Creating and Monitoring Watch Lists at Morningstar.com

Morningstar.com has some good tools for creating and monitoring watch lists and portfolios. For watch lists, you only need to enter the ticker symbol of the stock or fund to be watched. For portfolios, you need to also enter the number of shares, purchase price, and date of purchase. Following are instructions on how to create a free Morningstar account and how to log in:

Create a Morningstar Account

Go to http://www.morningstar.com/
Click on Register in upper right.
Press "Register For Free" in lower right.
Enter First Name, Last Name, Zip Code, Email Address, and Password.

Log In to Morningstar Account

Go to http://www.morningstar.com/
Click on Log In if the upper right.
Enter E-mail Address and Password.
For portfolios and watch lists, click on Portfolio on tab bar at top.

You can then create a watch list as follows:

Create watch list

Click on Portfolio on tab bar at top.
Click Create, then New Watch List.
Enter Your Watch List's Name where so indicated.
Under Ticker, enter the ticker symbols for each of the stocks, funds, or ETFs that you wish to watch.
Press Save.

You can then export this watch list to a CSV (comma-separated values) as follows:

Export portfolio

Select portfolio.
Click Create, then Export, then Export Portfolio.
Press "Start Export". (This will export the portfolio to a CSV (comma-separated values) file in the Downloads directory. This file will contain the Name, Ticker, Shares, Price/Cost, Commission, and Date of each fund or stock. The file can now be copied elsewhere).

You can similarly import a watch list from a CSV file as follows:

Import portfolio

Click Create, then Import.
Press "Choose File", navigate to the CSV file containing the portfolio, and press Open.
Press Continue.
After "Enter name:", change name if desired OR
After "Import to:", select "New Portfolio" and enter a name for the new portfolio.
Press Continue.

I've posted views of five ETF watch lists at this link. You can import those watch lists from the following links:

You can create the two views shown as follows:

Create a customized view

Click on My View on the second menu from the top.
Click on My View 1.
Click "Customize My View" (to the left of "My View 4").
Use the Add, Remove, and arrow buttons to create the following list of columns in the box at the right.
1. Stock Industry/Fund Category
2. Ticker
3. Current Price ($)
4. YTD Return (%)
5. 12 Month Return (%)
6. 3 Year Return (%)
7. 5 Year Return (%)
8. 10 Year Return (%)
9. Prem/Discount (%)
10. Dividend Yield (%) - Trailing 12 Months
11. Expense Ratio (%)
12. News Link
13. Morningstar Rating for Funds
14. Name
Press Save.

Create a second customized view

Click on My View 2.
Click "Customize My View" (to the left of "My View 4").
Use the Add, Remove, and arrow buttons to create the following list of columns in the box at the right.
1. Stock Industry/Fund Category
2. Ticker
3. Current Price ($)
4. YTD Return (%)
5. 2012 Annual Return
6. 2011 Annual Return
7. 2010 Annual Return
8. 2009 Annual Return
9. 2008 Annual Return
10. Dividend Yield (%) - Trailing 12 Months
11. Expense Ratio (%)
12. News Link
13. Morningstar Rating for Funds
14. Name
Press Save.

View any Watch List with any View

Select any Watch List in the box under Portfolio Manager at the top left.
Click on My View 1 or My View 2 to look at any watch list using either view.

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