Morningstar (MORN), a provider of independent investment research, announced today that the ELEMENTS platform will launch exchange traded notes (ETNs) based on Morningstar’s proprietary Wide Moat Focus Total Return Index. The first Wide Moat Focus ELEMENTS ETN (WMW) began trading on the New York Stock Exchange Arca today.

WMW is the first investment vehicle to track the Morningstar Wide Moat Focus Total Return Index. The index officially was launched in April 2007. The term “wide moat” was originally coined by Warren Buffett, who refers to companies with wide moats as those with sustainable competitive advantages. The index is composed of 20 wide-moat stocks with the best valuations as measured by the Morningstar price/fair value ratio. Morningstar’s 100 stock analysts assign moat ratings of "wide," "narrow" or "none" to the 2,000 stocks that they cover. The index will be reconstituted quarterly to reflect any changes in the companies’ price/fair value ratio.

Tags: ETNs