MSCI Reports Better-Than-Expected Q4 Earnings, Revenue Misses Estimates: Retail Cheers Results

synopsis

Shares of MSCI were trading marginally in the green in Wednesday’s pre-market session after the company reported mixed fourth-quarter earnings.

Operating revenue rose 7.7% year-over-year (YoY) to $743.51 million compared to a Wall Street estimate of $746.74 million. The revenue was driven by higher recurring subscription revenues and asset-based fees, partially offset by a decline in nonrecurring revenues primarily related to the Index segment.

Earnings per share (EPS) stood at $4.18, better than an analyst estimate of $3.95. Net income fell 24.3% YoY to $305.52 million.

MSCI highlighted that recurring subscription revenues rose 7.5% while asset-based fees grew 20.8%.

CEO Henry A. Fernandez noted that fourth-quarter highlights included the company’s best-ever recurring sales in Index, 15% Fixed Income run-rate growth across product lines, and 15% asset-based fees run-rate growth.

“In 2025 and beyond, MSCI is increasingly well positioned to expand our footprint among established and newer client segments alike, thanks to our continued investment in data, models, and technology. We believe these advantages can help us drive compounding growth across market cycles,” he said.

For 2025, MSCI expects to record free cash flow of $1.4 billion to $1.46 billion, operating expenses of $1.405 billion to $1.445 billion, and capital expenditures of $115 million to $125 million.

The firm’s board raised the cash dividend by 12.5% to $1.80 per share for the first quarter of 2025.

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment climbed into the ‘extremely bullish’ territory (75/100) from ‘bullish’ a day ago, accompanied by ‘high’ retail chatter.

MSCI’s Sentiment Meter and Message Volume as of 7:06 a.m. ET on Jan. 29, 2025 | Source: Stocktwits

MSCI shares have gained over 5% year-to-date and are up over 14% in the past year.

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