This rating is a summary of the forward-looking analysis carried out by Morningstar’s research team and is expressed on a scale ranging from Gold to Negative.
A Medalist Rating of Gold means that Morningstar analysts have a high degree of conviction that the fund will outperform its benchmark or peer group over a full market cycle, typically at least five years, on a risk-adjusted basis.
If we focus on the large-cap European equity funds, there are 63 funds and ETFs with a Gold Medalist Rating in Morningstar’s European database. Of those 63 funds, 53 have more than EUR 100 million in assets.
Do Gold-Rated Funds Have More Moatworthy Stocks?
There appears to be a positive correlation between the percentage of companies with a wide moat in the fund’s portfolio and its Medalist Rating. Funds with a Gold Medalist Rating have on average, as of May 23, 40.9% of companies with a wide moat, compared with 37.3% for funds with a Negative Medalist Rating.
Gold-Rated Funds Holding Wide-Moat Stocks
Looking at the list of 53 funds and ETFs with a Gold Medalist Rating and more than EUR 100 million in assets, these 10 funds and ETFs have the highest percentage of companies with a wide competitive advantage.
Key Morningstar Metrics for Gold-Rated Funds
Comgest Growth Europe
- Morningstar Category: Europe Large-Cap Growth Equity
- Morningstar Medalist Rating: Gold
- Morningstar Rating: ★★★★
- Ongoing Charge: 1.07%
Comgest Growth Europe Plus
- Morningstar Category: Europe Large-Cap Growth Equity
- Morningstar Medalist Rating: Gold
- Morningstar Rating: ★★★★
- Ongoing Charge: 1.58%
iShares Edge MSCI Europe Quality Factor UCITS ETF IEFQ
- Morningstar Category: Europe Large-Cap Blend Equity
- Morningstar Medalist Rating: Gold
- Morningstar Rating: None
- Ongoing Charge: 0.25%
Fidelity Funds—European Dynamic Growth Fund
- Morningstar Category: Europe Large-Cap Growth Equity
- Morningstar Medalist Rating: Gold
- Morningstar Rating: ★★
- Ongoing Charge: 0.89%
Vanguard European Stock Index Fund
- Morningstar Category: Europe Large-Cap Blend Equity
- Morningstar Medalist Rating: Gold
- Morningstar Rating: ★★★★
- Ongoing Charge: 0.12%
UBS (Lux) Fund Solutions II — UBS MSCI Europe
- Morningstar Category: Europe Large-Cap Blend Equity
- Morningstar Medalist Rating: Gold
- Morningstar Rating: ★★★★
- Ongoing Charge: 0.02%
iShares Europe Equity Index Fund (LU)
- Morningstar Category: Europe Large-Cap Blend Equity
- Morningstar Medalist Rating: Gold
- Morningstar Rating: ★★★★
- Ongoing Charge: 0.06%
Vanguard FTSE Developed Europe UCITS ETF VEUR
- Morningstar Category: Europe Large-Cap Blend Equity
- Morningstar Medalist Rating: Gold
- Morningstar Rating: None
- Ongoing Charge: 0.10%
Vanguard ESG Developed Europe Index Fund
- Morningstar Category: Europe Large-Cap Blend Equity
- Morningstar Medalist Rating: Gold
- Morningstar Rating: ★★★★
- Ongoing Charge: 0.10%
Northern Trust Europe Custom ESG Equity Index Fund
- Morningstar Category: Europe Large-Cap Blend Equity
- Morningstar Medalist Rating: Gold
- Morningstar Rating: ★★★★
- Ongoing Charge: 0.03%
The author or authors do not own shares in any securities mentioned in this article. Find out about Morningstar's editorial policies.