MCO vs MSCI Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
Compare Moody's credit-ratings duopoly economics against MSCI's index-licensing recurring-revenue model.
Use this Moody's vs MSCI comparison to evaluate the key differences across valuation, growth, profitability, and risk before making an investment decision.
MSCI holds the edge across 5 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. MSCI leads on both 1-year return (-5.04%) and forward P/E quality (25.37x vs 27.23x for MCO), a relatively favorable combination of momentum and valuation. On fundamentals, MCO is growing revenue faster (15.10%), while MSCI maintains the higher operating margin (56.30%) — a classic growth-versus-profitability split. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for MSCI (+21.25%) than for MCO (+8.84%).
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
| Metric | MCO | MSCI |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 51.2 | 58.5 |
| AI ranki | #472 | #204 |
| Latest closei | $461.88 | $549.47 |
| 1M returni | -4.92% | -2.36% |
| 6M returni | +5.98% | -1.22% |
| 1Y returni | -9.75% | -5.04% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | MCO | MSCI |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $9.58K (-4.2%) started 2025-09-18 | $9.88K (-1.2%) started 2025-09-18 |
| 5Y ago | $13.36K (+33.6%) started 2021-09-20 | $9.38K (-6.2%) started 2021-09-20 |
| 10Y ago | $50.45K (+404.5%) started 2016-09-19 | $77.96K (+679.6%) started 2016-09-19 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | MCO | MSCI |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $89.18B | $41.49B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 32.67 | 31.26 |
| Forward P/Ei | 27.23 | 25.37 |
| Price/Salesi | N/A | N/A |
| EV/Revenuei | 11.70 | 14.30 |
| Analyst targeti | $560.48 | $692.06 |
| Target upsidei | +8.84% | +21.25% |
| Metric | MCO | MSCI |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 15.10% | 12.20% |
| Earnings growthi | 56.70% | 19.60% |
| EPS growthi | +56.70% | +19.60% |
| FCF margini | +31.61% | +35.84% |
| Operating margini | 49.47% | 56.30% |
| Profit margini | 34.25% | 40.73% |
| ROIC proxyi | 76.93% | N/A |
| Return on equityi | 76.93% | N/A |
| Dividend yieldi | 0.80% | 1.44% |
| Payout ratioi | 25.00% | 42.10% |
| Dividend growth streaki | No increase yet | No increase yet |
| Betai | 1.33 | 1.22 |
| Debt/equityi | 240.68 | N/A |
| Current ratioi | 1.19 | 0.89 |
| Quick ratioi | 1.04 | 0.77 |
Over the past year, MCO and MSCI have moved moderately in the same direction (correlation of 0.68), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | MCO | MSCI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | -4.24% | -1.17% |
| CAGRi | -4.24% | -1.17% | |
| Volatilityi | 27.82% | 29.85% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | -0.18 | -0.04 | |
| Sortino ratioi | -0.24 | -0.05 | |
| Max drawdowni | 23.61% | 18.07% | |
| Current drawdowni | 14.40% | 14.66% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 9.70% | 7.41% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 12.00% | 8.77% | |
| Max daily dropi | 8.90% | 10.14% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 13.07% | 13.30% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +29.29% | -9.90% |
| CAGRi | +5.28% | -2.07% | |
| Volatilityi | 26.90% | 31.42% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.16 | -0.05 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.22 | -0.07 | |
| Max drawdowni | 41.66% | 43.74% | |
| Current drawdowni | 14.40% | 15.45% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 12.93% | 18.45% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 16.42% | 20.51% | |
| Max daily dropi | 9.03% | 13.49% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 15.38% | 16.00% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +362.74% | +607.51% |
| CAGRi | +16.56% | +21.62% | |
| Volatilityi | 27.87% | 31.51% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.53 | 0.64 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.75 | 0.92 | |
| Max drawdowni | 42.02% | 43.74% | |
| Current drawdowni | 14.40% | 15.45% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 9.07% | 11.46% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 12.98% | 15.27% | |
| Max daily dropi | 13.73% | 13.49% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 23.46% | 18.28% |
| Category | MCO | MSCI |
|---|---|---|
| Company | MCO | MSCI |
| Sector | Financial Services | Financial Services |
| Industry | Financial Data & Stock Exchanges | Financial Data & Stock Exchanges |
| Core business | Moody's Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated risk assessment firm in the United States, the rest of the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. | MSCI Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides research-based data, analytics, and indexes, supported by advanced technology worldwide. |
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