MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.08 EPS

Posted by Francis Steltz on Oct 22nd, 2026

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI – Get Free Report) announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The technology company reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.03 by $0.08, FiscalAI reports. The company had revenue of $892.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $887.83 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 50.69% and a net margin of 40.31%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.47 EPS.

Here are the key takeaways from MSCI’s conference call:

MSCI reported strong Q3 results, including 12.4% revenue growth, 12% adjusted EBITDA growth, 14% adjusted EPS growth, and 12% total run-rate growth. Asset-based fees rose 25%, supported by $76 billion of inflows and nearly $23 trillion in assets benchmarked to MSCI indexes.
Subscription momentum accelerated across key businesses, with index organic run-rate growth of 11.7%, analytics growth of 7.5%, and Private Capital Solutions growth of 19%. Recurring net new sales were particularly strong among asset owners, hedge funds, banks, brokers, and wealth managers.
Management said AI is increasing the contribution of newer products, accelerating model and dataset creation, and improving operating efficiency. MSCI plans to reinvest those productivity gains into new products, client segments, and agentic analytics rather than target near-term margin expansion.
Sustainability and climate remain pressured by elevated cancellations and a sizable sustainability down-sale; management expects recurring net new sales in the combined segment to be roughly flat to slightly positive in Q4. First Street is integrating as planned, with growing demand for physical-risk products viewed as a longer-term offset.
MSCI expects to finish 2026 at the high end of its expense guidance due to acquisition costs, higher performance-based stock compensation, accelerated severance, and increased interest expense tied to share repurchases. While full-year free-cash-flow guidance was maintained, quarterly cash flow may remain lumpy.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $603.64 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $43.88 billion, a PE ratio of 31.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $560.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $576.62. MSCI has a one year low of $501.08 and a one year high of $644.77.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 13th will be issued a $2.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 13th. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.86%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on MSCI. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $684.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $685.00 to $710.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on MSCI from $685.00 to $720.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore set a $722.00 price objective on MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twelve have issued a Buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $691.93.

View Our Latest Report on MSCI

Trending Headlines about MSCI

Here are the key news stories impacting MSCI this week:

Positive Sentiment: Q3 earnings beat expectations: MSCI reported adjusted EPS of $5.11 versus the $5.03 consensus and revenue of $892 million versus expectations of $887.83 million. Revenue rose 12.4% year over year, while EPS increased from $4.47 in the prior-year quarter. MSCI Q3 Earnings and Revenues Beat Estimates
Positive Sentiment: Strong operating momentum: Asset-based fees grew 24.9%, ETF assets reached a record $2.90 trillion, and MSCI highlighted strong recurring sales in its Analytics and Private Capital Solutions businesses. Hedge-fund index subscription run rate growth of 32% also supported the bullish outlook. MSCI: 3 Key Takeaways for Long-Term Investors
Positive Sentiment: Capital returns and analyst support: The company declared a quarterly dividend of $2.05 per share and reported approximately $627.2 million in share repurchases through October 19. JPMorgan raised its price target to $710 and maintained an overweight rating, while RBC reaffirmed its outperform rating with a $655 target. MSCI Stock Rated Buy by Sell-Side Analysts
Neutral Sentiment: Indonesia market dispute: Indonesia’s record fines for trading violations followed MSCI’s warning that weak market transparency could threaten the country’s emerging-market classification. The action may address MSCI’s concerns, but any index-status changes could affect market-related sentiment and MSCI’s broader index business. Indonesia Imposes Record Fines
Negative Sentiment: Valuation and cash-flow considerations: MSCI trades at a premium earnings multiple, and quarterly free cash flow declined despite management affirming its guidance. This could limit further upside if growth slows or market conditions weaken.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Andrew Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.00, for a total value of $256,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 21,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,337,080. This represents a 2.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 3.76% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About MSCI

(Get Free Report)

MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) is a global provider of investment decision-support tools and services for institutional investors, asset managers, banks and other financial institutions. The company is best known for developing equity, fixed-income and multi-asset indexes used to benchmark portfolios and support the creation of investment products such as exchange-traded funds.

In addition to its indexes, MSCI provides portfolio analytics, risk-management and performance-attribution tools, as well as research and data covering environmental, social and governance factors, climate risk and sustainable investing.