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.
Besides Wall Street's top-and-bottom-line estimates for Moody's (MCO), review projections for some of its key metrics to gain a deeper understanding of how the company might have fared during the quarter ended September 2025.
Moody's possesses a rare, durable moat with highly visible and enduring cash flows, making it suitable for perpetuity-based valuation. The company's growth algorithm, driven by expanding capital markets and pricing power, has consistently delivered 6-9% revenue growth over decades, even through crises. Current valuation, though near all-time highs, is justified by historical returns from similar peaks and a strong margin of safety in growth assumptions.
MCO moves to secure majority ownership in Egypt's MERIS, expanding its reach across the Middle East and Africa credit markets.
Moody's (MCO) reported earnings 30 days ago. What's next for the stock?
NVIDIA, Moody's, Palantir and Dell are driving the Big Data boom with AI breakthroughs, risk analytics and powerful infrastructure.
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.