EarningsQ3 2026 Earnings Report
MX:MCO Q3 2026 EPS Results
Actual EPS$77.26
Consensus EPS$79.39
Beat/MissMissed by -$2.13
One Year Ago EPS$73.16
MX:MCO Q3 2026 Revenue Results
Actual Revenue$37.75B
Expected Revenue$38.75B
Beat/MissMissed by -$990.87M
YoY Revenue Growth+0.80%
Earnings Announcement Details
QuarterQ3 2026
Date10/21/2026
TimeBefore Open
Conference CallWednesday, October 21, 2026
MX:MCO Upcoming Earnings
Moody's's next earnings date is estimated for February 5, 2027, based on past reporting schedules.
Q3 2026 Earnings Call Audio
MX:MCO Q3 2026 Earnings Call
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Q3 2026 Earnings Slide Deck
Q3 2026 Earnings Call Summary
Earnings Call Sentiment|Positive
The call was predominantly positive. Moody's reported strong profitability, recurring revenue growth, record or near-record activity in several ratings areas, accelerating AI adoption, expanding customer relationships, strong cash generation, and reaffirmed full-year guidance. These strengths were partly offset by declines in overall issuance, leveraged finance, MIS transaction revenue, MA transactional revenue, and the expected mid-teens fourth-quarter issuance decline, along with macro and market-volatility risks.Company Guidance
Strong Quarterly Profitability and Earnings Growth
Moody's topped $2 billion in revenue for the third straight quarter and built on a record quarter from last year. Despite overall rated issuance declining 2%, adjusted operating margin was 52.6% and adjusted diluted EPS grew 6%.
Moody's Analytics Recurring Growth and Retention
Moody's Analytics reported 3% revenue growth, or 8% on an organic constant currency basis. Recurring organic constant currency revenue grew 9% and represented about 99% of total MA revenue. ARR reached $3.7 billion, up approximately 8% year-over-year, while trailing 12-month retention was 95%.
Moody's Analytics Margin Expansion
MA adjusted operating margin expanded 100 basis points year-over-year to 35.3%, supported by portfolio simplification, technology platform consolidation, and initial efficiencies from AI while the company continued investing in priority areas.
Strong Ratings Profitability
MIS delivered an adjusted operating margin of 64.4%, which management attributed to disciplined cost management and resource allocation while preserving investment capacity.
Second-Strongest Third Quarter for MIS
Although rated issuance declined 2% year-over-year to approximately $1.7 trillion, it remained the second-highest third-quarter level on record. MIS revenue was $1.1 billion, down 1% against a tough comparison.
AI and Infrastructure Financing Momentum
Issuance in sectors tied to AI infrastructure and power investment increased approximately fourfold from the third quarter of last year. AI infrastructure, data centers, power investment, and broader infrastructure remained important sources of financing demand.
Record Investment-Grade Issuance
Investment-grade revenue increased 18% on 16% issuance growth, with investment-grade issuance reaching a third-quarter record supported by AI infrastructure and hyperscaler financing. Year-to-date jumbo corporate issuance had already surpassed the full-year 2025 level.
Growth in First-Time Rating Mandates
First-time mandates increased 40% in the third quarter to the highest quarterly total in five years. Based on performance and pipeline visibility, Moody's raised its full-year first-time mandates outlook to a range of 900 to 950.
Durable Refinancing Opportunity
Refinancing needs across the U.S. and EMEA exceeded $5 trillion over the next four years for the second straight year. Investment-grade maturities grew about 5%, led by approximately 11% growth in the U.S., while the U.S. five-year refinancing view grew approximately 4% to about $3.5 trillion.
Private Credit Expansion
The number of rated private credit deals grew by more than 40% year-over-year. Moody's rated billions of dollars of debt from Apollo's AMAP VI broadly diversified, actively managed multi-asset credit vehicle and continued expanding its private-credit analytical capabilities and partnerships.
Expansion in the Philippines and Asia-Pacific
Moody's is acquiring a minority stake in PhilRatings, its sixth domestic credit rating agency affiliate in Asia-Pacific. The investment provides a leading position in the Philippines, where more than $100 billion of infrastructure investment is planned by 2030.
New Digital Infrastructure Methodology
Moody's introduced a cross-sector digital infrastructure methodology integrating corporate and project finance approaches to assess AI infrastructure and related assets with distinct business models, financing structures, and credit profiles.
Insurance ARR and Customer Expansion
Insurance ARR grew nearly 10%, driven by demand for catastrophe data and modeling solutions and strong retention. A top-three U.S. auto and property insurer more than doubled its ARR after adopting Moody's Intelligent Risk Platform and high-definition models, while a global reinsurance broker's new five-year agreement drove nearly 14% ARR growth with that customer.
Banking and Lending Growth
Banking ARR grew 8%, while the lending suite grew 12%. Moody's added a major bank in Mexico, completing its footprint across the country's top five banks, and the bank is deploying Moody's platform to automate the end-to-end credit process.
KYC, Compliance, and Public-Sector Wins
KYC ARR grew 12%. Moody's expanded a five-year reseller agreement to extend Orbis penetration into multiple government agencies, added a federal agency in Germany, and renewed its agreement with the European Commission to support the next generation of Arachne.
AI Adoption Accelerating
Over the last three months, users of Moody's research MCPs more than quadrupled and usage increased more than tenfold. MCP customers paying for access more than doubled during the quarter, and analysts using the MCP reached three times more content on a working day. KYC agents were growing almost three times faster than the KYC business as a whole, although from a small base.
AI-Enabled Workflow Productivity
Moody's Risk Data Refinery achieved around 95% first-pass accuracy. Customers can reduce slip interpretation time by as much as 80%-90% and statement-of-values preparation by up to 75%. The company also reported three live customers for its Banking Decision Intelligence offering, with a fourth completing a proof of concept.
Data and Distribution Partnerships
Moody's signed a new agreement with SAP to launch Supplier Intelligence for Ariba, displacing a competitor, and entered a multi-year private-markets data distribution partnership with one of the world's largest asset managers. A global technology customer's relationship with Moody's grew 2.5x in under two years.
Research and Data Product Growth
Research & Insights ARR grew about 6%, supported by Moody's OneView. Data & Information ARR grew 7%, reflecting demand for ratings data feeds and the data estate, including Orbis. A quantitative trading firm with more than $1 trillion in assets under management converted a research trial into a multi-year OneView API agreement.
External Recognition
Moody's was named number one in the Chartis RiskTech100 for the fifth consecutive year, with a record 18 category wins across credit, insurance, data, and AI.
Strong Cash Flow and Share Repurchases
Year-to-date free cash flow was $2.2 billion, up 22% year-over-year. Moody's repurchased approximately $2.6 billion of shares year-to-date and continued to expect up to $3 billion of repurchases for the full year, with plans to return more than 130% of free cash flow to shareholders.
Full-Year Guidance Reaffirmed
Moody's reaffirmed full-year guidance for high single-digit revenue growth, a 52%-53% adjusted operating margin, and adjusted diluted EPS of $16.50-$17, representing 12% growth at the midpoint. MA ARR growth guidance remained in the high single-digit percent range with a 34%-35% adjusted operating margin target.
MX:MCO Earnings History
The table shows recent earnings report dates and whether the forecast was beat or missed. See the change in forecast and EPS from the previous year.
Beat
Missed