Six Morningstar Equity Analysts Among Winners of The Wall Street Journal’s Annual Best on the Street Analyst Survey, Two Ranked as Best in Industry

• David Whiston, CFA, CPA, CFE, senior equity analyst, ranked first—for the second consecutive year—in the “Specialty Retailers and Services” industry, out of 74 analysts;

• Joung Park, equity analyst, ranked second in the “Mining and Metals” industry, out of 98 analysts;

• Matthew Coffina, CFA, senior equity analyst, ranked third in the “Food and Drug Retailers” industry, out of 23 analysts;

• Avi Feinberg, equity analyst, ranked third in the “Oil Equipment, Services, and Distribution” industry, out of 91 analysts; and

• Drew Woodbury, equity analyst, ranked third in the “Life Insurance” industry, out of 19 analysts.

“I’m so proud of our analysts, whose job is to take a long-term view in a market focused on the short term,” Catherine Odelbo, president of global equity and credit research for Morningstar, said. “Our team values the companies they cover as businesses, not as little pieces of paper to trade. This isn’t always the most popular approach, but it really delivers results.”

In 2011, the first year that Morningstar participated in the Best on the Street survey, three Morningstar analysts ranked #1, two ranked #2, and one ranked #5 in their respective industries. Please click here for more information about last year’s winning analysts.

The Wall Street Journal’s Best on the Street survey identifies the top three analysts in each of 44 industries, based on stock-picking skill. The data were assembled by FactSet, a Norwalk, Conn. company that tracks analysts’ recommendations and earnings estimates. To determine the winners, FactSet first identified more than 2,000 analysts at nearly 200 firms who fit the criteria to be counted in the rankings. To be eligible, analysts had to have followed at least five stocks in an industry group during 2011.

Morningstar provides data on approximately 35,000 stocks and has 120 equity and credit analysts worldwide who provide qualitative analyst coverage on about 1,800 companies globally.

Morningstar will feature interviews with the winning analysts on our websites. Please visit https://asiaapi.morningstar.com for the update.