Morningstar to Begin Rating Load-Waived A Shares

December 1, 2005 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Morningstar, Inc. has announced that it will begin providing ratings for A shares purchased by investors who do not pay front-end loads or sales charges.

“Fund companies almost always waive the front-end load for retirement plan participants who invest in A shares, and investors who have reached a certain asset level with a fund company often qualify for breakpoints that reduce or eliminate the front-end load on A shares,” explained Don Phillips, managing director for Morningstar, in a press release.

The new load-waived A share rating will supplement the original A share rating, which reflects the maximum front load.   Phillips said the comparison of the A share rating and the load-waived A share rating will help investors see the impact of front-end loads on performance.

The new rating will be available in December in the following Morningstar products:

  • Morningstar.com, a Web site
  • MorningstarDirect, a global institutional research platform
  • Morningstar Licensed Data, data feeds for institutional clients
  • Morningstar Principia and Morningstar Advisor Workstation products for financial advisors.

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