Head to Head Review: Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) and Triller Group (NYSE:ILLR)

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) and Triller Group (NYSE:ILLR) are both business services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Morningstar and Triller Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Morningstar	0	1	2	0	2.67
Triller Group	0	0	0	0	0.00

Morningstar currently has a consensus price target of $360.67, indicating a potential upside of 3.14%. Given Morningstar’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Morningstar is more favorable than Triller Group.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

57.0% of Morningstar shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of Triller Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 39.9% of Morningstar shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 8.8% of Triller Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Morningstar and Triller Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Morningstar	$2.22 billion	6.75	$141.10 million	$7.57	46.19
Triller Group	$56.68 million	1.86	-$49.21 million	($1.22)	-2.11

Morningstar has higher revenue and earnings than Triller Group. Triller Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Morningstar, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Morningstar has a beta of 1.19, suggesting that its share price is 19% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Triller Group has a beta of -1.45, suggesting that its share price is 245% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Morningstar and Triller Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Morningstar	14.69%	23.28%	9.66%
Triller Group	-139.01%	-805.50%	-54.21%

Summary

Morningstar beats Triller Group on 14 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Morningstar

Morningstar, Inc. provides independent investment insights in the United States, Asia. Australia, Continental Europe, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company operates in five segments: Morningstar Data and Analytics; PitchBook; Morningstar Wealth; Morningstar Credit; and Morningstar Retirement. The company offers managing investments, including mutual funds, ETFs, separate accounts, collective investment trusts, model portfolios, equities, and fixed income securities; Morningstar Direct is an investment-analysis and reporting platform; Morningstar Advisor Workstation, a suite of tool to provide help and advice. The PitchBook segment provides data and research covering the private capital markets comprising venture capital, private equity, private credit and bank loans, and merger and acquisition activities; and pitchbook platform. It provides model portfolios and wealth platforms; Morningstar Managed Portfolios, an advisor service with model portfolios designed for fee-based independent financial advisors; and Morningstar.com that discovers, evaluates, and monitors stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds; build and monitor portfolios and markets. In addition, the company provides credit ratings, research, data, and credit analytics solutions; Morningstar DBRS which offers securitizations and other structured finance instruments, such as asset-backed securities, residential mortgage-backed securities, commercial mortgage-backed securities, and collateralized loan obligations. Further, it offers managed retirement accounts, fiduciary services, Morningstar Lifetime Allocation funds, and custom models; Morningstar Indexes offers market indexes used for performance benchmarks and as the basis for investment products and other portfolio strategies; and Morningstar Sustainalytics provides environmental, social and governance data, research, analysis, and insights. Morningstar, Inc. was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

About Triller Group

Triller Corp. operates Triller app, an artificial intelligence powered technology platform. The company’s platform enables creators, such as influencers, artists, athletes, public figures, and consumer brands build direct relationships with audiences to create awareness, drive content consumption, generate commerce, and shape culture. The company’s application is a short-form video app that allows users to access user and professionally generated content from creators worldwide. The company also produces content under the own and third-party brands, including trendsetting music, sports, lifestyle, fashion, and entertainment media that creates cultural moments, attracts users to its offerings, and drives social interaction that serves as a cultural wellspring across digital society. Triller Corp. was formerly known as Triller, Inc. and changed its name to Triller Corp. in March 2023. The company was founded in 2015 and is based in Los Angeles, California. Triller Corp. operates as a subsidiary of Proxima Media LLC. As of October 15, 2024, Triller Corp. acquired AGBA Group Holding Limited (NasdaqCM:AGBA) in reverse merger transaction.