One-glance verdict
Within fair range
$324.52 our estimate vs market $488.83
Wall Street consensus: $552.14 (70.1% higher than our fair-value estimate)
51% above our estimate
Fundamentals snapshot
Moody's Corporation
MCO · NYQ · Financial Services · Financial Data & Stock Exchanges
Current price
$488.83
52-week range
$402.28 - $546.88
Market cap
$84.29B
Balance sheet
Stretched
12.32x Strong cushion
Net debt $6.00B. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
3 Rewards
0 Risks
3 rewards · 0 risks
- Reward Revenue grew 5.9% last year.
- Reward Free cash flow was positive in 10/10 years.
- Reward Dividend yield is 0.9% with 27-year payout history.
What this company does
Moody's Corporation
Moody's is a financial information company best known for providing credit ratings (a grade on the ability to repay debt), which are critical because they help determine how cheaply companies and governments can borrow money. The company also generates recurring revenue (a predictable and steady stream of income) by selling subscriptions for financial data and risk-management software to banks and investors. This dual business makes Moody's a central player whose analysis and data influence major financial decisions.
How the company got here
Moody's was started in 1909 by John Moody, who invented the idea of grading the safety of bonds (a type of loan to a company or government). For a long time, it was owned by another data company, Dun & Bradstreet, but became its own separate, publicly traded company in 2000. Over the years, it grew by acquiring other companies that specialized in financial data and software. This allowed it to expand beyond just rating bonds into a much broader financial data and software business.
What it actually does
Think of Moody's as a company that helps big investors, banks, and governments understand financial risk. It's most famous for giving report-card-style grades, called credit ratings, to judge how likely a company or government is to pay back its loans. Beyond these ratings, it also sells detailed financial data, software, and expert research to help financial professionals make better decisions. Essentially, Moody's provides information and tools to help people who manage large amounts of money understand the risks before they lend or invest.
Moody's Ratings
This is the original and most famous part of the company. It analyzes the financial health of companies and governments that want to borrow money by issuing bonds (a formal IOU that can be traded). It then publishes a credit rating (an opinion on the borrower's ability to repay the loan), which investors use to make decisions. The borrowers, like big corporations or countries, pay Moody's for this service to show investors their creditworthiness. This segment is a major, well-established part of the business.
Moody's Analytics
This is the other major part of the company, and it has grown to be the larger segment by revenue. Instead of just providing ratings, this division sells a wide range of products that help banks and investors manage their own financial risk (the chance of losing money). This includes selling subscriptions to vast databases of financial information, specialized software for calculating risks, and economic forecasts. Customers like banks, insurance companies, and asset managers pay recurring fees for these tools to make more informed financial decisions.
What management is betting on now
Moody's is focused on expanding its data and analytics business, seeing it as a major growth area. The company is investing in technology, including artificial intelligence (AI), to create new products and make its vast collection of financial data even more valuable to clients. They are also expanding into new areas of risk assessment beyond just credit, such as analyzing risks related to climate change and supply chains (the network of companies involved in making and delivering a product). The strategy is to become an essential partner for any organization needing to understand and manage complex financial risks.
Price history
How the share price has moved
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Earnings history
Last 8 quarters — what happened
Click any quarter to read the call summary and what the numbers say.
FY2024 Q4
$600.00M
FY2025 Q1
$672.00M
FY2025 Q2
$468.00M
FY2025 Q3
$658.00M
FY2025 Q4
$777.00M
FY2026 Q1
$844.00M
FY2026 Q2
$688.00M
FY2026 Q3
$668.00M
Revenue
$2.02B
Net income
$734.00M
Diluted EPS
4.24
Operating cash flow
$753.00M
Free cash flow
$668.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$2.19B
Net income
$878.00M
Diluted EPS
5.03
Operating cash flow
$779.00M
Free cash flow
$688.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$2.08B
Net income
$661.00M
Diluted EPS
3.73
Operating cash flow
$939.00M
Free cash flow
$844.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$1.89B
Net income
$610.00M
Diluted EPS
3.40
Operating cash flow
$858.00M
Free cash flow
$777.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$2.01B
Net income
$646.00M
Diluted EPS
3.60
Operating cash flow
$743.00M
Free cash flow
$658.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$1.90B
Net income
$578.00M
Diluted EPS
3.21
Operating cash flow
$543.00M
Free cash flow
$468.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$1.92B
Net income
$625.00M
Diluted EPS
3.46
Operating cash flow
$757.00M
Free cash flow
$672.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$1.67B
Net income
$395.00M
Diluted EPS
2.16
Operating cash flow
$674.00M
Free cash flow
$600.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Is it cheap or expensive?
Fair value $324.52 vs current price $488.83
Wall Street consensus is the average analyst price target: $552.14 (70.1% higher than our fair-value estimate).
Our most-likely fair value is $324.52 a share — about 33.6% away from today's price of $488.83, so the stock currently looks fairly priced.
Is it drowning in debt?
Stretched
Net debt $6.0B. Interest coverage 12.3x.
Net debt
$6.00B
Interest coverage
12.32x
Moody's Corporation is healthier than 0 of 1 peers on balance-sheet leverage.
Stretched
Worse cushion
Baseline
Better cushion
MCO
BASELINE
Moody's Corporation
Total debt $7.62B Interest coverage 12.32x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
What you should know
The case for and against MCO
3 Rewards
0 Risks
Rewards
-
Revenue grew 5.9% last year.
-
Free cash flow was positive in 10/10 years.
-
Dividend yield is 0.9% with 27-year payout history.
Risks
The numbers
All the key metrics, grouped by purpose
Tap any ? icon to learn what it means.
Valuation
How expensive the stock looks
P/E (TTM)
29.82x
Forward P/E
26.16x
P/B
25.79x
P/S
10.31x
EV/EBITDA
22.33x
PEG ratio
1.67x
Profitability
How much profit each dollar creates
Gross margin
74.6%
Operating margin
46.3%
Net margin
35.3%
ROE
76.7%
ROA
15.6%
Health
Liquidity and balance-sheet strength
Debt / equity
2.23x
Current ratio
1.29x
Quick ratio
1.07x
Total debt
$7.62B
Total cash
$1.62B
Growth
How the business has been compounding
Revenue TTM
$8.18B
Revenue 5Y CAGR
5.6%
EPS TTM
16.39
EPS 5Y CAGR
22.5%
Cash flow
How much cash the business throws off
Operating CF TTM
$3.33B
Free CF TTM
$2.58B
FCF margin
31.5%
Dividend
Shareholder payout
Yield
0.9%
Payout ratio
24.6%
Last ex-div date
2026-11-20