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Moody's (MCO) Q3 Earnings & Sales Surpass Estimates

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Moody’s Corporation (MCO - Free Report) is a leading provider of credit ratings, research, data & analytical tools, software solutions & related risk management services, quantitative credit assessment services, credit training services and credit process software to banks and other financial institutions. Moody's reports its businesses under two operating divisions – Moody's Investors Service (MIS), which includes all the rating agency businesses, and Moody's Analytics (MA), which includes other non-rating commercial activities.

Moody's Investors Service provides credit ratings and research covering debt instruments and securities. Revenues from MIS comprises ratings revenues from Structured Finance; Corporate Finance; Financial Institutions and Sovereign Risk; and Public, Project and Infrastructure Finance. Moody's Analytics offers solutions related to financial and risk management activities of institutions.

Zacks Rank: Currently, MCO has a Zacks Rank#2 (Buy) but that could change following its third quarter 2016 earnings report which has just released.You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

We have highlighted some of the key details from the just-released announcement below:

Earnings: MCO reported earnings of $1.34 per share that beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.18 and grew 20.7% year over year. The company has again upgraded its 2016 guidance due to strong results. Moody’s now expects GAAP earnings per share to be in the range of $4.76 to $4.86 compared with $4.70 to $4.80 projected in Sep 2016. Excluding one-time items, earnings are expected to be in the range of $4.62 to $4.72 compared with $4.55 to $4.65 projected earlier.

Revenue: Revenues of $917.1 million beat Zacks Consensus Estimate of $883.7 million and grew nearly 10% year over year. Both Moody’s Analytics and Moody’s Investor services recorded strong revenue growth. However, the company continues to project full year revenues to grow in low single digits.

Key Stats: In the quarter, the company reported adjusted operating margin was 47.8%, compared with 45.3% reported in the year ago period.

Check back later for our full write up on this MCO earnings report later!

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