MSCI Q3 Revenue Rises 12.4% to $892 Million as ETF AUM Hits Record

MSCI Inc. (MSCI ) on October 20, 2026 reported operating revenues of $892.0 million for the third quarter ended September 30, 2026, up 12.4% from a year earlier, with diluted earnings per share of $4.86, up 14.4%, according to the company’s third-quarter 2026 earnings release.

The $98.6 million revenue increase consisted of $49.1 million in higher asset-based fees, $44.5 million in higher recurring subscription revenues and $5.0 million in higher non-recurring revenues. Recurring subscription revenues rose 7.7% and asset-based fees rose 24.9% from the third quarter of 2025, while organic operating revenue growth was 12.3%. For the nine months ended September 30, 2026, operating revenues were $2,609.8 million, up 12.9%, and diluted EPS was $15.09, up 27.1%.

Operating income was $502.1 million, up 12.2%, for an operating margin of 56.3% versus 56.4% in the prior-year quarter. Net income was $351.0 million, up 7.9%. Adjusted EPS was $5.11, up 14.3%, and adjusted EBITDA was $554.8 million, up 12.2%, for an adjusted EBITDA margin of 62.2% versus 62.3% a year earlier.

“In the third quarter MSCI delivered strong financial and operating metrics, including our best-ever recurring net-new sales in Analytics and Private Capital Solutions, our best-ever Q3 recurring net-new sales in Index, and another record quarter for asset-based fees,” said Henry A. Fernandez, MSCI’s chairman and CEO. Fernandez said the company also achieved its best-ever quarter both with asset owners and in Asia-Pacific, and entered the fourth quarter with what he described as solid momentum and strong client engagement across the franchise.

Total Run Rate at September 30, 2026 was $3,571.9 million, up 12.1% from September 30, 2025. Recurring subscription Run Rate increased by $209.5 million and asset-based fees Run Rate increased by $175.9 million, with organic recurring subscription Run Rate growth of 8.7%. MSCI said the recurring subscription Run Rate growth was driven primarily by asset managers, hedge funds and banking & brokerages client segments, and by record assets under management in ETFs linked to MSCI indexes. The company’s Retention Rate was 95.0%, compared with 94.7% in the third quarter of 2025. Consolidated net new recurring subscription sales were $54.8 million, up 41.2%, and total net sales were $76.4 million, up 35.0%.

Period-end AUM in ETFs linked to MSCI equity indexes was $2,905 billion at September 30, 2026, up from $2,818 billion at June 30, 2026 and $2,211 billion a year earlier. Third-quarter cash inflows into those ETFs were $76 billion and market appreciation added $11 billion. The period-end basis point fee on the ETF assets was 2.28, down from 2.41 a year earlier.

Segment Results

Index segment operating revenues were $532.6 million, up 18.1%, with organic growth of 18.0%. Asset-based fees of $246.6 million rose 24.9% and recurring subscription revenues of $269.5 million rose 11.1%. Index adjusted EBITDA was $412.4 million, a margin of 77.4% versus 77.6% a year earlier. Index Run Rate was $2,082.7 million, up 16.5%; MSCI said the asset-based fees Run Rate increase was driven primarily by higher AUM in both ETFs linked to MSCI equity indexes and non-ETF indexed funds linked to MSCI indexes, while recurring subscription Run Rate growth came primarily from market cap-weighted and custom index products.

Analytics operating revenues were $191.0 million, up 4.8%, with organic growth of 5.2%. Segment adjusted EBITDA fell 4.9% to $85.7 million, a margin of 44.9% versus 49.4% a year earlier, while Analytics Run Rate rose 6.9% to $793.5 million on growth the company attributed to both Equity Analytics and Multi-Asset Class products.

Sustainability and Climate operating revenues were $93.7 million, up 4.0%, with organic growth of 2.2%. Adjusted EBITDA rose 10.1% to $38.2 million. Run Rate was $384.8 million, up 3.8%, with growth in Climate products partially offset by cancellations, and the segment’s Retention Rate was 91.0% versus 93.6% a year earlier.

All Other – Private Assets, which combines the Real Assets and Private Capital Solutions operating segments, generated operating revenues of $74.7 million, up 6.7%. Adjusted EBITDA fell 4.6% to $18.5 million. Run Rate was $310.9 million, up 8.9%, which MSCI said was driven primarily by Private Capital Solutions products including Total Plan Manager, Private Capital Transparency Data and Private Capital Intel.

Total operating expenses were $389.9 million, up 12.8%, and adjusted EBITDA expenses were $337.2 million, also up 12.8%. The company attributed the increase primarily to higher information technology costs, professional fees and market data costs, along with higher incentive compensation and salaries, partially offset by increased capitalization of costs related to internally developed software. The quarter included $6.1 million of adjusted EBITDA expenses and $1.9 million of intangible asset amortization related to the Compass, Vantager, PM Insights and First Street acquisitions. Other expense, net, was $74.2 million, up 45.2%, driven primarily by higher interest expense as a result of higher debt levels, and the effective tax rate was 18.0% versus 17.9% a year earlier. MSCI had 6,259 employees as of September 30, 2026, a 0.1% increase from a year earlier.

Capital Returns and Full-Year 2026 Guidance

Cash and cash equivalents were $261.0 million at September 30, 2026, and total principal debt outstanding was $6.8 billion. Total debt to adjusted EBITDA was 3.2x, within the 3.0x to 3.5x target range MSCI says it seeks to maintain. Net cash provided by operating activities fell 3.0% to $436.1 million, primarily reflecting higher cash paid for interest, partially offset by higher cash collections from customers. Free cash flow fell 8.9% to $385.4 million, and Capex was $50.7 million.

Share repurchases during the quarter totaled $552.3 million, or 1.0 million shares at an average price of $562.92. Including purchases through October 19, 2026, repurchases since the start of the quarter reached $627.2 million, or 1,116,460 shares at an average price of $561.81. Approximately $0.9 billion remained available under the share repurchase authorization as of October 19, 2026. Weighted average diluted shares outstanding were 72.3 million, down 5.6% from a year earlier.

MSCI paid approximately $147.5 million in dividends during the quarter. On October 19, 2026, its board of directors declared a fourth-quarter 2026 cash dividend of $2.05 per share, payable on November 27, 2026 to shareholders of record as of the close of trading on November 13, 2026.

MSCI completed its acquisition of First Street Technology, Inc., a provider of physics-based physical climate risk data and analytics, on August 3, 2026, for an aggregate purchase price of $122.6 million net of cash acquired. The total consideration includes the fair value of potential additional cash payments during the two years following closing, contingent on the achievement of specified revenue thresholds, and First Street’s results are reported within the Sustainability and Climate operating segment.

For full-year 2026, MSCI left guidance unchanged for operating expense of $1,535 million to $1,575 million, adjusted EBITDA expense of $1,340 million to $1,370 million, depreciation and amortization expense of $195 million to $205 million, capital expenditures of $160 million to $170 million, net cash provided by operating activities of $1,655 million to $1,705 million and free cash flow of $1,485 million to $1,545 million. The company raised its interest expense guidance to $288 million to $291 million from $282 million to $286 million, and narrowed its effective tax rate guidance to 18.0% to 19.5% from 18.0% to 20.0%. MSCI said the guidance is based on assumptions about macroeconomic factors and the capital markets that are subject to uncertainty.

Senior management was scheduled to review the third-quarter results on a conference call at 11:00 AM Eastern Time on October 20, 2026.