Following its third-quarter earnings release on Wednesday, Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) stock saw an uptick.
The financial intelligence company reported a strong 11% year-on-year (Y/Y) increase in revenue, reaching $2.01 billion and comfortably exceeding the analyst consensus of $1.95 billion.
Moody’s also beat profit forecasts, posting adjusted earnings per share of $3.92 compared to the $3.68 estimate.
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Moody’s Investors Service’s (MIS) revenue reached $1.1 billion during the quarter, marking a 12% growth rate Y/Y. Moody’s Analytics (MA) revenue grew 9% to $909 million.
Operating expenses grew 1.4% Y/Y. The company’s adjusted operating margin was 52.9%, up 510 basis points from the prior-year period. MA’s adjusted operating margin rose by 400 basis points to 34.3%. MIS’s adjusted operating margin of 65.2% improved 560 basis points.
Cash flow from operations was $743 million, and free cash flow was $658 million.
On October 21, 2025, the Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.94 per share payable on December 12, 2025, to stockholders of record on November 21, 2025.
During the second quarter of 2025, the company repurchased 1.0 million shares at an average price of $503.66 per share, while issuing 53,000 net shares through employee stock-based compensation programs.
As of September 30, 2025, Moody’s had 178.4 million shares outstanding and approximately $398 million remaining in its share repurchase authority. On October 21, 2025, the Moody’s Board of Directors authorized an additional $4 billion in share repurchase authority.
Moody’s reported $7.0 billion in outstanding debt and an undrawn $1.25 billion revolving credit facility. The company also held approximately $2.26 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of September 30, 2025.
CEO Rob Fauber noted that Moody’s franchise delivered strong top-line growth and notable operating leverage this quarter. He emphasized that the company’s investments in key strategic areas are yielding results.
2025 Outlook
Moody’s revised the adjusted EPS outlook to $14.50-$14.75 (up from prior $13.50-$14.00) versus the $14.11 analyst consensus estimate. The company still projects revenues to increase in the high-single-digit percent range (up from the prior mid-single-digit percent range and reiterated its outlook for operating expenses growth in the low to mid-single-digit percentage range for 2025.
Price Action: Moody’s shares traded lower by 0.01% to $484.86 in the premarket at the last check on Wednesday.
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