MCO vs ICE vs MA Stock Comparison

Moodys, Intercontinental Exchange and Mastercard Prices as of Oct 23, 2026 Peers: Industry group
MCO Moodys Corp /De/
$483.45 +2.0% 1M +0.9% 1Y
Market cap
$83.73B
P/E
29.0x
Revenue (TTM)
$8.18B
Div. yield
0.01%
Financial Data and Analytics Financial Services
1 win
MA Mastercard Inc
$623.47 +11.3% 1M +8.7% 1Y
Market cap
$541.87B
P/E
33.3x
Revenue (TTM)
$35.08B
Div. yield
–
Payment Networks Financial Services
8 wins

Head to Head

12 decided of 12

Mastercard leads on 8 of the 12 questions below (Mastercard 8, Intercontinental Exchange 3, Moodys 1). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionMCOICEMALeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $83.73B $90.16B $541.87B MA
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 29.0x 22.3x 33.3x ICE
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 26.8x 18.7x 29.7x ICE
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +9.0% +6.9% +16.0% MA
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 35.3% 30.1% 46.3% MA
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 27.9% 8.5% 59.0% MA
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 1.3x 2.6x 0.6x MA
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.01% 0.01% 0.00% ICE
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +0.9% +3.3% +8.7% MA
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +4.8%/yr +4.3%/yr +11.7%/yr MA
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 28.5% 25.6% 22.6% MA
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 60/100 57/100 51/100 MCO

Percentile Scorecard

MCOICEMA

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

AxisMCOICEMA
Valuation 18 #771 of 945 64 #36 of 97 13 #822 of 945
Growth 73 #219 of 822 53 #33 of 69 68 #268 of 822
Profitability 97 #26 of 835 84 #12 of 70 99 #11 of 835
Financial Health 53 #424 of 905 37 #64 of 101 49 #461 of 905
Shareholder Returns 58 #304 of 726 49 #21 of 40 28 #521 of 726
Overall 60 57 51
  • MCO ranked among 1,011 companies in Financial Services
  • ICE ranked among 112 companies in Capital Markets
  • MA ranked among 1,011 companies in Financial Services

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodMCOICEMASPY
1 month +2.0%+4.0%+11.3% -1.0%
3 months +2.5%+11.6%+15.5% +2.9%
6 months +6.0%+2.7%+23.7% +6.4%
Year to date -5.4%+0.4%+9.2% +11.4%
1 year +0.9%+3.3%+8.7% +13.1%
3 years +58.2%+52.1%+61.1% +79.4%
3 years, per year +16.5%+15.0%+17.3% +21.5%
5 years +26.7%+23.6%+73.8% +67.7%
5 years, per year +4.8%+4.3%+11.7% +10.9%
10 years +372.9%+205.4%+506.2% +255.2%
10 years, per year +16.8%+11.8%+19.7% +13.5%

Risk

MeasureMCOICEMASPY
Volatility, 1Y 28.5%25.6%22.6% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 30.2%27.3%22.4% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.510.180.27 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.030.130.38 1.03
Max drawdown, 5Y -42.2%-35.1%-28.6% -25.4%
From 52-week high -10.4%-7.1%-1.5% -2.5%
52-week high $539.61$175.10$632.81 $779.14
52-week low $412.23$122.91$471.55 $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.

MultipleMCOICEMA
P/E now vs peer median 29.0xmedian 13.4x 22.7xmedian 29.4x 33.8xmedian 13.4x
P/S now vs peer median 10.2xmedian 3.2x 6.8xmedian 2.8x 15.5xmedian 3.2x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 21.4xmedian 5.9x 15.6xmedian 12.8x 23.1xmedian 5.9x
P/FCF now vs peer median 28.0xmedian 11.1x 18.0xmedian 15.9x 32.5xmedian 11.1x
P/B now vs peer median 24.4xmedian 1.2x 3.1xmedian 2.5x 96.7xmedian 1.2x
PEG now vs peer median 1.09median 0.89 0.68median 0.51 1.73median 0.89

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 monthsMCOICEMA
Revenue $8.18B $13.43B $35.08B
Gross profit $6.10B – –
Operating income $3.64B $5.47B $20.47B
Net income $2.89B $4.10B $16.26B
Free cash flow $2.98B $5.08B $16.70B
EPS (diluted) $16.64 $7.13 $18.41
Cash & equivalents $1.51B $1.07B $11.29B
Total debt $6.91B $78.89B $81.59B
Shares (diluted) 173.30M 566.00M 883.00M
Enterprise value $76.65B $83.90B $501.79B

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
MetricMCOICEMA
P/E 29.0x 22.7x 33.8x
P/FCF 28.0x 18.0x 32.5x
P/Operating cash flow 25.0x 16.6x 31.1x
P/S 10.2x 6.8x 15.5x
P/B 24.4x 3.1x 96.7x
P/Tangible book 48.5x 6.2x 3,744x
EV/EBITDA 21.4x 15.6x 23.1x
EV/EBIT 24.3x 20.0x 27.2x
EV/Revenue 10.8x 8.1x 15.9x
EV/FCF 29.8x 21.5x 33.3x
EV/Operating cash flow 26.6x 19.8x 31.9x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 1.09 0.68 1.73

Growth

14 metrics
MetricMCOICEMA
Revenue growth (1Y) 9.0% 6.9% 16.0%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 12.6% 11.9% 14.1%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 10.3% – –
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 14.6% – –
Operating income growth (1Y) 16.0% 16.4% 21.3%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 23.3% 13.9% 16.1%
Net income growth (1Y) 28.5% 34.1% 19.7%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 24.0% 33.1% 16.7%
EPS growth (1Y) 33.1% 36.6% 23.2%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 26.5% 33.3% 19.5%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 22.5% 13.1% 2.9%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 17.5% 14.9% 14.6%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 24.1% 13.9% 0.9%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 18.8% 14.1% 14.4%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricMCOICEMA
Gross margin 74.6% – –
EBITDA margin 50.6% 52.3% 68.6%
Operating margin 44.6% 40.7% 58.3%
Pretax margin 45.2% 39.7% 57.5%
Net margin 35.3% 30.1% 46.3%
FCF margin 36.4% 37.8% 47.6%
Operating cash flow margin 40.7% 41.1% 49.7%
Return on equity 87.8% 13.9% 263.6%
Return on assets 19.6% 2.3% 29.5%
Return on invested capital 27.9% 8.5% 59.0%
Return on capital employed 31.8% 9.7% 68.1%
Asset turnover 0.6x 0.1x 0.6x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.2x 1.3x 1.1x
Stock comp / revenue 2.8% 2.0% 1.8%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricMCOICEMA
Debt / assets 46.6% 11.4% 42.7%
Debt / equity 2.0x 0.7x 4.4x
Net debt / EBITDA 1.3x 2.6x 0.6x
Debt / FCF 2.3x 3.9x 1.5x
Liabilities / assets 77.0% 83.0% 90.3%
Equity / assets 23.0% 17.0% 9.7%
Interest coverage – 6.8x 27.4x
Current ratio 1.3x 1.0x 1.1x
Quick ratio 1.3x 0.0x 0.7x
Cash ratio 0.5x 0.0x 0.5x
Altman Z-score 7.67 0.75 10.29

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricMCOICEMA
Dividend yield 0.8% 1.3% 0.6%
Net buyback yield 3.5% 2.2% 2.9%
Shareholder yield 4.4% 3.4% 3.4%
Payout ratio (earnings) 24.6% 27.8% –
Payout ratio (FCF) 23.8% 22.5% –
Dividend growth (1Y) 3.0% 6.1% –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) 8.8% 8.3% –

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.

ConsensusMCOICEMA
Forward P/E 26.8xFY2026 18.7xFY2026 29.7xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $18.07FY2026 $8.68FY2026 $20.99FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +21.0%FY2026 +24.9%FY2026 +23.4%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after -1.2% -3.0% +14.7%
Revenue, next fiscal year $8.74BFY2026 $10.53BFY2026 $38.98BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +13.2%FY2026 +6.0%FY2026 +18.9%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after -1.8% +16.1% +0.4%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersMCOICEMA
Held by institutions 90.8% 92.5% 88.6%
Institutions holding 1,404 1,651 3,581
Change in shares held, QoQ -1.6% +1.4% +0.6%
Institutions buying 644 734 1,587
Institutions selling 522 694 1,526
Buyers to sellers 1.23 1.06 1.04

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.

MCOICEMA
MCO 1.00 0.56 0.45
ICE 0.56 1.00 0.43
MA 0.45 0.43 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, MCO, ICE and MA?

Mastercard (MA) is the largest by market capitalisation: Moodys (MCO) $83.73B, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) $90.16B, Mastercard (MA) $541.87B.

Which stock is cheaper, MCO, ICE and MA?

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Moodys (MCO) 29.0x, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) 22.3x, Mastercard (MA) 33.3x). On next year's consensus earnings, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) is cheapest (Moodys (MCO) 26.8x, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) 18.7x, Mastercard (MA) 29.7x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Mastercard (MA) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Moodys (MCO) +9.0%, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) +6.9%, Mastercard (MA) +16.0%.

Which company is more profitable?

Mastercard (MA) has the highest net margin (Moodys (MCO) 35.3%, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) 30.1%, Mastercard (MA) 46.3%). On return on invested capital, Mastercard (MA) leads (Moodys (MCO) 27.9%, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) 8.5%, Mastercard (MA) 59.0%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Mastercard (MA) returned the most: Moodys (MCO) +0.9%, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) +3.3%, Mastercard (MA) +8.7%. Over five years, Mastercard (MA) compounded fastest (Moodys (MCO) +4.8%/yr, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) +4.3%/yr, Mastercard (MA) +11.7%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has the highest dividend yield: Moodys (MCO) 0.01%, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) 0.01%, Mastercard (MA) 0.00%. Mastercard (MA) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Mastercard (MA) has been the steadiest (Moodys (MCO) 28.5%, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) 25.6%, Mastercard (MA) 22.6%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

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

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Mastercard (MA) leads on 8. 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.