Since I know many investors and traders are looking for new ways to research the financial markets I wanted to start a periodical review of some major research services. Today I will look at Morningstar.com and its premium membership services. 
Morningstar provides in-depth research of mutual funds, stocks, and portfolio management through its website. The company is probably best known for its rating system of 1 through 5 stars. In the system, stocks and mutual funds are ranked with 1 star being the least compelling buy from Morningstar's standpoint and 5 stars being the most compelling buying opportunity. Morningstar's rating system has been especially popular in rating mutual funds, but the company has increased its stock research in recent years.
Morningstar's Premium Membership offers a free 14 day trial period. After that trial period, the rate is $15.95 monthly for the subscription or $145 annually. I personally have used the premium membership on several occasions before. One downfall I have found with the system is that the memberships automatically renew unless you call Morningstar customer service to cancel your premium membership. The cancellation process is a bit of a pain, and would be much easier if they would allow you to cancel from their website.
The premium membership benefits include receiving full access to Morningstar analyst stock reports, Morningstar fund reports, Portfolio analysis, and premium stock and fund screeners. The analyst reports are quite thorough and do a great job of explaining the reasoning behind Morningstar's ratings on the stock or fund. The screeners are also very useful in finding exactly the type of investment you are looking for.
Morningstar offers some very interesting articles on their site, which explain how to use certain tools they offer. For example, this article explains how and how not to use their fund ratings system. The company doesn't leave you in the dark with your premium membership at all, as it has great assistance available.
The 5 star stocks provided by Morningstar tend to be value plays more than growth plays. If there is a downside to their ratings system it is that they can miss out on a lot of high growth names because they don't see the company having a wide economic moat, which Morningstar places a huge premium on. The stock ratings are probably more geared to a value investor than a growth investor, but they are certainly helpful.
Overall I would recommend Morningstar's premium membership. The membership is fairly expensive, so I generally just use it once in a while when I am looking for several stock or fund opportunities, but it has been very useful to me. Morningstar is a site that you can trust to provide quality investment research.
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