Moody’s Earned $1.51 per Share

I expected Moody’s (MCO) to beat earnings and I was right. This morning, the credit ratings agency reported Q4 earnings of $1.51 per share. That was six cents better than estimates. Moody’s had quarterly revenue of $1.17 billion which topped expectations of $1.08 billion.

For the year, Moody’s made $6.07 per share which is a nice increase over the $4.94 they made in 2016. For 2018, Moody’s expects earnings to range between $7.65 and $7.85 per share. Wall Street had been expecting $6.89 per share.

This from the press release:

Moody’s expects full year 2018 revenue to increase in the low-double-digit percent range. Operating expenses are also expected to increase in the low-double-digit percent range.

Moody’s projects an operating margin of 43% to 44% and an adjusted operating margin of approximately 48%.

The effective tax rate is expected to be 22% to 23%.

Full year 2018 diluted EPS is expected to be $7.20 to $7.40. The Company expects full year 2018 adjusted diluted EPS to be $7.65 to $7.85. Both ranges include an approximate $0.65 benefit resulting from U.S. tax reform, as well as an estimated $0.20 benefit related to the tax accounting for equity compensation, in line with the benefit recognized in 2017. The majority of the latter benefit is expected to be recognized in the first quarter of 2018.

Like the rest of the market, shares of MCO had an eventful day. At its high, the stock was up more than 4% on the day, and two hours later, it was down nearly 2%. By the closing bell, Moody’s stood at $154.64 per share for a gain of 1.6%.

Posted by on February 9th, 2018 at 9:48 am


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