Credit rating agency Moody's (NYSE: MCO) will be announcing earnings results this Wednesday before market open. Here’s what to expect.
Moody's beat analysts’ revenue expectations by 2.4% last quarter, reporting revenues of $2.01 billion, up 10.7% year on year. It was a very strong quarter for the company, with and full-year EPS guidance beating analysts’ expectations.
Is Moody's a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it’s free for active Edge members.
This quarter, analysts are expecting Moody’s revenue to grow 11.2% year on year to $1.86 billion, slowing from the 13% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $3.44 per share.
Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings. Moody's has missed Wall Street’s revenue estimates twice over the last two years.
Looking at Moody’s peers in the financial exchanges & data segment, some have already reported their Q4 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. Morningstar delivered year-on-year revenue growth of 8.5%, beating analysts’ expectations by 2.2%, and Nasdaq reported revenues up 13.4%, topping estimates by 1.4%. Morningstar traded up 3.9% following the results while Nasdaq was down 1.8%.
Read our full analysis of Morningstar’s results here and Nasdaq’s results here.
The outlook for 2025 remains clouded by potential trade policy changes and corporate tax discussions, which could impact business confidence and growth. While some of the financial exchanges & data stocks have shown solid performance in this choppy environment, the group has generally underperformed, with share prices down 6.1% on average over the last month. Moody's is down 18.2% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $571.79 (compared to the current share price of $423).
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