Moody's (MCO) Competitors

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) and Moody's (NYSE:MCO) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, media sentiment, community ranking and analyst recommendations.

Does the media prefer ICE or MCO?

In the previous week, Moody's had 70 more articles in the media than Intercontinental Exchange. MarketBeat recorded 110 mentions for Moody's and 40 mentions for Intercontinental Exchange. Intercontinental Exchange's average media sentiment score of 1.39 beat Moody's' score of 0.61 indicating that Intercontinental Exchange is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Intercontinental Exchange	36 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Moody's	41 Very Positive mention(s)	25 Positive mention(s)	18 Neutral mention(s)	20 Negative mention(s)	6 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of ICE or MCO?

89.3% of Intercontinental Exchange shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.1% of Moody's shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Intercontinental Exchange shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Moody's shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts rate ICE or MCO?

Intercontinental Exchange presently has a consensus price target of $188.46, indicating a potential upside of 8.22%. Moody's has a consensus price target of $515.87, indicating a potential upside of 9.16%. Given Moody's' higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Moody's is more favorable than Intercontinental Exchange.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Intercontinental Exchange	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	11 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.85
Moody's	1 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.53

Which has more volatility and risk, ICE or MCO?

Intercontinental Exchange has a beta of 1.12, indicating that its stock price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Moody's has a beta of 1.4, indicating that its stock price is 40% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has higher valuation and earnings, ICE or MCO?

Intercontinental Exchange has higher revenue and earnings than Moody's. Intercontinental Exchange is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Moody's, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Intercontinental Exchange	$12.19B	8.20	$2.75B	$4.83	36.06
Moody's	$7.23B	11.77	$2.06B	$11.58	40.81

Is ICE or MCO more profitable?

Moody's has a net margin of 29.03% compared to Intercontinental Exchange's net margin of 23.42%. Moody's' return on equity of 58.94% beat Intercontinental Exchange's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Intercontinental Exchange	23.42%	12.95%	2.57%
Moody's	29.03%	58.94%	14.87%

Is ICE or MCO a better dividend stock?

Intercontinental Exchange pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Moody's pays an annual dividend of $3.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Intercontinental Exchange pays out 39.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Moody's pays out 32.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Intercontinental Exchange has increased its dividend for 9 consecutive years and Moody's has increased its dividend for 16 consecutive years.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer ICE or MCO?

Intercontinental Exchange received 297 more outperform votes than Moody's when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 72.07% of users gave Intercontinental Exchange an outperform vote while only 58.97% of users gave Moody's an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Intercontinental Exchange	Outperform Votes 849 72.07%	Underperform Votes 329 27.93%
Moody's	Outperform Votes 552 58.97%	Underperform Votes 384 41.03%

Summary

Moody's beats Intercontinental Exchange on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.