Moody’s Corporation reported a 1% rise in third-quarter revenue as analytics growth offset a decline in its credit ratings business, showing divergent demand across the company’s two divisions.
Revenue reached $2.023 billion, Moody’s said in its Oct. 21 earnings release. Diluted earnings per share rose to $4.24 from $3.60 a year earlier. Adjusted diluted earnings per share, which Moody’s reports as a non-GAAP measure, increased to $4.14 from $3.92.
Moody’s Investors Service generated $1.087 billion in total revenue, down 1% from a year earlier. Ratings revenue accounted for $1.075 billion of that amount and was also down 1%. Other revenue made up the remaining $12 million.
Transaction revenue at Investors Service fell 5% as weaker leveraged finance issuance weighed on the division against a record year-earlier quarter. Revenue from high-yield transactions dropped 40%, while leveraged loan transaction revenue declined 27%. Investment-grade transaction revenue rose 18%.
Moody’s linked part of the investment-grade increase to borrowing by large corporations, particularly in the technology sector. It cited issuance connected to artificial intelligence financing and hyperscaler investments.
Moody’s Analytics brought in $936 million, up 3%. Its organic constant currency revenue grew 8%, a measure that excludes specified acquisition, divestiture and currency effects. Recurring revenue accounted for 99% of the division’s total.
Moody’s maintained its 2026 forecast of $16 to $16.50 in diluted earnings per share and $16.50 to $17 in adjusted diluted earnings per share. It raised an assumption behind that outlook, putting the year-end global speculative-grade default rate at about 3.8%, compared with its previous assumption of about 3%.
The company said it had returned about $3.1 billion to shareholders year to date. Shareholders must be on record by Nov. 20 for its next dividend, scheduled for payment Dec. 11.
