ICE vs MCO vs NOW Stock Comparison

Intercontinental Exchange, Moodys and ServiceNow Prices as of Oct 27, 2026 Peers: Industry group
MCO Moodys Corp /De/
$473.76 +1.0% 1M -4.3% 1Y
Market cap
$81.68B
P/E
28.4x
Revenue (TTM)
$8.18B
Div. yield
0.85%
Financial Data and Analytics Financial Services
4 wins
NOW ServiceNow, Inc.
$154.83 +14.2% 1M -18.2% 1Y
Market cap
$160.09B
P/E
95.6x
Revenue (TTM)
$14.73B
Div. yield
–
Business Process Automation Technology
3 wins

Head to Head

12 decided of 12

Intercontinental Exchange leads on 5 of the 12 questions below (Intercontinental Exchange 5, Moodys 4, ServiceNow 3). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionICEMCONOWLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $87.19B $81.68B $160.09B NOW
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 21.7x 28.4x 95.6x ICE
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 17.9x 26.4x 40.2x ICE
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +6.9% +9.0% +22.2% NOW
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 30.1% 35.3% 11.3% MCO
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 8.5% 27.9% — MCO
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 2.6x 1.3x 0.8x NOW
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 1.31% 0.85% — ICE
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -2.8% -4.3% -18.2% ICE
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +2.8%/yr +3.1%/yr +2.4%/yr MCO
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 25.8% 28.4% 58.7% ICE
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 54/100 60/100 52/100 MCO

Percentile Scorecard

ICEMCONOW

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisICEMCONOW
Valuation 59 #40 of 96 19 #758 of 940 27 #74 of 101
Growth 45 #37 of 66 73 #179 of 655 58 #41 of 97
Profitability 83 #12 of 64 96 #25 of 633 82 #18 of 94
Financial Health 36 #60 of 93 53 #338 of 714 50 #55 of 108
Shareholder Returns 46 #21 of 38 61 #279 of 709 41 #38 of 64
Overall 54 60 52
  • ICE ranked among 110 companies in Capital Markets
  • MCO ranked among 1,003 companies in Financial Services
  • NOW ranked among 114 companies in Business Applications

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodICEMCONOWSPY
1 month +0.7%+1.0%+14.2% -0.2%
3 months +1.7%-2.2%+40.0% +3.9%
6 months -0.6%+3.4%+71.1% +8.2%
Year to date -4.0%-7.3%+1.1% +12.9%
1 year -2.8%-4.3%-18.2% +12.3%
3 years +48.4%+56.9%+39.7% +87.4%
3 years, per year +14.1%+16.2%+11.8% +23.3%
5 years +14.7%+16.5%+12.6% +67.9%
5 years, per year +2.8%+3.1%+2.4% +10.9%
10 years +192.0%+363.7%+811.3% +261.1%
10 years, per year +11.3%+16.6%+24.7% +13.7%

Risk

MeasureICEMCONOWSPY
Volatility, 1Y 25.8%28.4%58.7% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 27.5%30.3%61.3% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.160.480.61 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -0.11-0.15-0.31 0.97
Max drawdown, 5Y -35.1%-42.2%-64.5% -25.4%
From 52-week high -11.2%-12.2%-18.2% -1.2%
52-week high $175.10$539.61$189.26 $779.14
52-week low $122.91$412.23$83.00 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleICEMCONOW
P/E now vs peer median 21.7xmedian 28.3x 28.4xmedian 13.0x 95.6xmedian 28.3x
P/S now vs peer median 6.5xmedian 2.9x 10.0xmedian 3.2x 10.9xmedian 2.8x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 15.0xmedian 13.5x 21.0xmedian 7.4x 47.7xmedian 17.3x
P/FCF now vs peer median 17.2xmedian 16.0x 27.4xmedian 10.8x 35.0xmedian 15.8x
P/B now vs peer median 2.9xmedian 2.4x 23.9xmedian 1.2x 12.8xmedian 3.2x
PEG now vs peer median 0.65median 0.54 1.07median 0.87 18.40median 0.85

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsICEMCONOW
Revenue $13.43B $8.18B $14.73B
Gross profit – $6.10B $11.02B
Operating income $5.47B $3.64B $1.68B
Net income $4.10B $2.89B $1.67B
Free cash flow $5.08B $2.98B $4.58B
R&D – – $3.26B
EPS (diluted) $7.13 $16.64 $1.61
Cash & equivalents $1.07B $1.51B $2.50B
Total debt $19.85B $6.91B $7.52B
Shares (diluted) 566.00M 173.30M 1.03B
Enterprise value $80.99B $74.75B $138.55B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricICEMCONOW
P/E 21.7x 28.4x 95.6x
P/FCF 17.2x 27.4x 35.0x
P/Operating cash flow 15.8x 24.5x 30.2x
P/S 6.5x 10.0x 10.9x
P/B 2.9x 23.9x 12.8x
P/Tangible book 5.9x 47.5x 18.3x
EV/EBITDA 15.0x 21.0x 47.7x
EV/EBIT 19.2x 23.9x 97.0x
EV/Revenue 7.8x 10.6x 11.1x
EV/FCF 20.7x 29.2x 35.6x
EV/Operating cash flow 19.1x 26.1x 30.7x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.65 1.07 18.40

Growth

14 metrics
MetricICEMCONOW
Revenue growth (1Y) 6.9% 9.0% 22.2%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 11.9% 12.6% 22.5%
Gross profit growth (1Y) – 10.3% 16.4%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) – 14.6% 20.5%
Operating income growth (1Y) 16.4% 16.0% 4.9%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 13.9% 23.3% 49.1%
Net income growth (1Y) 34.1% 28.5% 0.5%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 33.1% 24.0% 5.5%
EPS growth (1Y) 36.6% 33.1% 1.7%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 33.3% 26.5% 5.2%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 13.1% 22.5% 13.0%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 14.9% 17.5% 22.2%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 13.9% 24.1% 19.0%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 14.1% 18.8% 25.7%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricICEMCONOW
Gross margin – 74.6% 74.8%
EBITDA margin 52.3% 50.6% 23.2%
Operating margin 40.7% 44.6% 11.4%
Pretax margin 39.7% 45.2% 15.9%
Net margin 30.1% 35.3% 11.3%
FCF margin 37.8% 36.4% 31.1%
Operating cash flow margin 41.1% 40.7% 36.0%
Return on equity 13.9% 87.8% 13.8%
Return on assets 2.3% 19.6% 6.0%
Return on invested capital 8.5% 27.9% –
Return on capital employed 9.7% 31.8% 10.6%
Asset turnover 0.1x 0.6x 0.5x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.3x 1.2x 3.2x
Stock comp / revenue 2.0% 2.8% 12.3%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricICEMCONOW
Debt / assets 11.4% 46.6% 23.7%
Debt / equity 0.7x 2.0x 0.6x
Net debt / EBITDA 2.6x 1.3x 0.8x
Debt / FCF 3.9x 2.3x 1.6x
Liabilities / assets 83.0% 77.0% 60.5%
Equity / assets 17.0% 23.0% 39.5%
Interest coverage 6.8x – –
Current ratio 1.0x 1.3x 0.7x
Quick ratio 0.0x 1.3x 0.6x
Cash ratio 0.0x 0.5x 0.4x
Altman Z-score 0.73 7.58 5.78

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricICEMCONOW
Dividend yield 1.3% 0.9% –
Net buyback yield 2.3% 3.6% 2.0%
Shareholder yield 3.6% 4.5% 2.0%
Payout ratio (earnings) 27.8% 24.6% –
Payout ratio (FCF) 22.5% 23.8% –
Dividend growth (1Y) 6.1% 3.0% –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) 8.3% 8.8% –

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusICEMCONOW
Forward P/E 17.9xFY2026 26.4xFY2026 40.2xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $8.69FY2026 $17.93FY2026 $3.85FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +25.0%FY2026 +20.0%FY2026 +9.7%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after -3.2% -1.5% +27.0%
Revenue, next fiscal year $10.54BFY2026 $8.69BFY2026 $15.25BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +6.1%FY2026 +12.6%FY2026 +14.8%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +16.0% -2.0% +17.7%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersICEMCONOW
Held by institutions 92.5% 90.8% 81.6%
Institutions holding 1,653 1,404 2,224
Change in shares held, QoQ +1.4% -1.6% -2.1%
Institutions buying 735 644 1,285
Institutions selling 694 522 779
Buyers to sellers 1.06 1.23 1.65

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

ICEMCONOW
ICE 1.00 0.56 0.29
MCO 0.56 1.00 0.44
NOW 0.29 0.44 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, ICE, MCO and NOW?

ServiceNow (NOW) is the largest by market capitalisation: Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) $87.19B, Moodys (MCO) $81.68B, ServiceNow (NOW) $160.09B.

Which stock is cheaper, ICE, MCO and NOW?

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) 21.7x, Moodys (MCO) 28.4x, ServiceNow (NOW) 95.6x). On next year's consensus earnings, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) is cheapest (Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) 17.9x, Moodys (MCO) 26.4x, ServiceNow (NOW) 40.2x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

ServiceNow (NOW) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) +6.9%, Moodys (MCO) +9.0%, ServiceNow (NOW) +22.2%.

Which company is more profitable?

Moodys (MCO) has the highest net margin (Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) 30.1%, Moodys (MCO) 35.3%, ServiceNow (NOW) 11.3%). On return on invested capital, Moodys (MCO) leads (Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) 8.5%, Moodys (MCO) 27.9%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) returned the most: Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) -2.8%, Moodys (MCO) -4.3%, ServiceNow (NOW) -18.2%. Over five years, Moodys (MCO) compounded fastest (Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) +2.8%/yr, Moodys (MCO) +3.1%/yr, ServiceNow (NOW) +2.4%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has the highest dividend yield: Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) 1.31%, Moodys (MCO) 0.85%. ServiceNow (NOW) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has been the steadiest (Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) 25.8%, Moodys (MCO) 28.4%, ServiceNow (NOW) 58.7%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, ICE, MCO and NOW?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) leads on 5. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.