[MCO] Moody's: Q3 2026 earnings preview as ratings revenue faces a high base

Moody's, one of the world's two largest credit rating agencies and a seller of credit research, data, compliance and risk software to banks, insurers and corporates, holds its earnings call on 2026-10-21 to report results for the third quarter of 2026, ending September 30, 2026[1]. Heading into this Moody's Q3 2026 earnings preview, the latest disclosed period is the second quarter of 2026: revenue rose 15% to $2.185 billion, the adjusted operating margin expanded 440 basis points to 55.3%, and adjusted diluted EPS rose 31% to $4.68; ratings revenue grew 25% to $1.260 billion and Moody's Analytics annual recurring revenue (ARR) grew 9% to $3.661 billion[2]. In July, management reaffirmed high-single-digit full-year revenue growth and narrowed full-year adjusted EPS guidance to $16.50-$17.00[3], and it guided third-quarter ratings revenue to be roughly flat year over year[4]. Drillr's compilation of 14 analysts puts the third-quarter adjusted EPS consensus at $4.25 (range $4.14-$4.34), and 13 analysts put the revenue consensus at $2.071 billion[5]; against the Drillr earnings calendar's record of $2.007 billion in revenue and $3.92 in adjusted EPS for the third quarter of 2025, that implies roughly 3% revenue growth and roughly 8% EPS growth[1].

Three things matter most in this report. First, whether ratings revenue holds "roughly flat": rated issuance grew 33% in the second quarter, and management acknowledged that part of the recovery it had expected in the third quarter was pulled forward[6][7], so the third quarter is tested against a high base from the second half of 2025, and a decline well beyond flat would suggest the first-half strength borrowed from later quarters. Second, whether the Analytics margin starts to climb: the segment's first-half adjusted operating margin was only 33.1%, still below the 34%-35% full-year guidance[8][4], and without a clear step-up in the third quarter the full-year target would depend on a one-time jump in the fourth. Third, whether EPS can keep growing as ratings revenue slows: first-half adjusted EPS was $9.00[9], full-year guidance implies $7.50-$8.00 for the second half, and the company has already repurchased about $2.2 billion of stock against a full-year buyback ceiling of $3.0 billion[3], so the report will show whether cost discipline and the remaining buybacks can take over from ratings revenue's operating leverage.

Company Background and Business Structure

Moody's reports two segments: one earns rating fees on debt issuance and the other sells data and software by subscription. Moody's Investors Service (MIS) rates corporations, financial institutions, governments, project finance and structured products, and most of its revenue comes from rating fees paid by debt issuers, so it depends heavily on the dollar volume and number of bonds issued in global capital markets[10]. Moody's Analytics (MA) sells credit research, data, know-your-customer (KYC) compliance tools, insurance catastrophe models and bank credit software, and 96% of its 2025 revenue was recurring[11].

MIS revenue is dominated by transaction fees recognized deal by deal, with recurring revenue cushioning swings in issuance. In 2025, MIS external revenue was $4.119 billion, of which transaction rating fees were $2.741 billion, or 67%, and recurring revenue from frequent-issuer annual fees, monitoring fees and commercial paper and medium-term note programs was $1.378 billion[11]. By line of business, Corporate Finance generated $2.132 billion (investment grade $573 million, high yield $324 million, bank loans $503 million), Structured Finance $558 million, Financial Institutions $759 million and Public, Project and Infrastructure Finance $635 million[12]. The annual report notes that annual fee arrangements with frequent issuers and monitoring fees partly offset MIS's dependence on new issuance volume[10].

MA is almost entirely subscription revenue, and it pays MIS an intersegment royalty for using ratings content. In 2025, MA external revenue was $3.599 billion: Decision Solutions (covering banking, insurance and KYC) $1.692 billion, Research & Insights $995 million and Data & Information $912 million; the intersegment royalty paid to MIS was $198 million and is eliminated on consolidation[12]. MA ARR stood at $3.498 billion at the end of 2025, up 8%[13]. Based on 2025 external revenue, MIS accounted for about 53.4% of company revenue and MA about 46.6%[12].

Financial History and Current Position

Moody's annual revenue moves with the issuance cycle, but it has grown in each of the last two years. Revenue was $5.916 billion in 2023, $7.088 billion in 2024 and $7.718 billion in 2025, with 2024 growing about 20% as issuance recovered; in 2025, MIS external revenue grew 8.6% to $4.119 billion and MA grew 9.2% to $3.599 billion[12]. Adjusted operating income was $3.942 billion in 2025 ($3.408 billion in 2024) and operating income was $3.351 billion[14]; operating cash flow was $2.901 billion, capital expenditure $326 million and free cash flow $2.575 billion[15].

In the first half of 2026, accelerating ratings revenue lifted company-wide growth and margins. First-half revenue rose 12% to $4.264 billion, with MIS up 16% to $2.413 billion and MA up 6% to $1.851 billion; the adjusted operating margin was 54.2% (51.3% a year earlier) and adjusted EPS rose 22% to $9.00[9]. Growth was more modest in the first quarter: revenue rose 8% to $2.079 billion, MIS revenue also rose 8% to $1.153 billion, and adjusted EPS rose 13% to $4.33[16].

The second quarter supplied most of the first-half growth, and cash went largely to buybacks. Second-quarter revenue rose 15% to $2.185 billion, the operating margin was 47.9%, the adjusted operating margin was 55.3% and adjusted EPS rose 31% to $4.68[2]; reported diluted EPS of $5.03 included a $181 million gain on business divestitures, and diluted weighted average shares fell 3% to 174.5 million from 180.2 million[17]. First-half operating cash flow was $1.718 billion and free cash flow $1.532 billion ($1.140 billion a year earlier); treasury share purchases totaled $2.165 billion and dividends $365 million, the company received $200 million from divestitures, and cash stood at $1.467 billion at the end of June[18].

Operating Model

Moody's revenue is the sum of external revenue from its two segments, and the two respond to entirely different drivers. MIS revenue equals transaction revenue plus recurring revenue, and transaction revenue depends on issuance volume, unit pricing and product mix; because frequent issuers pay under annual fee arrangements, each dollar of large investment-grade issuance generates less revenue than complex deals such as collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) and commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS)[10][7]. MA revenue comes mainly from ARR, with new and expanded contracts typically converting into recurring revenue with a lag of one to two quarters, and transaction revenue had fallen to $10 million in the second quarter[6]; reported growth is also affected by divestitures and currency.

The key to operating profit is that both segments are labor-heavy and MIS costs barely move with revenue in the short run. In 2025, compensation expense was $2.574 billion and non-compensation expense $1.202 billion, of which MIS accounted for $1.136 billion and $423 million; MIS adjusted operating income was $2.746 billion and MA's $1.196 billion, so MIS contributed about 70% of segment profit[14]. Because costs are rigid, most of each additional dollar of MIS revenue falls to profit, which is why the MIS margin reached 68.3% in the second quarter[2], and the margin falls back with revenue in seasonally slow quarters[4]. Adjusted operating income excludes depreciation and amortization ($480 million in 2025) and restructuring ($108 million)[14]; adjusted EPS then deducts interest and tax, with management guiding the full-year effective tax rate to the high end of its 23%-25% range[4], and divides by diluted shares.

On cash flow, MA's annual subscriptions are billed mostly at year-end and the start of the year, so first-quarter collections are the strongest, while buybacks and dividends are the main uses of cash. In 2025, operating cash flow of $2.901 billion less $326 million of capital expenditure produced $2.575 billion of free cash flow[15]; in the first half of 2026, $1.532 billion of free cash flow plus $200 million of divestiture proceeds supported $2.165 billion of buybacks and $365 million of dividends[18]. In July, management cut full-year free cash flow guidance by $100 million to $2.7-$2.9 billion, citing updated working capital forecasts and restructuring costs[4], which leaves less room for second-half buybacks than in the first half.

Industry and Competitive Position

Credit ratings are dominated by a small number of nationally recognized statistical rating organizations (NRSROs), yet Moody's acknowledges price competition in ratings, research and risk management. The annual report lists competitors including other rating agencies, investment banks and brokers that offer credit opinions, in-house research operations and non-NRSROs that assess debt risk; the U.S. Reform Act was designed to encourage competition among rating agencies, and new NRSROs could add pricing pressure; generative AI could also let competitors deliver solutions at lower prices or greatly widen access to public information[19].

Moody's advantages come from regulatory and investor demand for ratings and from embedding its analytics products in customers' daily workflows. Annual fee arrangements with frequent issuers and monitoring fees give MIS a recurring revenue base[10], and first-time mandates rose 45% year over year in the second quarter, building a base for future monitoring fees[6]; MA's trailing 12-month customer retention held at 95%[6]. The available disclosure has a limit: the company reports only the growth rate of rated issuance, not absolute volumes or unit pricing, so the mix effect between issuance and revenue can only be inferred indirectly from line-of-business revenue, and like-for-like share comparisons with other rating agencies are not possible.

Core Debates

Moody's Ratings grew revenue 25% in the second quarter, yet management guided third-quarter MIS revenue to be roughly flat and did not raise its full-year revenue outlook. Can MIS hold that flat line in the third quarter?

This question matters because MIS contributes more than half of company revenue and about 70% of segment profit, and rigid costs amplify small revenue changes into EPS. In the second quarter, MIS revenue rose 25% to $1.260 billion, transaction revenue rose 34% to $891 million, recurring revenue rose 6% to $369 million, and the segment's adjusted operating margin expanded 410 basis points to 68.3%[20][2]; in the first half, MIS revenue rose 16% to $2.413 billion and transaction revenue rose 20% to $1.681 billion[21].

First-half strength was concentrated in corporate and infrastructure finance, but part of it was a matter of timing. Second-quarter Corporate Finance revenue rose 27% to $651 million, including bank loan rating revenue of $147 million, up 50% from $98 million a year earlier[22]; yet leveraged loan revenue was still falling in the first quarter as the market turned cautious late in the quarter and repricing activity eased[16], with first-quarter bank loan revenue of about $139 million down 13% from $160 million[22]. On the second-quarter call, management said the stronger-than-expected second quarter pulled forward the recovery it had expected in the third[7]; as early as the first quarter, management had laid out a cadence of second-half issuance down mid-single digits year over year and second-half revenue up mid-single digits[23]. The transmission chain runs from spreads, risk appetite and financing demand to the number and type of issuers coming to market, then to transaction rating revenue, and finally, through rigid costs, to MIS profit and EPS.

What remains unresolved is why management raised its issuance outlook without raising its ratings revenue outlook, and whether that reflects mix or exhausted demand. The company raised its full-year rated issuance outlook from low-single-digit to mid-single-digit growth[24] but kept MIS revenue growth at high single digits, explaining that the extra issuance is concentrated in lower-yield data center and frequent financial institution deals that earn less revenue per dollar of volume than CLOs and CMBS[7][4]. An alternative reading is that first-half strength came mainly from pulled-forward issuance and repricing, so revenue could fall by more than "flat" when issuance slows in the third quarter; management itself warned that very robust issuance in the second half of 2025 creates a difficult comparison[25].

In the third-quarter report, watch whether MIS revenue lands near flat year over year and how transaction and recurring revenue each move. Also watch whether bank loans and structured finance become a drag, how management explains any gap between issuance growth and revenue growth, and how the MIS margin changes year over year, which management has already said will follow the seasonal pattern lower[4]. If MIS revenue falls more than about 5% year over year, the second-quarter strength was mainly pulled-forward issuance and the high second-half base is weighing more than guidance assumed; if bank loan revenue drops sharply and the company attributes it to less repricing, the revenue mix is weaker than issuance volume suggests.

Moody's Analytics grew ARR 9% while reported revenue rose only 4%, and its first-half margin of 33.1% still sits below the full-year 34%-35% guidance. After the divestitures, can the margin actually step up in the second half?

MA is Moody's stabilizer outside the issuance cycle, and this year's margin guidance is the first checkpoint on management's long-term target. Management maintained full-year MA guidance for a 34%-35% adjusted operating margin and high-single-digit ARR growth and said it is on track for a mid-to-high 30s margin by the end of 2027[4]; yet the first-half MA margin was only 33.1% (31.1% a year earlier), and the second-quarter margin was 33.6%, up 150 basis points[8].

Subscription demand has held steady, and the weaker reported revenue mainly reflects a scope change from divestitures. MA ARR reached $3.661 billion at the end of June, up 9%, including KYC at $478 million (up 13%), Insurance at $723 million (up 9%), Banking at $420 million (up 10%), Research & Insights at $1.037 billion (up 6%) and Data & Information at $1.003 billion (up 8%)[26]; ARR was $3.607 billion at the end of March, up 8%[16]. Second-quarter reported revenue of $925 million grew only 4%, while organic constant currency revenue grew 8% to $920 million from $852 million[2]; the gap comes from the sale of Learning Solutions in the fourth quarter of 2025 and of Regulatory Solutions in the second quarter of 2026, which cut reported Banking revenue by 14%[27]. The transmission chain runs from demand for credit, catastrophe modeling, compliance and research data to new sales, expansions and renewals, then to net ARR additions that convert into recurring revenue with a one-to-two-quarter lag, and finally, helped by restructuring savings and the exit from lower-margin businesses, to a higher margin.

What remains unresolved is how much of the margin improvement comes from operating efficiency and how much is simply the mix effect of selling lower-margin businesses. Management expanded the restructuring program by $100 million and extended it through the end of 2027, with expected annualized savings of $300-$350 million on completion[4], and as early as the first quarter it said the MA margin would step up modestly in the second quarter and more meaningfully in the second half, with KYC growth expected to pick up to around 15%[23]. An alternative reading is that ARR growth has not accelerated and that the 72% drop in transaction revenue to $10 million reflects a deliberate retreat[6], so the second-half margin may rise only slightly.

In the third-quarter report, watch whether the MA margin approaches or exceeds 35% and whether ARR growth holds at 9%. Also watch whether KYC growth moves back toward around 15%, organic constant currency recurring revenue growth, the pace of restructuring costs and savings, and the migration of insurance clients to the cloud-based IRP platform. If the third-quarter MA margin is no higher than 33.6%, the full-year 34%-35% guidance would depend on a one-time jump in the fourth quarter; if ARR growth falls below 8%, both organic growth and the margin ramp would lose their footing.

Moody's narrowed full-year adjusted EPS guidance to $16.50-$17.00 after earning $9.00 in the first half. With ratings revenue guided flat for the third quarter and buybacks slowing, can operating leverage keep EPS growing?

This question combines the first two debates, because the high margin of the ratings business means a revenue slowdown hits profit quickly. Management's full-year adjusted EPS guidance is $16.50-$17.00, with a midpoint of $16.75 that represents 12% growth[4]; the company earned $9.00 in the first half, up 22%[9], so the guidance implies $7.50-$8.00 for the second half. Much of the first-half growth came from the surge in ratings revenue, and the third quarter is the first test of whether cost discipline and buybacks can carry the load.

Second-quarter EPS benefited from both margin expansion and a lower share count, but the cash guidance has already tightened. Second-quarter adjusted operating income was $1.208 billion, the margin expanded 440 basis points to 55.3%, and adjusted EPS rose 31% to $4.68[8][2], while diluted shares fell 3% to 174.5 million[17]. First-half free cash flow rose 34% to $1.532 billion from $1.140 billion, buybacks totaled $2.165 billion and dividends $365 million, and cash ended the period at $1.467 billion[18]; in July the company raised its buyback guidance to up to $3.0 billion while cutting free cash flow guidance by $100 million[3][4]. The transmission chain runs from flat ratings revenue plus organic MA growth to low-single-digit consolidated revenue growth, then through cost discipline and restructuring savings to the adjusted operating margin, and, combined with a roughly 3% year-over-year decline in diluted shares, to adjusted EPS; free cash flow funds the buybacks and dividends.

What remains unresolved is how much of the consolidated margin survives when ratings revenue is flat, and how much EPS growth must come from buybacks. Against the $3.0 billion full-year buyback ceiling, the company had already used about $2.2 billion in the first half[3], leaving at most about $0.8 billion for the second half, a clearly slower pace. An alternative reading is that the first-half margin jump was mainly a one-time burst of ratings revenue leverage, so the consolidated margin will fall back when ratings revenue is flat in the third quarter and EPS growth will lean more on buybacks.

In the third-quarter report, watch the year-over-year growth in adjusted EPS, whether full-year guidance changes, and the year-over-year change in the consolidated adjusted operating margin. Also watch the decline in diluted shares and the buyback amount, as well as nine-month free cash flow against the $2.7-$2.9 billion full-year guidance[4]. If third-quarter EPS falls year over year or full-year guidance is cut, the first-half margin leverage is not sustainable; if free cash flow guidance is cut again, both the buyback pace and per-share growth would come under pressure.

Risks and Falsifiers

Generative AI and low-cost models could weaken the pricing power of Moody's research and data products. The annual report warns that competitors could use generative AI to deliver solutions at lower prices or greatly widen access to public information[19], while management said on the call that new lower-cost frontier AI models currently look more like a potential tailwind than a major risk[25]. The exposure falls first on renewals and pricing for Research & Insights, with $1.037 billion of ARR, and Data & Information, with $1.003 billion, and second on MIS pricing power[26]; if ARR growth in those two businesses stays at or above the second quarter's 6% and 8% and retention holds at 95%, the risk has not materialized[6].

A turn toward tighter rate and inflation assumptions would suppress opportunistic refinancing and M&A financing. The company's July full-year assumptions include one more Federal Reserve rate increase this year and a further European Central Bank increase, and they underpin its outlook for mid-single-digit growth in rated issuance[24]; management also warned that disruption to global energy flows could raise inflation expectations and lead companies to defer M&A and financing[25]. The exposure is MIS transaction revenue and the full-year issuance assumption; if the third-quarter report keeps the full-year issuance and MIS revenue guidance, the assumption still holds.

Geopolitical conflict and energy price shocks could push markets into risk-off mode, with high yield and leveraged loans hit first. Management noted that the high yield market was already disrupted at the start of July 2026[25], while second-quarter MIS transaction revenue was $891 million[20] and MIS adjusted operating income was $896 million at a 68.3% margin[8]. If third-quarter transaction revenue is flat or higher year over year and bank loan revenue avoids a double-digit decline, the risk has not materially played out.

A slower-than-expected migration of insurance modeling clients to the cloud would make growth in MA's insurance business uneven. Management warned that weaker demand or slower migration of on-premise clients to the cloud-based IRP platform could create uneven growth in insurance[25]; Insurance ARR is $723 million, up 9%[26], and directly affects MA recurring revenue and the margin ramp. If third-quarter Insurance ARR growth is at or above 9%, the migration pace is not holding growth back.

Incentive compensation and labor costs could rise with results and offset cost discipline as revenue slows. Both segments are labor-heavy: second-quarter compensation expense was $663 million, non-compensation expense $314 million and consolidated adjusted operating income $1.208 billion[8], and first-half earnings growth also raises the base for incentive pay[9]. If the third-quarter consolidated adjusted operating margin is flat or higher year over year, cost control has withstood this pressure.

What to Watch Next

• MIS revenue: second-quarter revenue was $1.260 billion, up 25%, and first-half revenue was $2.413 billion, up 16%. Watch whether third-quarter revenue lands near flat and the high-single-digit full-year guidance holds; a decline of more than about 5% would indicate that pulled-forward issuance borrowed from the second half.
• MIS revenue mix: transaction revenue was $891 million (up 34%) and recurring revenue $369 million (up 6%). Flat or higher transaction revenue would indicate that the risk-off scenario has not materialized.
• Bank loan ratings: second-quarter revenue was $147 million, up 50%, after a 13% first-quarter decline. A sharp drop attributed to less repricing would show the mix is weaker than issuance volume.
• MA margin: 33.6% in the second quarter and 33.1% in the first half. A third-quarter margin no higher than 33.6% would leave the full-year guidance dependent on a fourth-quarter jump.
• MA ARR: $3.661 billion, up 9%, with KYC up 13% and Insurance up 9%. ARR growth below 8% would undermine both growth and the margin ramp.
• Adjusted EPS and guidance: $4.68 in the second quarter (up 31%), $9.00 in the first half, and $16.50-$17.00 for the year. A year-over-year decline or a guidance cut would show the margin leverage is not sustainable.
• Shares, buybacks and free cash flow: 174.5 million diluted shares (down 3%), about $2.2 billion repurchased and $1.532 billion of free cash flow in the first half. Another cut to free cash flow guidance would pressure both buybacks and per-share growth.

Conclusion

Moody's results run on two engines with different rhythms: ratings revenue follows the bond issuance cycle, and analytics revenue follows subscription renewals and expansions. In the first half of 2026, ratings revenue grew 16% and analytics revenue 6%, the adjusted operating margin rose to 54.2%, and adjusted EPS grew 22% to $9.00[9]; the company repurchased about $2.2 billion of stock in the half and kept $1.467 billion of cash[18]. The central unresolved relationship is how much of the 25% second-quarter growth in ratings revenue reflects durable structural demand and how much is issuance pulled forward from the third quarter, and rigid costs transmit that answer directly into the $16.50-$17.00 full-year EPS guidance[2][3].

Since the second-quarter report, the Moody's coverage that could be found consisted mainly of brokers adjusting their share-price views and roundups of those views; none offered verifiable, independent analysis that directly addresses the three debates above, so this preview cites no outside interpretation and does not treat those roundups as a shared view of the company's prospects. After the third-quarter report, readers will still need to rely on the company's own disclosures to judge how ratings revenue, the analytics margin and EPS fit together.

The current understanding — that ratings revenue is stabilizing against a high base while the analytics margin climbs step by step — would strengthen materially if third-quarter MIS revenue lands near flat year over year, bank loan revenue avoids a double-digit decline, the MA margin moves toward 35%, ARR growth holds around 9%, and neither full-year EPS nor free cash flow guidance is cut. It would weaken if MIS revenue falls more than about 5% year over year, the MA margin stays below 33.6% or ARR growth drops below 8%, and full-year or free cash flow guidance is cut, because that combination would show the first-half strength came mainly from one-time pulled-forward issuance and margin leverage.

Sources

[1] Drillr earnings calendar (updated 2026-10-02) · MCO 2026-10-21 call · 2026-10-02 · Drillr earnings calendar

[2] MCO 8-K filed 2026-07-22 · Q2 2026 key financial measures · 2026-07-22 · 8-K · https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001059556&type=8-K&dateb=&owner=include&count=40

[3] MCO 8-K filed 2026-07-22 · Q2 2026 highlights · 2026-07-22 · 8-K · https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001059556&type=8-K&dateb=&owner=include&count=40

[4] MCO Q2 2026 earnings call 2026-07-22 · guidance · 2026-07-22 · earnings-call · https://gateway.drillr.ai/mcp/private

[5] Drillr analyst_financial_estimates (updated 2026-10-02) · MCO quarter ending 2026-09-30 · 2026-10-02 · Drillr analyst_financial_estimates · https://gateway.drillr.ai/mcp/private

[6] MCO Q2 2026 earnings call 2026-07-22 · segment performance · 2026-07-22 · earnings-call · https://gateway.drillr.ai/mcp/private

[7] MCO Q2 2026 earnings call 2026-07-22 · Q&A on second-half issuance and mix · 2026-07-22 · earnings-call · https://gateway.drillr.ai/mcp/private

[8] MCO 8-K filed 2026-07-22 · Q2 and H1 2026 segment Adjusted Operating Income · 2026-07-22 · 8-K · https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001059556&type=8-K&dateb=&owner=include&count=40

[9] MCO 10-Q filed 2026-07-23 · H1 2026 executive summary · 2026-07-23 · 10-Q · https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001059556&type=10-Q&dateb=&owner=include&count=40

[10] MCO 10-K filed 2026-02-18 · MIS prospects for growth and fee model · 2026-02-18 · 10-K · https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1059556/000162828026009136/

[11] MCO 10-K filed 2026-02-18 · transaction and recurring revenue split 2025 · 2026-02-18 · 10-K · https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1059556/000162828026009136/

[12] MCO 10-K filed 2026-02-18 · revenue by line of business 2023-2025 · 2026-02-18 · 10-K · https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1059556/000162828026009136/

[13] MCO 10-K filed 2026-02-18 · MA ARR definition and December 2025 ARR · 2026-02-18 · 10-K · https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1059556/000162828026009136/

[14] MCO 10-K filed 2026-02-18 · segment Adjusted Operating Income 2025 · 2026-02-18 · 10-K · https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1059556/000162828026009136/

[15] MCO 10-K filed 2026-02-18 · cash flow and Free Cash Flow 2025 · 2026-02-18 · 10-K · https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1059556/000162828026009136/

[16] MCO 8-K filed 2026-04-22 · Q1 2026 key financial measures · 2026-04-22 · 8-K · https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001059556&type=8-K&dateb=&owner=include&count=40

[17] MCO 10-Q filed 2026-07-23 · Q2 2026 income statement · 2026-07-23 · 10-Q · https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001059556&type=10-Q&dateb=&owner=include&count=40

[18] MCO 10-Q filed 2026-07-23 · H1 2026 cash flows · 2026-07-23 · 10-Q · https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001059556&type=10-Q&dateb=&owner=include&count=40

[19] MCO 10-K filed 2026-02-18 · competition and pricing pressure · 2026-02-18 · 10-K · https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1059556/000162828026009136/

[20] MCO 8-K filed 2026-07-22 · Q2 2026 MIS revenue by line of business · 2026-07-22 · 8-K · https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001059556&type=8-K&dateb=&owner=include&count=40

[21] MCO 10-Q filed 2026-07-23 · H1 2026 transaction and recurring split · 2026-07-23 · 10-Q · https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001059556&type=10-Q&dateb=&owner=include&count=40

[22] MCO 10-Q filed 2026-07-23 · Q2 2026 revenue by sub-line of business · 2026-07-23 · 10-Q · https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001059556&type=10-Q&dateb=&owner=include&count=40

[23] MCO Q1 2026 earnings call 2026-04-22 · Q&A on issuance cadence and MA growth · 2026-04-22 · earnings-call · https://gateway.drillr.ai/mcp/private

[24] MCO 8-K filed 2026-07-22 · 2026 outlook assumptions · 2026-07-22 · 8-K · https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001059556&type=8-K&dateb=&owner=include&count=40

[25] MCO Q2 2026 earnings call 2026-07-22 · stated risks · 2026-07-22 · earnings-call · https://gateway.drillr.ai/mcp/private

[26] MCO 10-Q filed 2026-07-23 · MA ARR at June 30, 2026 · 2026-07-23 · 10-Q · https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001059556&type=10-Q&dateb=&owner=include&count=40

[27] MCO 10-Q filed 2026-07-23 · Q2 2026 Decision Solutions drivers · 2026-07-23 · 10-Q · https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001059556&type=10-Q&dateb=&owner=include&count=40