I reiterate my Buy rating on Moody's, citing its strong moat, pricing power, and new growth in private credit and GenAI verticals. Moody's delivered resilient Q2 results, holding MIS revenue flat, despite a 12% issuance decline and expanding margins, confirming its pricing power. Momentum in private credit and GenAI adoption is accelerating growth, deepening client engagement, and extending Moody's long-term runway.
Moody's has underperformed major indexes over the past five years, with volatile growth and a diluted business mix weighing on returns. The core Ratings segment remains high quality but is highly sensitive to macro cycles, while Analytics growth adds stability but lowers overall valuation. Second-quarter results were better than feared, but guidance and long-term growth expectations remain in the 7% range, below market leaders.
Moody's (MCO) has been upgraded to a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), reflecting growing optimism about the company's earnings prospects. This might drive the stock higher in the near term.
Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO ) Q2 2025 Earnings Conference Call July 23, 2025 9:00 AM ET Company Participants Noemie Clemence Heuland - Senior VP & CFO Robert Scott Fauber - President, CEO & Director Shivani Kak - Head of Investor Relations Conference Call Participants Alexander Kramm - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division Andrew Owen Nicholas - William Blair & Company L.L.C., Research Division Ashish Sabadra - RBC Capital Markets, Research Division Faiza Alwy - Deutsche Bank AG, Research Division Jeffrey Marc Silber - BMO Capital Markets Equity Research Keen Fai Tong - Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., Research Division Owen Lau - Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., Research Division Russell Quelch - Unidentified Company Scott Darren Wurtzel - Wolfe Research, LLC Shlomo H.
MCO registers strong y/y earnings and revenue growth in Q2, though rising expenses and mixed segment results weigh.
While the top- and bottom-line numbers for Moody's (MCO) give a sense of how the business performed in the quarter ended June 2025, it could be worth looking at how some of its key metrics compare to Wall Street estimates and year-ago values.
Moody's (MCO) came out with quarterly earnings of $3.56 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.44 per share. This compares to earnings of $3.28 per share a year ago.
Moody's (MCO) has an impressive earnings surprise history and currently possesses the right combination of the two key ingredients for a likely beat in its next quarterly report.
MCO's Q2 earnings may face pressure from weak leveraged loan issuance and rising costs despite solid MA growth.
Looking beyond Wall Street's top-and-bottom-line estimate forecasts for Moody's (MCO), delve into some of its key metrics to gain a deeper insight into the company's potential performance for the quarter ended June 2025.
Moody's (MCO) possesses the right combination of the two key ingredients for a likely earnings beat in its upcoming report. Get prepared with the key expectations.
MCO fully acquires ICR Chile, reinforcing its strategy for Latin America and deepening credit market footprint.