One-glance verdict
Undervalued
$274.50 our estimate vs market $188.35
Wall Street consensus: $205.24 (-25.2% lower than our fair-value estimate)
31% below our estimate, below the bear case
Fundamentals snapshot
Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc.
MRSH · NYQ · Financial Services · Insurance Brokers
Current price
$188.35
52-week range
$156.60 - $198.49
Market cap
$89.88B
Balance sheet
Stretched
6.48x Adequate
Net debt $20.49B. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
3 Rewards
3 Risks
3 rewards · 3 risks
- Reward Revenue grew 5.5% last year.
- Reward Returns 27.2% on equity, ahead of 66% of its peers.
- Risk Net debt grew 56.0% over 3 years.
- Risk Operating margin compressed from 20.7% to 18.4% over 3 years.
What this company does
Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc.
Marsh & McLennan acts as a massive insurance and consulting expert for other companies, helping them navigate risks and plan for their future. The company makes most of its money from fees it earns by connecting businesses with the right insurance policies, creating what's known as recurring revenue (income that is predictable and likely to continue). This is significant because businesses and organizations almost always need insurance and advice, providing a stable source of income for Marsh & McLennan even in uncertain economic times.
How the company got here
Marsh & McLennan started in 1905 when Henry W. Marsh and Donald R. McLennan merged their insurance agencies in Chicago. Over the years, it grew by acquiring other companies, including Guy Carpenter for reinsurance (insurance for insurance companies) in 1923 and Mercer for employee benefits consulting in 1959. The company went public in 1962, selling its stock on the open market for the first time. A major step in its expansion was creating a holding company structure, which means it owns several separate businesses that operate independently. This allowed it to diversify into different areas of professional services, becoming the global firm it is today.
What it actually does
Think of Marsh & McLennan as a team of expert advisors that other businesses hire to solve complex problems related to risk, insurance, and people. They don't sell a physical product you can buy in a store; instead, they provide specialized advice and services. For example, they help large companies get the right insurance coverage, manage their employees' retirement plans, and get expert advice on big business decisions. Essentially, they help other companies navigate uncertainty and operate more smoothly.
Risk and Insurance Services
This is the company's largest business area, making up well over half of its revenue. It operates mainly through two businesses, Marsh and Guy Carpenter. Marsh acts as an insurance broker (an expert who helps clients find the best insurance) and risk advisor for companies of all sizes, helping them protect against things like property damage, cyber-attacks, and other potential losses. Guy Carpenter provides services to insurance companies themselves, helping them manage their own risks through reinsurance (a way for insurance companies to transfer some of their risk to another insurer).
Consulting
This segment is a smaller but still significant part of the company, providing expert advice to other businesses. It's made up of two main firms: Mercer and Oliver Wyman. Mercer focuses on "people" issues, helping companies with employee health benefits, retirement plans, and investment advice. Oliver Wyman is a management consulting firm that helps companies with big strategic decisions, like how to improve their operations or enter new markets.
What management is betting on now
The company is focused on expanding its more specialized advisory services, where clients need deep expertise in complex areas like climate-related risks and cybersecurity. They are also growing by acquiring smaller, regional insurance brokers to increase their reach, particularly in the U.S. market for medium-sized businesses. To make its services more effective, the company is investing heavily in data, analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI) to provide better insights to its clients. Recently, the company announced it will be unifying its various businesses under a single brand name, Marsh, to present a more integrated front to clients.
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
$1.88B
FY2025 Q1
$-677.00M
FY2025 Q2
$1.61B
FY2025 Q3
$2.01B
FY2025 Q4
$2.06B
FY2026 Q1
$-750.00M
FY2026 Q2
$1.45B
FY2026 Q3
$1.40B
Revenue
$6.86B
Net income
$808.00M
Diluted EPS
1.69
Operating cash flow
$1.48B
Free cash flow
$1.40B
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$7.40B
Net income
$1.27B
Diluted EPS
2.63
Operating cash flow
$1.52B
Free cash flow
$1.45B
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$7.60B
Net income
$1.15B
Diluted EPS
2.36
Operating cash flow
$-688.00M
Free cash flow
$-750.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$6.59B
Net income
$821.00M
Diluted EPS
1.68
Operating cash flow
$2.16B
Free cash flow
$2.06B
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$6.35B
Net income
$747.00M
Diluted EPS
1.51
Operating cash flow
$2.08B
Free cash flow
$2.01B
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$6.97B
Net income
$1.21B
Diluted EPS
2.45
Operating cash flow
$1.67B
Free cash flow
$1.61B
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$7.06B
Net income
$1.38B
Diluted EPS
2.79
Operating cash flow
$-622.00M
Free cash flow
$-677.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$6.07B
Net income
$788.00M
Diluted EPS
1.58
Operating cash flow
$1.96B
Free cash flow
$1.88B
Fetching…
Sources
Is it cheap or expensive?
Fair value $274.50 vs current price $188.35
Wall Street consensus is the average analyst price target: $205.24 (-25.2% lower than our fair-value estimate).
Our most-likely fair value is $274.50 a share — about 45.7% above today's price of $188.35, so the stock currently looks cheap (undervalued).
Is it drowning in debt?
Stretched
Net debt $20.5B. Interest coverage 6.5x.
Net debt
$20.49B
Interest coverage
6.48x
Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc.'s profit covers its interest bill about 6.5 times over. which is stronger than most peers shown here.
Stretched
Worse cushion
Baseline
Better cushion
MRSH
BASELINE
Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc.
Total debt $22.33B Interest coverage 6.48x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $15.87B Interest coverage 5.78x -11% vs MRSH Has roughly the same debt cushion as MRSH.
Total debt $14.11B Interest coverage 4.00x -38% vs MRSH Carries about 1.6x less debt cushion than MRSH.
Total debt $7.10B Interest coverage 8.68x +34% vs MRSH Carries about 1.3x more debt cushion than MRSH.
Total debt $8.07B Interest coverage 4.91x -24% vs MRSH Carries about 1.3x less debt cushion than MRSH.
Total debt $5.66B Interest coverage 3.67x -43% vs MRSH Carries about 1.8x less debt cushion than MRSH.
What you should know
The case for and against MRSH
3 Rewards
3 Risks
Rewards
-
Revenue grew 5.5% last year.
-
Returns 27.2% on equity, ahead of 66% of its peers.
-
Free cash flow was positive in 10/10 years.
Risks
-
Net debt grew 56.0% over 3 years.
-
Operating margin compressed from 20.7% to 18.4% over 3 years.
-
Insider ownership is only 0.1% (peer median: 0.9%).
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)
22.53x
Forward P/E
16.43x
P/B
6.01x
P/S
3.16x
EV/EBITDA
13.99x
PEG ratio
1.65x
Profitability
How much profit each dollar creates
Gross margin
44.5%
Operating margin
18.4%
Net margin
14.2%
ROE
27.2%
ROA
7.3%
Health
Liquidity and balance-sheet strength
Debt / equity
1.50x
Current ratio
1.09x
Quick ratio
0.50x
Total debt
$22.33B
Total cash
$1.84B
Growth
How the business has been compounding
Revenue TTM
$28.46B
Revenue 5Y CAGR
17.8%
EPS TTM
8.36
EPS 5Y CAGR
11.8%
Cash flow
How much cash the business throws off
Operating CF TTM
$4.47B
Free CF TTM
$5.00B
FCF margin
17.6%
Dividend
Shareholder payout
Yield
2.1%
Payout ratio
44.1%
Last ex-div date
2026-10-01