Morningstar - Winter 2019 - 6

Contributors

Magazine

Kristoffer Inton

Alex Lykken

Adam Putz

Carole Hénaff

"In just a year, cannabis has turned from market
darling to unloved sector, as investors are
frustrated with the pace of growth and lack of
profitability," says Kristoffer Inton, director
of equity research, basic materials, with
Morningstar Research Services. However, as he
explains in this issue's Spotlight (Page 25),
"these are growth companies in an early-stage,
nascent industry, and that creates opportunities
for long-term investors." Also in this issue,
Inton joins a panel of in-house experts to discuss
Morningstar's valuation-driven take on
commodities (Page 56).

In "Cannabis Has VC Market Buzzing" (Page 32),
Alex Lykken and Adam Putz assess the upand-coming industry from the perspective of those
who got in on the ground floor, venture capitalists.
Putz says that U.S. federal legalization of
cannabis could prove a double-edged sword:
"Broad-based legalization of cannabis in the U.S.
might not represent the best outcome for
the industry. Removing Schedule I status would
encourage the entry of legacy behemoths
such as Coca-Cola or Anheuser-Busch, and that
would provide early investors access to
exit options via corporate M&A. But it might spell
the end of competition between scrappier
startups." Lykken is a senior analyst, and Putz
is a senior financial writer with PitchBook,
a subsidiary of Morningstar.

Carole Hénaff's vibrant art brings to life the
dramatic growth potential of the cannabis market.
"Cannabis is often referred to as green gold,
and the image that came to my mind was the
piggy bank-but instead of money being
inserted, the cannabis plant is growing out," she
says. "The plant becomes a forest as this
investment comes to fruition." Hénaff is a French
graphic designer and illustrator based in Barcelona.
Her work includes children's books, editorial
illustrations, book covers, and posters, with her
inspiration coming from her travels.

Editor-in-Chief Jerry Kerns
Managing Editor Laura Lallos
Editorial Board David M. Blanchett, Sarah Bush, Elizabeth Collins,
Lee Davidson, Adam Fleck, Sylvester Flood, Jon Hale, Thomas M. Idzorek,
Ben Johnson, Paul D. Kaplan, Haywood Kelly, Dan Kemp, Grant
Kennaway, Alex Morozov, Daniel Needham, Nicolas Owens, Don Phillips,
Jeffrey Ptak, Hal Ratner, Daniel Rohr, Tricia Rothschild, Anthony Serhan,
Christopher Traulsen
Contributors Leo Acheson, Erol Alitovski, Christine Benz, Kevin Brown,
Dan Bruns, Alex Bryan, Rachel Elfman, Philip Gorham, Kristoffer Inton,
Charles Keenan, Andrew Lane, Alec Lucas, Alex Lykken, Kevin McDevitt,
Sarah Newcomb, Adam Putz, John Rekenthaler, Sheryl Rowling, Aron
Szapiro, Lorraine Tan, Tony Thomas, Venkata Sai Uppaluri, Ralph Wanger,
Christina West, Andrew Willis, Michael Wu, Phillip Zhong
Art Director Alex Skoirchet
Designer Paul Zdon
Illustrator Carole Hénaff
Photographers Rick Dahms, Matthew Gilson, Matthew Lomanno, Erich
Schroeder
Proofreader Mike Eiler
Publisher Leslie Marshall
Director of Advertising Sales Stuart Roge
Regional Sales Directors Dan Atkinson, Tony Lignelli, Joanna Sawyer
Morningstar, Inc.
CEO Kunal Kapoor
Managing Director, Design David Williams
Chief Marketing Officer Rob Pinkerton
Head of Brand Kristin Mateja
How to Reach Morningstar Magazine
Subscriber Services & Circulation magazine_custserv@morningstar.com
Editorial and Letters to the Editor magazine_editor@morningstar.com
Advertising Opportunities magazine_adrates@morningstar.com
Reprints and Licensing magazine_licensing@morningstar.com
How to Reach Morningstar
Customer Service +1 312 384-4000
Advisor Product Sales +1 877 586-5405
Data Questions +1 312 696-6600
Morningstar magazine is published quarterly by Morningstar, Inc.,
22 W. Washington St., Chicago, IL 60602. An annual subscription
for delivery in the U.S. is $60. All exhibit data in this magazine is provided
by Morningstar and Ibbotson Associates unless otherwise noted.
© 2019 Morningstar. All Rights Reserved. The information contained
herein: (1) is intended solely for informational purposes; (2) is proprietary
to Morningstar and/or its content providers; (3) may not be copied
or distributed; (4) is not warranted to be accurate, complete, or timely;
and (5) does not constitute investment advice of any kind. Neither
Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages
or losses arising from any use of this information. Past performance
is no guarantee of future results. "Morningstar" and the Morningstar logo
are registered marks of Morningstar, Inc.
Disclosure Morningstar licenses its indexes to certain providers,
including BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A., First Trust, and
Deutsche Bank, for use in exchange-traded funds and exchange-traded
notes. These ETFs and ETNs are not sponsored, endorsed, issued,
or sold by Morningstar. Morningstar does not make any representation
regarding the advisability of investing in ETFs and ETNs that are
based on Morningstar indexes.

1000-00168078

6

Morningstar Winter 2019
Morningstar - Winter 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Morningstar - Winter 2019
