Moody’s expects bond market growth as gains beat forecasts
MOODY’S chief executive Raymond McDaniel has said the corporate bond rating business looks poised to rebound when credit markets stabilise, after reporting a third-quarter profit that beat Wall Street estimates.
McDaniel said the pipeline of corporations waiting to issue new bonds is “pretty strong”, but warned it was hard to predict when it may happen.
Its earnings beat forecasts through a combination of share buybacks, an unusually low tax rate and strength in its less well-known Moody’s Analytics businesses of financial research and consulting services.
Earnings per share in the third quarter were 57 cents compared with the 49 cents expected by analysts on average. But net income fell four per cent to $130.7m (£81.7m) while total revenue rose just one per cent.