Moody’s Corp (NYSE:MCO) stock rose 0.39% (As on October 23, 11:11:39 AM UTC-4, Source: Google Finance) after the company raised its full-year adjusted profit forecast above Wall Street estimates and surpassed analyst expectations on strong demand for its research and analytics products. Moody’s Analytics (MA) Revenue grew 7% versus the prior-year period. Recurring revenue, comprising 95% of total MA revenue, grew 9%. Transaction revenue, most prominent in Banking, declined by 21%. Within Decision Solutions, revenue grew 8% compared to the prior-year period. Recurring revenue growth of 13% was led by Know Your Customer (KYC) with a 19% increase. Banking and Insurance each produced 10% and 11% recurring revenue growth, respectively. Moody’s Investors Service (MIS) revenue increased 41% compared to the prioryear period, marking MIS’ highest third quarter on record and 4th largest quarter overall. Within Corporate Finance, Investment Grade issuance increased significantly, supported by several jumbo deals across multiple sectors. Heightened volume from infrequent issuance continues to drive growth within Financial Institutions, resulting in the strongest 3Q in over a decade. Structured Finance revenue growth was primarily driven by increased refinancing activity in U.S. CLOs and CMBS, given the favorable spread environment.

Further, MCO’s operating margin was 40.7%. MCO’s adjusted operating margin1 was 47.8%, up 320 basis points from the prior-year period. MA’s adjusted operating margin of 30.3% reflects investments to support future growth balanced by cost control initiatives. MIS’s adjusted operating margin expanded 640 basis points to 59.6%, demonstrating the inherent operational leverage within the business.

MCO in the third quarter of FY 24 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of $3.21, beating the analysts’ estimates for the adjusted earnings per share of $2.87. The company had reported the adjusted revenue growth of 23 percent to $1.81 billion in the third quarter of FY 24, beating the analysts’ estimates for revenue of $1.71 billion.

Additionally, Cash flow from operations for the first nine months was $2,164 million and free cash flow1 was $1,921 million. The company has declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.85 per share of MCO Common Stock. As of September 30, 2024, Moody’s had 181.2 million shares outstanding, with approximately $547 million of share repurchase authority remaining. On October 15, 2024, the company authorized an additional $1.5 billion in share repurchase authority

Moody’s expects fiscal year 2024 adjusted earnings per share to be between $11.90 and $12.10, largely above analysts’ average estimate of $11.69, according to data compiled by LSEG. Its previous forecast was in the range of $11 to $11.40.