MSCI key statistics and ratios

In fiscal 2025, MSCI had an operating margin of 54.7% and a current ratio of 0.90. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.

Financial ratios

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal years, plus the last twelve months (LTM) when newer.

MSCI: financial ratios, annual
Fiscal year	2009Nov 2009	2010Nov 2010	2011Dec 2011	2012Dec 2012	2013Dec 2013	2014Dec 2014	2015Dec 2015	2016Dec 2016	2017Dec 2017	2018Dec 2018	2019Dec 2019	2020Dec 2020	2021Dec 2021	2022Dec 2022	2023Dec 2023	2024Dec 2024	2025Dec 2025	LTMSept 2026
Gross margin	—	—	—	—	73.6%	72.2%	75.1%	78.1%	78.5%	80.0%	81.1%	82.8%	—	—	—	—	—	—
Operating margin	34.1%	31.1%	35.7%	38.5%	37.3%	33.8%	37.6%	42.4%	45.5%	47.9%	48.5%	52.2%	52.5%	53.7%	54.8%	53.5%	54.7%	55.7%
Net margin	18.5%	13.9%	19.3%	22.3%	24.4%	28.5%	20.8%	22.7%	23.9%	35.4%	36.2%	35.5%	35.5%	38.7%	45.4%	38.8%	38.4%	40.3%
Free-cash-flow margin	26.5%	25.7%	25.7%	36.5%	30.8%	26.4%	26.1%	35.6%	29.1%	40.6%	43.7%	46.6%	45.1%	48.1%	48.0%	51.4%	49.4%	45.9%
Return on equity	16.1%	—	13.4%	13.6%	14.9%	19.0%	19.2%	42.8%	84.6%	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Return on assets	6.8%	—	5.6%	6.0%	7.2%	9.4%	7.4%	8.4%	9.6%	15.2%	14.8%	14.3%	15.0%	16.6%	21.8%	20.2%	21.6%	24.5%
Asset turnover	0.37	—	0.29	0.27	0.30	0.33	0.36	0.37	0.40	0.43	0.41	0.40	0.42	0.43	0.48	0.52	0.56	0.61
Current ratio	2.06	—	1.50	1.01	1.24	1.63	2.13	1.97	2.09	1.77	2.31	1.88	1.71	1.40	0.93	0.85	0.90	0.82
Debt to equity	74.9%	—	83.6%	60.7%	51.8%	55.0%	175.2%	653.4%	518.2%	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest)	7.7x	4.0x	5.8x	5.6x	13.0x	10.6x	6.5x	4.8x	5.0x	5.2x	5.1x	5.7x	6.7x	7.0x	7.4x	8.2x	8.2x	6.9x
Effective tax rate	37.9%	40.0%	34.2%	36.8%	36.1%	35.5%	34.2%	32.4%	34.9%	19.4%	6.6%	12.3%	15.4%	16.6%	16.1%	18.2%	19.5%	14.8%
R&D as % of revenue	—	—	—	—	6.7%	7.1%	7.2%	6.5%	6.0%	5.7%	6.3%	6.0%	5.5%	4.8%	5.2%	5.6%	5.7%	5.4%
SG&A as % of revenue	30.7%	28.7%	23.6%	25.6%	25.4%	28.0%	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Capital spending as % of revenue	3.0%	2.0%	2.6%	5.4%	4.4%	4.3%	3.8%	2.8%	2.6%	2.1%	1.9%	1.3%	0.7%	0.6%	0.9%	1.2%	1.3%	1.2%
Free cash flow ÷ net income	143.7%	184.6%	133.7%	164.0%	126.2%	92.6%	125.5%	157.2%	122.0%	114.7%	120.7%	131.1%	127.1%	124.3%	105.6%	132.3%	128.8%	113.8%
Dividends ÷ net income	—	—	—	—	—	7.2%	39.3%	36.9%	39.4%	33.7%	39.5%	40.9%	41.7%	42.8%	38.4%	45.9%	46.3%	42.1%
Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow	15.7%	8.3%	6.3%	35.1%	39.9%	163.5%	281.0%	212.4%	72.8%	192.4%	75.7%	129.9%	54.3%	163.7%	77.9%	95.0%	196.3%	166.7%

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal quarters.

MSCI: financial ratios, quarterly
Quarter	2024 Q4Dec 2024	2025 Q1Mar 2025	2025 Q2Jun 2025	2025 Q3Sept 2025	2025 Q4Dec 2025	2026 Q1Mar 2026	2026 Q2Jun 2026	2026 Q3Sept 2026
Operating margin	54.5%	50.5%	55.0%	56.4%	56.4%	53.7%	56.2%	56.3%
Net margin	41.1%	38.7%	39.3%	41.0%	34.6%	47.7%	39.4%	39.3%
Free-cash-flow margin	56.0%	38.9%	42.0%	56.1%	59.4%	35.7%	41.5%	47.4%
Current ratio	0.85	0.84	0.86	0.88	0.90	0.86	0.89	0.82
R&D as % of revenue	5.2%	6.4%	5.7%	5.6%	5.0%	5.8%	5.3%	5.3%

Returns use average equity or assets over the year. Return on equity is left blank when equity is negative or so small that the ratio says nothing (above ±200%); interest cover is left blank above 200 times. Price-based ratios such as P/E are on the valuation page.

Financial health

2 of 5 checks passed · September 30, 2026

What it owns · $5.6bn

Short-term assets $1.3bnLonger-term assets $4.3bn

What it owes, and who funded it · $8.6bn

Short-term liabilities $1.6bnLonger-term liabilities $7.0bnShareholders' equity $-3.0bn

Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $1.3bn of assets due within a year against $1.6bn of liabilities due within a year.
Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities $1.3bn short-term assets against $7.0bn of longer-dated liabilities.
More cash than debt $261m of cash against $6.7bn of debt.
Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Equity or debt not reported. Not assessable.
Debt burden no higher than five years ago Five-year comparison not available. Not assessable.
A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $1.6bn of operating cash flow against $6.7bn of debt.
Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of $1.9bn against $278m of interest.

From MSCI's latest balance sheet as filed. Checks are fixed, documented rules (methodology), counted only where the company reports the figures — a dot means the filing doesn't break the item out. Descriptions of reported data, not advice.

Moat

92 /100

Strong moat

How hard MSCI's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.

Returns on capital 20 / 20

Net income has been a median 17.4% of total assets over 10 years.
Pricing power 19 / 20

Gross margin has been a median 79.2%, moving by 3.4 percentage points (standard deviation) across 8 years.
Durability 20 / 20

Operating margin has been a median 53.0%; its worst year was 44.8%.
Cash conversion 20 / 20

Free cash flow was positive in 10 of 10 years, at a median 46.5% of revenue.
Discipline 19 / 20

The diluted share count fell 12.2% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 2.9% of revenue.

AI disruption exposure: Medium. In this industry, AI could change how the product is made or sold, without replacing the core asset. The score above includes a 5-point deduction for that exposure (98 before it).

A rules-based reading of reported figures, not a forecast and not investment advice. How the score is built: methodology.

Compare with peers

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Figures from MSCI's SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), retrieved October 21, 2026. How we read and check them: methodology and data sources. Not investment advice. Back to MSCI.