Moody's Earnings Buoyed by U.S. Corporate Bonds

Moody's Corp. on Friday reported better-than-expected profit and revenue in its second quarter, as an 18% surge in U.S. revenue helped to offset weakness in Europe.

Moody's has seen strong demand for its bond grades, especially among U.S. corporate borrowers, and has said it expects to remain busy as an active mergers-and-acquisitions market fuels demand for debt deals.

In the latest quarter, Moody's Investors Service unit, the biggest revenue driver, saw a 2.2% uptick in revenue to $639.2 million. The unit was helped by deal activity.

In the analytics division, which provides financial data and other types of market intelligence to investors and banks, revenue grew by 12% to $278.9 million. The division was helped by last year's acquisition of Lewtan Technologies.

In all, the company reported a profit of $261.7 million, or $1.28 a share, down from $319.2 million, or $1.48 a share, a year earlier.

Revenue grew 5.1% to $918.1 million, or 10% excluding negative currency effects.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters projected earnings of $1.22 a share and revenue of $897.4 million.

U.S. revenue grew 18% to $545.9 million, while foreign revenue fell 10% to $372.2 million.

Investors rely on the bond grades issued by Moody's, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services and Fitch Ratings. Collectively, they issue about 95% of ratings globally—a total virtually unchanged from before the financial crisis.

The company backed its full-year outlook for $4.55 a share to $4.65 a share in earnings.

Write to Chelsey Dulaney at [e-mail]

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