Moody's Outruns Estimates Again

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

Moody's (NYS: MCO) reported earnings on Oct. 26. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
 For the quarter ended Sep. 30 (Q3), Moody's beat expectations on revenues and crushed expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue grew significantly and GAAP earnings per share expanded significantly.


Margins grew across the board.

Revenue details
 Moody's tallied revenue of $688.5 million. The seven analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ expected to see a top line of $624.4 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 30% higher than the prior-year quarter's $531.3 million.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
 EPS came in at $0.75. The nine earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ predicted $0.62 per share. GAAP EPS of $0.81 for Q3 were 42% higher than the prior-year quarter's $0.57 per share.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
 For the quarter, gross margin was 69.9%, 210 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 39.2%, 230 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 26.7%, 210 basis points better than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
 Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $652.2 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.62.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $2.57 billion. The average EPS estimate is $2.81.

Investor sentiment
 The stock has a two-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 860 members out of 1,015 rating the stock outperform, and 155 members rating it underperform. Among 354 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 300 give Moody's a green thumbs-up, and 54 give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Moody's is hold, with an average price target of $43.75.

The article Moody's Outruns Estimates Again originally appeared on Fool.com.

Seth Jayson had no position in any company mentioned here at the time of publication. You can view his stock holdings here. He is co-advisor ofMotley Fool Hidden Gems, which provides new small-cap ideas every month, backed by a real-money portfolio. The Motley Fool owns shares of Moody's. Motley Fool newsletter services recommend Moody's. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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