Moody’s Corp (NYSE:MCO) stock fell 1.06% (As on February 14, 11:38:37 AM UTC-4, Source: Google Finance) after the company posted a marked increase in fourth-quarter net income and forecast more growth in 2024 as the company’s bond-rating and financial-research arms benefit from a rebound in credit markets and stabilizing economic conditions. The New York credit-ratings and research firm said fourth-quarter earnings rose to $340 million, or $1.85 a share, from $246 million, or $1.34 a share, a year earlier. Revenue at its Moody’s Analytics research unit rose 11% to $796 million during the three-month period. Revenue at the Moody’s Investors Service credit-ratings unit rose by 19% to $684 million, growth the company attributed to a rebound in Treasury markets and a brightening economic outlook. Moody’s said bank-loan rating demand was the strongest since early 2022. As of Dec 31, 2023, Moody’s had total cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments of $2.19 billion, up from $1.86 billion as of Dec 31, 2022.
The company had $7 billion in outstanding debt and $1.25 billion in additional borrowing capacity under the revolving credit facility.

Moreover, Decision Solutions revenue grew 10%, or 8% on a constant currency basis . Banking, Insurance and Know Your Customer (KYC) reported revenue grew 4%, 9% and 22%, respectively. Research & Insights revenue increased 12%, or 11% on a constant currency basis, reflecting continued demand and a more favorable sales mix in the quarter. Data & Information revenue increased 14%, or 11% on a constant currency basis1 . Growth continues to be driven by rising demand for ratings data feeds

MCO in the fourth quarter of FY 23 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of $2.19, missing the analysts’ estimates for the adjusted earnings per share of $2.33, as tallied by FactSet. The company had reported the adjusted revenue growth of 15 percent to $1.48 billion in the fourth quarter of FY 23, missing the analysts’ estimates for revenue of $1.49 billion.

Additionally, the company has declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.85 per share of MCO Common Stock, a 10% increase from the prior quarterly dividend of $0.77 per share.

For 2024, Moody’s targeted earnings in a range between $9.45 a share and $10.20 a share, or between $10.25 a share and $11 a share on an adjusted basis. Moody’s based its earnings projection on an assumption of U.S. gross-domestic product expansion of 1%-to-2%, and a decline in the U.S. inflation rate to 2% by the year-end.