Moody's (MCO) Earnings: Q3 2026 Results

The quarter ended September 30, 2026 and Moody's published the results on October 21, 2026. Revenue and diluted EPS are shown against Q3 2025, the same quarter a year earlier, which takes seasonal swings out of the comparison. Moody's reports EPS two ways: GAAP, under the accounting rules every US filer follows, and adjusted diluted EPS, which leaves out items the company considers outside its operating results. The release reconciles the two, and when they diverge, the reconciliation says why.

• Segment revenue is external revenue. MIS also earns intersegment revenue from MA ($51 million in the quarter), which Moody's eliminates on consolidation.
• MA's reported growth is held down by the divestitures of its Learning Solutions business in 2025 and its Regulatory Solutions business in the second quarter of 2026.

Source: Moody's Q3 2026 results, October 21, 2026. Also in the Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2026. Figures as reported; checked against the release on November 10, 2026.

How Moody's splits revenue in its own release, under its own labels, for Q3 2026 against Q3 2025. Indented lines are parts of the line above them.

• Moody's's Moody's Analytics (MA) revenue was $936 million in Q3 2026, up 3% from $909 million in Q3 2025, 46% of total revenue.
• Moody's's Moody's Investors Service (MIS) revenue was $1.1 billion in Q3 2026, down 1% from $1.1 billion in Q3 2025, 54% of total revenue.

Segment lines are the figures writers cite most often, because they show where the growth in a quarter came from. Companies redraw their segments from time to time and restate the prior year to match, so a year-ago figure here can differ from the one printed a year ago. When that has happened, the note above says so.

From the earnings release

Moody's reaffirmed its full-year 2026 guidance on October 21, 2026, with no item changed from its previous disclosure.

In its Q3 2026 release, Moody's said:

“Revenue Increase in the high-single-digit percent range”

“Diluted EPS $16.00 to $16.50”

“MA Revenue Increase in the mid-single-digit percent range”

“MIS Revenue Increase in the high-single-digit percent range”

Source: Moody's Q3 2026 release, Oct 21, 2026.

This is the company's own guidance as of Oct 21, 2026, quoted as given. Walnut does not make forecasts of its own. Analyst estimates for the coming quarters are on the MCO forecast page.

Revenue and diluted EPS for the last 5 quarters. Each date links to that quarter's release.

GAAP revenue and diluted EPS attributable to Moody's common shareholders, each as first reported in that quarter's release. Q2 2026 EPS includes the gain on the sale of MA Regulatory Solutions.

We do not hold a confirmed date for Moody's's next report. Companies post the date on their investor relations site a few weeks ahead, usually with the time of the conference call.

Each quarter keeps its own page with the figures as reported, so a link to one stays pointed at the same numbers after the next report.

• Q3 2026 (this page), reported Oct 21, 2026

Moody's Q3 2026 revenue of $2,023 million, up 1% and 3% on an organic constant currency basis, came from two segments: Moody's Investors Service (MIS), the credit ratings business, with $1,087 million, and Moody's Analytics (MA), which sells data, research and risk software, with $936 million. U.S. customers accounted for $1,134 million of revenue and non-U.S. customers $889 million. (Moody's Q3 2026 release, Oct 21, 2026; Moody's Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Oct 21, 2026)

MIS revenue fell 1% against what Moody's called a record prior-year comparison, primarily because of lower Leveraged Finance issuance. Corporate Finance ratings revenue fell 8% to $530 million as High Yield revenue dropped 40% and Leveraged Loans 27%, while Investment Grade revenue rose 18% on large corporate financing, including issuance associated with AI-related financing and hyperscaler investments. Public, Project and Infrastructure Finance grew 11% to $179 million. Transaction revenue, which moves with issuance, fell 5% to $714 million, and recurring MIS revenue rose 8% to $373 million. (Moody's Q3 2026 release, Oct 21, 2026)

MA revenue rose 3%, or 8% on an organic constant currency basis. Most of the difference is the divestitures of MA's Learning Solutions and Regulatory Solutions businesses. Recurring revenue was $928 million, 99% of the segment. Banking revenue fell 16% to $118 million as reported but rose 19% on an organic constant currency basis, and Insurance grew 9% to $186 million. (Moody's Q3 2026 release, Oct 21, 2026)

Moody's measures MA's subscription base as annualized recurring revenue (ARR), which reached $3,688 million at September 30, 2026, up 8% from $3,418 million. Decision Solutions ARR was $1,637 million, up 10%, with KYC up 12% and Insurance up 10%. (Moody's Q3 2026 release, Oct 21, 2026)

Moody's GAAP diluted EPS rose 18% to $4.24, ahead of adjusted diluted EPS of $4.14, which rose 6%. GAAP includes a $115 million pre-tax gain on business divestitures, mostly additional consideration from the sale of MA Regulatory Solutions that became realizable once certain post-closing conditions were met; after tax it was worth $0.47 per share. Adjusted EPS removes that gain and adds back acquisition-related intangible amortization ($0.22 net), restructuring ($0.12 net) and duplicate rent for the new New York headquarters ($0.03 net). (Moody's Q3 2026 release, Oct 21, 2026; Moody's Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Oct 21, 2026)

The effective tax rate was 24.0%, against 25.4% a year earlier, because of tax benefits recognized on the lapse of a statute of limitations for exposures assumed in a prior-year M&A transaction, plus non-U.S. tax benefits. Operating income was $906 million, against $917 million, for an operating margin of 44.8%, as operating expenses rose 2%. (Moody's Q3 2026 release, Oct 21, 2026)

Diluted shares fell to 173.3 million from 179.6 million. In the first nine months of 2026, Moody's returned approximately $3.1 billion to shareholders, including approximately $2.6 billion of share repurchases and $543 million of dividends, and on October 20, 2026 its Board declared a quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share. (Moody's Q3 2026 release, Oct 21, 2026)

Diluted EPS divides net income by the weighted average number of shares outstanding in the quarter, plus the shares that options and other equity awards could add. Buybacks shrink that count and lift EPS for the same profit; share issuance and stock awards enlarge it.

Moody's publishes a line-by-line full-year outlook in its release and left every item unchanged in October 2026: revenue up in the high-single-digit percent range, an operating margin of 44% to 45%, an adjusted operating margin of 52% to 53%, an effective tax rate of 23% to 25%, diluted EPS of $16.00 to $16.50 and adjusted diluted EPS of $16.50 to $17.00. By segment, it expects MIS revenue to rise in the high-single-digit percent range and MA revenue in the mid-single-digit range, and it plans share repurchases of up to $3.0 billion. (Moody's Q3 2026 release, Oct 21, 2026)

The outlook rests on assumptions Moody's lists in the release, including global MIS rated issuance up in the mid-single-digit percent range and a global speculative grade default rate finishing at around 3.8% by year-end, raised from around 3%. (Moody's Q3 2026 release, Oct 21, 2026)

A consensus figure is the average of the models published by the analysts who cover Moody's, collected by a data provider and revised up to the day of the report. A quarter that lands above it says how expectations were set as much as how the business did, and the share price on the day also reflects the guidance and the lines no consensus covers.

The consensus figures on this page are Yahoo Finance's, as pulled on the date shown. Each comes with the number of analysts behind it; the smaller that number, the more one revised estimate can move the average.

The figures below are the ones Moody's's own release and filings put weight on for Q3 2026, with the latest reported value for each.

What the quarter means for a holding is a separate question from what it reported. The case for and against owning MCO is on is MCO a buy or a sell?, what analysts expect next is on the MCO forecast, and what the company does is on the Moody's (MCO) stock page.

Every number on this page can be traced to a document Moody's published. Checking one takes a couple of minutes, and it is worth doing before you quote a figure anywhere.

• The results release is the document linked in the source line above. Companies publish it on their investor relations site at the moment results go out, and it carries the headline tables: revenue, operating income, net income and EPS for the quarter and the year-ago quarter.
• The same release is filed with the SEC as Exhibit 99.1 to a Form 8-K under Item 2.02, usually on the day of the report. The SEC copy does not change after the fact, which makes it the safer thing to link when you cite a number.
• The quarterly report (Form 10-Q) follows within a few weeks and carries the full financial statements, the segment note and management's discussion of what changed. The fourth quarter is covered by the annual report (Form 10-K) instead.
• Restated comparisons are flagged in the notes on this page. When a company redraws its segments or changes how it adjusts EPS, it restates the year-ago column, so the year-ago figure in a new release can differ from the one printed a year ago. This page always uses the comparison in the newer release, because that is the like-for-like one.

A walk-through of every line in a release, with what each one tells you, is in how to read an earnings report.