The fund's annual total return based on market prices, as opposed to NAV. Morningstar calculates the market-price return by taking the change in the fund's market price, reinvesting all income and capital-gains distributions during the period, and dividing by the starting market price.
Benefits
Returns automatically reflect management and other fees, which are deducted from fund income before any income is distributed to shareholders.
Origin
Morningstar calculates these figures in-house.
For funds that don't offer reinvestment programs, or don't provide reinvestment prices, returns are calculated by assuming that distributions are reinvested at the market price on or as close to the ex-dividend date as possible.
Yield indicates only the income the fund is producing, while total return indicates the change in the total value of the investment, taking into account both income distributions and principal changes.
Morningstar's Return Figures
Morningstar's return figures may differ from those published by other rating firms or fund groups. This may be a result of time-period discrepancies, or because different firms employ different methods for calculating total return. For example, some services reinvest all dividends at month-end prices. Morningstar, however, uses the actual reinvestment price that a shareholder would have to pay.