**Beta Finch Podcast Script: S&P Global Q4 2025 Earnings**
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**ALEX**: Welcome to Beta Finch, your AI-powered earnings breakdown. I'm Alex.
**JORDAN**: And I'm Jordan. Today we're diving into S&P Global's Q4 2025 earnings call - and wow, what a year it's been for this financial data giant.
**ALEX**: Before we jump in, I need to share our standard disclaimer: This podcast is AI-generated content for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing we discuss should be considered investment advice. Always do your own research and consult a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.
**JORDAN**: Absolutely. Now Alex, S&P Global really delivered some impressive numbers here. Let's start with the headline figures.
**ALEX**: They certainly did. Revenue grew 9% reported, 8% organic constant currency for Q4. For the full year, they hit the high end of their original guidance on revenue growth, margins, AND earnings per share. EPS grew 14% for the year, and get this - they returned 113% of adjusted free cash flow to shareholders.
**JORDAN**: That's a massive cash return. And speaking of returns, they just announced their 53rd consecutive year of dividend increases. Plus they repurchased over $5 billion in stock during 2025. But what really caught my attention was how CEO Martina Cheung framed their strategic vision.
**ALEX**: Right, she kept coming back to this concept of "advancing essential intelligence." Over 95% of their revenue is tied to proprietary benchmarks, differentiated data, and critical workflow tools. And Jordan, they expect that percentage to increase over time.
**JORDAN**: That's a key point because it speaks to their competitive moat, especially with all the AI disruption happening. Speaking of which, they made some fascinating comments about AI being a "net tailwind" for their business. They've launched AI products in every division and are seeing real customer adoption.
**ALEX**: The AI discussion was particularly interesting during the Q&A. With all the recent announcements from companies like Anthropic about financial services plugins, investors were clearly concerned about potential disruption to S&P's workflow products.
**JORDAN**: Martina's response was pretty compelling though. She emphasized that their workflow tools aren't just simple apps - they're enterprise-grade solutions that have been refined over years. Products like iLEVEL and Capital IQ Pro integrate deeply into regulated environments and provide mission-critical functionality that can't easily be replicated.
**ALEX**: And she mentioned something that I found particularly telling - customers are telling them they want fewer vendors, not more. They want S&P to embed the latest AI technology directly into their existing platforms rather than having to work with multiple providers.
**JORDAN**: Exactly. And they're seeing tangible results from their AI investments. For example, they deployed an automated data ingestion tool on iLEVEL, and within six months, nearly 20% of customers opted for that add-on feature. That's real revenue generation from AI enhancements.
**ALEX**: Now let's talk about their 2026 outlook because this is where things get really interesting for investors. They're guiding for 6% to 8% organic constant currency revenue growth, continued margin expansion, and 9% to 10% EPS growth.
**JORDAN**: But here's what's fascinating - they're being quite prudent about their market-driven businesses. For their Ratings division, they're expecting "Billed Issuance" - basically the debt they rate - to grow only low to mid-single digits. That's despite some pretty favorable conditions.
**ALEX**: Right, and CFO Eric Aboaf walked through their assumptions. They're expecting most 2026 debt refinancing to happen this year, but they're not counting on massive pull-forward from 2027 and 2028. They're also being conservative about M&A activity and hyperscale infrastructure spending, even though there's a lot of
This episode includes AI-generated content.
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