Are the ratings useful tools selecting mutual funds?

Abstract

This tesis explore three topics that contribute to understanding how ratings can help investors selecting mutual funds. The chapters are independent of each other in terms of theoretical grounding and methodology but complement each other by investigating the three different angles related. In Chapter 2 is analysed the Morningstar Star Rating can help the predictive power of future performance, in Chapter 3 the Morningstar Analyst Rating and if analyst opinions can help identifying the best mutual funds and in the Chapter 4 if Morningstar Sustainability Scores and ESG ( enviromental, social and governance) scores can evaluate the effect of portfolio management decisions based on sustainable criteria. Our conclusions, support the a strong ability of the predictive power of Star Ratings and a weak predictive power of Analyst Morningstar Ratings. Also, Morningstar Sustainability Score is significant explaining the level of performance for all the metrics analysed.