Q3 Revenue Up 8.9%, EPS Jumps 41% as Credit Ratings and Margin Expansion Drive Beat
MORN sits 45% above its 52-week low of $141.49.
Summary
Morningstar delivered a strong third quarter: revenue rose 8.9% to $672.1 million and diluted EPS jumped 41.0% to $3.06, with adjusted EPS up 36.5% to $3.48. Operating margin expanded to 24.9% from 20.7%, and adjusted operating margin hit 28.3% versus 24.4% a year ago, helped by lower bonus expense and the accretive CRSP acquisition. Morningstar Credit was the standout, with revenue up 18.3% on robust issuance and segment margin up 6.9 points to 37.7%. The soft spot is PitchBook, where growth slowed to 3.9% with elevated churn in corporate and venture capital clients and adjusted margin slipped 1.5 points to 29.8%. Free cash flow dipped 2.9% in the quarter to $155.4 million on working capital, though year-to-date FCF is up 17.8% to $331.5 million; the company also bought back $100 million of stock in the quarter.
At the time of this announcement, MORN was trading at $205.61 on NASDAQ in the Finance sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $8.1B. The 52-week trading range was $141.49 to $226.29. This news item was assessed with positive market sentiment and an importance score of 8 out of 10. Source: BusinessWire.