Moody’s Beats Earnings and Raises Dividend

This morning, Moody’s (MCO) released fourth-quarter earnings of $2.00 per share. That’s up 23% over last year. It also topped Wall Street’s forecast by seven cents per share. Revenues rose 16% to $1.2 billion. For the year, Moody’s earned $8.29 per share. That’s an increase of 12% over 2018. These numbers are very, very good.

“Moody’s revenue growth for full year 2019 was the result of strong contributions from both Moody’s Analytics and Moody’s Investors Service. Robust performance at Moody’s Analytics was driven by increasing customer demand for core research and data products, along with compliance and know-your-customer solutions. Additionally, Moody’s Investors Service benefited from increased global bond issuance amid generally favorable market conditions,” said Raymond McDaniel, President and Chief Executive Officer of Moody’s. “For 2020, we expect to continue leveraging the capabilities of our core businesses, further innovate with new technologies and capitalize on strategic investments, such as our recently announced acquisition of Regulatory DataCorp.”

During 2019, Moody’s bought back 5.2 million shares for a cost of $991 million. The company is also bumping up its dividend by 12% to 56 cents per share.

The dividend will be payable on March 18 to stockholders of record at the close of business on February 25.

For 2020, Moody expect earnings to range between $9.10 and $9.30 per share.

Posted by on February 12th, 2020 at 11:15 am


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