As the product owner for Morningstar.com.au, I provide a monthly overview of things you may have missed at Morningstar over the previous month.

• Morningstar guide to investing: We released the second part of the Morningstar guide to investing, How we can help you achieve your financial goals. The new guide provides an overview of the research methodology utilised by our equity and manager research team to evaluate securities and outlines the key features for our premium subscribers. The second part of the guide is a companion to part one, Who we are and what we believe. The guides can be found here.

• Equity research Special Reports: Our local equity research team released two long-form Special Reports during November. The first report covers the separation of Domain Group (ASX: DHG) from Fairfax Media Limited (ASX: FXJ). Gareth James, our senior equity analyst covering Domain, provides a detailed description of the company and his investment thesis. The second report is an analysis of the dramatic growth of Chinese travellers to Australia and the impact on leisure and travel companies. The report, by senior equity analyst Brian Han and director of equity research in Australia and New Zealand Adam Fleck, highlights Qantas (ASX: QAN), Event Hospitality and Entertainment (ASX: EVT), and Village Roadshow (ASX: VRL) as likely long-term beneficiaries of the growth in visitors from China. Both reports are available to premium subscribers and can be found here.

• Amazon launch: The long-rumoured launch of Amazon in Australia finally took place at the end of November. Morningstar covered the event with a series of articles written by Glenn Freeman that explored the potential impact on local businesses. The first piece included an interview with Nick Knight, who is the CEO of Domino's Pizza Enterprises (ASX: DMP) in Australia/NZ. The second article looks at the impact on Aussie grocers and the final instalment looks at the consumer electronics and home appliance space. In addition to the written articles, we also produced a video interview of Johannes Faul, the Morningstar analyst that covers the retail space.

• Banking royal commission: Our banking analyst, David Ellis, provided extensive coverage on the recent decision to establish a royal commission into alleged misconduct by Australia's banks and other financial services entities. David was interviewed on CNBC, created a video for our website and wrote an article in the 30 November edition of Your Money Weekly. 

• Sohn Hearts & Minds Investment Competition Winner: A big congratulations to Tim Murphy, the Morningstar director of manager research, for winning the 2016 Sohn Hearts & Minds Investment game. Out of 385 entrants in the competition, Tim was the winner after picking a portfolio that returned 82.6 per cent over the 10 months of the competition.

I would like to thank everyone for their continued loyalty to Morningstar. We have exciting plans in 2018 to continue to improve the product and help our subscribers achieve better financial outcomes.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful festive season. I'm quite looking forward to some time off over the holidays. My wife's family will be fleeing winter weather in the United States and traveling to Australia for a Christmas and New Year's on the beach.

As always, I would love to hear any feedback you may have and can be reached via email at [email protected].

Additionally, to help ensure we continue to deliver the best articles, videos, and other content to support you on your investment journey it would be great if you could take our short editorial survey.

More from Morningstar

• Are investors saving enough of their salary for retirement?

• Small caps to maintain momentum into 2018

• Make better investment decisions with Morningstar Premium | Free 4-week trial

 

Mark Lamonica is a product manager, Individual Investor, Australia.

© 2017 Morningstar, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither Morningstar, its affiliates, nor the content providers guarantee the data or content contained herein to be accurate, complete or timely nor will they have any liability for its use or distribution. This information is to be used for personal, non-commercial purposes only. No reproduction is permitted without the prior written consent of Morningstar. Any general advice or 'class service' have been prepared by Morningstar Australasia Pty Ltd (ABN: 95 090 665 544, AFSL: 240892), or its Authorised Representatives, and/or Morningstar Research Ltd, subsidiaries of Morningstar, Inc, without reference to your objectives, financial situation or needs. Please refer to our Financial Services Guide (FSG) for more information at www.morningstar.com.au/s/fsg.pdf. Our publications, ratings and products should be viewed as an additional investment resource, not as your sole source of information. Past performance does not necessarily indicate a financial product's future performance. To obtain advice tailored to your situation, contact a licensed financial adviser. Some material is copyright and published under licence from ASX Operations Pty Ltd ACN 004 523 782 ("ASXO"). The article is current as at date of publication.