MMarketMath

SPGI

Fast growerQuality: High (81/100)1 red flag

S&P Global · Financials · Financial Exchanges & Data

$435.42

52w 361.03 – 527.02

20y monthly, adjusted

Mkt cap

$128.9B

P/E

28.2

P/FCF

23.1

FCF yield

4.3%

ROE

14.4%

Shldr yield

4.9%

div 0.9% + bb 4.0%

What today's price assumes

At $128.9B, the market is pricing in 9.7% annual free-cash-flow growth for the next decade (10% discount rate, 2.5% terminal growth). Over the last ten years, FCF actually grew 38.1% per year — expectations look undemanding relative to history.

Simple DCF per-share range: $281 · $630 · $908 (4% / base / optimistic growth). An estimate, not a target.

Adjust the assumptions yourself →

Historical multiple lens

At its own median P/OCF of 20.4× across 19 years, SPGI would trade near $390/share (25th–75th percentile: $285–$498); it trades at 22.8× today.

Assumes the historical multiple regime persists — re-ratings can be permanent.

Growth record

Compound annual growth rates from as-filed 10-K data, split-adjusted

Rev 3y

+11.1%

Rev 5y

+15.6%

Rev 10y

+11.2%

EPS 5y

+8.7%

EPS 10y

+13.3%

FCF 5y

+9.3%

FCF 10y

+38.1%

Fundamentals

Fiscal 2007–2025, from SEC filings

Revenue

2007: $6.8B
2008: $6.4B
2009: $5.9B
2010: $3.6B
2011: $4.0B
2012: $4.3B
2013: $4.7B
2014: $5.1B
2015: $5.3B
2016: $5.7B
2017: $6.1B
2018: $6.3B
2019: $6.7B
2020: $7.4B
2021: $8.3B
2022: $11.2B
2023: $12.5B
2024: $14.2B
2025: $15.3B
$0$5.0B$10.0B$15.0B
07
11
15
19
23

Net income

2007: $1.0B
2008: $799.5M
2009: $731.0M
2010: $828.0M
2011: $911.0M
2012: $437.0M
2013: $1.4B
2014: −$115.0M
2015: $1.2B
2016: $2.1B
2017: $1.5B
2018: $2.0B
2019: $2.1B
2020: $2.3B
2021: $3.0B
2022: $3.2B
2023: $2.6B
2024: $3.9B
2025: $4.5B
$0$2.0B$4.0B
07
11
15
19
23

Free cash flow

2007: $1.5B
2008: $1.1B
2009: $1.3B
2010: $618.0M
2011: $832.0M
2012: $634.0M
2013: $665.0M
2014: $1.1B
2015: $217.0M
2016: $1.4B
2017: $1.9B
2018: $2.0B
2019: $2.7B
2020: $3.5B
2021: $3.6B
2022: $2.5B
2023: $3.6B
2024: $5.6B
2025: $5.5B
$0$2.0B$4.0B
07
11
15
19
23

Diluted shares (lower is better)

2007: 344.8M
2008: 318.7M
2009: 313.0M
2010: 312.2M
2011: 303.6M
2012: 284.6M
2013: 279.8M
2014: 271.5M
2015: 274.6M
2016: 265.2M
2017: 258.9M
2018: 253.2M
2019: 246.9M
2020: 242.1M
2021: 241.8M
2022: 318.5M
2023: 318.9M
2024: 311.9M
2025: 305.1M
0100.0M200.0M300.0M
07
11
15
19
23

Margins

0%20%40%07101316192225
Net marginFCF marginGross margin

Capital returned (dividends + buybacks)

2007: $2.5B
2008: $727.7M
2009: $281.0M
2010: $548.0M
2011: $1.8B
2012: $1.3B
2013: $1.3B
2014: $688.0M
2015: $1.3B
2016: $1.5B
2017: $1.4B
2018: $2.2B
2019: $1.8B
2020: $1.8B
2021: $743.0M
2022: $13.0B
2023: $4.4B
2024: $4.4B
2025: $6.2B
$0$5.0B$10.0B
07
11
15
19
23

Cash vs long-term debt

$0$5.0B$10.0B07101316192225
CashLT debt

Quarterly

Discrete quarters from 10-Q filings; Q4 derived as fiscal year minus Q1–Q3. OCF is unwound from the year-to-date figures 10-Qs report. Compare to the same quarter a year ago — most businesses are seasonal.

Revenue by quarter

Q1'23: $3.2B
Q2'23: $3.1B
Q3'23: $3.1B
Q4'23: $3.2B
Q1'24: $3.5B
Q2'24: $3.5B
Q3'24: $3.6B
Q4'24: $3.6B
Q1'25: $3.8B
Q2'25: $3.8B
Q3'25: $3.9B
Q4'25: $3.9B
Q1'26: $4.2B
$0$2.0B$4.0B
23
23
24
25
26

Net income by quarter

Q1'23: $795.0M
Q2'23: $511.0M
Q3'23: $742.0M
Q4'23: $578.0M
Q1'24: $991.0M
Q2'24: $1.0B
Q3'24: $971.0M
Q4'24: $879.0M
Q1'25: $1.1B
Q2'25: $1.1B
Q3'25: $1.2B
Q4'25: $1.1B
Q1'26: $1.4B
$0$500.0M$1.0B
23
23
24
25
26
QuarterRevenueYoYNet incomeYoYEPSOCF
Q1'26$4.2B+10.4%$1.4B+28.0%4.69$1.0B
Q4'25 *$3.9B+9.0%$1.1B+28.9%3.76$1.7B
Q3'25$3.9B+8.8%$1.2B+21.1%3.86$1.5B
Q2'25$3.8B+5.8%$1.1B+6.0%3.50$1.4B
Q1'25$3.8B+8.2%$1.1B+10.0%3.54$953.0M
Q4'24 *$3.6B+14.0%$879.0M+52.1%2.85$1.7B
Q3'24$3.6B+15.9%$971.0M+30.9%3.11$1.4B
Q2'24$3.5B+14.4%$1.0B+97.8%3.23$1.6B
Q1'24$3.5B+10.5%$991.0M+24.7%3.16$948.0M
Q4'23 *$3.2B+7.3%$578.0M+33.5%1.83$1.3B
Q3'23$3.1B+7.8%$742.0M+22.0%2.33$1.0B
Q2'23$3.1B+3.6%$511.0M−47.4%1.60$769.0M
Q1'23$3.2B+32.3%$795.0M−35.6%2.47$594.0M

Track record

Compound annual growth by period. For debt and share count, negative is the good direction.

Series3y5y10y15y
Revenue+11.1%+15.6%+11.2%+10.1%
Operating cash flow+29.5%+9.6%+31.8%+14.9%
Free cash flow+29.5%+9.3%+38.1%+15.6%
EPS (diluted)+12.9%+8.7%+13.3%+12.1%
Equity−5.1%+127.7%+66.2%+19.3%
LT debt+4.9%+24.7%+13.6%+16.8%
Diluted shares−1.4%+4.7%+1.1%−0.2%
Stock price+6.4%+1.5%+15.1%+19.0%

$100, 3 years ago

$120vs $176 in SPY

6.4% vs 20.7%/yr

$100, 5 years ago

$108vs $181 in SPY

1.5% vs 12.6%/yr

$100, 10 years ago

$407vs $412 in SPY

15.1% vs 15.2%/yr

$100, 15 years ago

$1,363vs $813 in SPY

19.0% vs 15.0%/yr

The $1 test — market value created per $1 of earnings retained (Buffett's hurdle: at least $1)

Last 5 years

$6.86

$82.3B created / $12.0B retained

Last 10 years

$6.75

$131.6B created / $19.5B retained

Quality & capital discipline

Cash-based returns and how management deploys capital

Cash ROIC

13.0%

OCF ÷ (equity + debt)

OCF / EV yield

4.1%

MC vs 10× OCF

2.23

≤1 = priced under 10× OCF

Debt / FCF

2.3y

SBC / FCF

4.3%

Owner earnings

$5.2B

OCF − capex − SBC

OE yield

4.1%

Share count 5y

−0.7%

per year; negative = buybacks

Capital intensity

1.8%

net PP&E ÷ revenue

Sales efficiency

$-0.00

new PP&E per $1 new revenue, 5y

Growth engine (5y): reinvested 194.1% of operating cash flow at an incremental return of 5.1% — an organically fundable growth rate of about 9.8% per year (growth ≈ reinvestment rate × incremental ROIC).

Checklist

22 of 26 checks pass · 85%. Checks with structurally missing inputs are excluded.

Growth & Consistency

6/7

  • Revenue growth

    15.6% · 5y CAGR ≥ 5%

    pass
  • EPS growth

    8.7% · 5y CAGR ≥ 5%

    pass
  • FCF growth

    9.3% · 5y CAGR ≥ 5%

    pass
  • Revenue rises consistently

    9 of 9 · up in ≥ 7 of last 10 years

    pass
  • FCF consistently positive

    10 of 10 · positive in ≥ 8 of last 10 years

    pass
  • Profitable every year

    10 of 10 · net income > 0 in ≥ 8 of last 10

    pass
  • Cash flow keeps up with sales

    9.6% vs 15.6% · OCF CAGR ≥ 0.9× revenue CAGR

    fail

Profitability

6/6

  • Net margin

    29.2% · ≥ 8%

    pass
  • Operating margin

    42.2% · ≥ 10%

    pass
  • Gross margin stable or rising

    · no drop > 2 pts over 3y

    na
  • Return on equity

    14.4% · ≥ 12%

    pass
  • Cash ROIC

    13.0% · ≥ 12%

    pass
  • FCF margin

    35.6% · ≥ 5%

    pass
  • Earnings back their cash

    OCF $5.7B vs NI $4.5B · OCF ≥ net income (latest FY)

    pass

Balance Sheet

4/5

  • Debt payable from cash flow

    2.3y · LT debt ≤ 3× FCF

    pass
  • Cash cushion

    14% · cash ≥ 50% of LT debt

    fail
  • Leverage

    0.40 · LT debt ≤ 1.5× equity

    pass
  • Equity positive and compounding

    $31.1B · equity > 0 and grew over ~5y

    pass
  • Interest burden

    4% · interest ≤ 15% of operating income

    pass

Capital Allocation

3/4

  • Share count flat or shrinking

    -0.7% · ≤ +0.5%/yr over ~5y

    pass
  • Stock comp restrained

    4% · SBC ≤ 15% of FCF

    pass
  • Distributions funded by FCF

    113% · dividends + buybacks ≤ 100% of FCF

    fail
  • Repurchases are a habit

    9 of 10 · buybacks in ≥ 5 of last 10 years

    pass

Valuation Discipline

3/4

  • FCF yield

    4.3% · ≥ 3%

    pass
  • Earnings multiple

    28.2 · P/E ≤ 25

    fail
  • Price asks less than history delivered

    9.7% vs 38.1% · implied FCF growth ≤ historical FCF CAGR

    pass
  • Shareholder yield

    4.9% · dividends + buybacks ≥ 2% of market cap

    pass

Red flags

Mechanical checks — a flag is a question to investigate, not a verdict

Distributions exceed FCF

Dividends plus buybacks exceeded free cash flow in the latest fiscal year.

Financial data

As filed in 10-Ks; per-share figures split-adjusted. $ in millions.

FYRevenueGross profitOp incomeNet incomeEPSOCFCapExFCFDividendsBuybacksSBCCashLT debtEquityShares
202515,3366,4784,47114.665,6511955,4561,1705,0012361,74512,37031,127305
202414,2085,5803,85212.355,6891245,5651,1343,3012471,66611,39433,159312
202312,4974,0202,6268.233,7101433,5671,1473,3011711,29011,41234,200319
202211,1814,9443,24810.202,603892,5141,02412,0042141,28610,73036,388319
20218,2974,2213,02412.513,598353,56374301226,4974,1142,032242
20207,4423,6172,3399.663,567763,4916451,164904,1084,110509242
20196,6993,2262,1238.602,7761152,6615601,240782,8663,948479247
20186,2582,7901,9587.732,0641131,9515031,660941,9173,662628253
20176,0632,5831,4965.782,0161231,8934211,001992,7773,170709259
20165,6613,3412,1067.941,5601151,4453801,123762,3923,564650265
20155,3131,9171,1564.21356139217363974781,4813,468194275
20145,051113-115-0.421,209921,1173263621002,497795488272
20134,7021,3581,3764.91782117665308978961,5427991,301280
20124,2701,1704371.537309663498429590760799767285
20113,9541,0779113.00924928322961,500778357981,508304
20103,6391,0268282.6570486618292256511,4161,1982,211312
20095,8701,2597312.331,330691,2612810221,1181,1981,847313
20086,3551,3757992.511,1781061,072280447-24721,1981,282319
20076,7721,6771,0142.941,7172301,4872782,2131253961,678345

Some concepts are structurally absent for certain industries (banks report no gross profit or capex). Missing ≠ zero.