High Margins Meet Heavy Debt
OvervaluedDCF
Equity analysis

MSCI Inc (MSCI) High Margins Meet Heavy Debt

May 15, 2026Equity Analysis

Can a premium multiple coexist with USD 6.2 billion debt?

Trailing P/E
31.48
Price
569.69
ROE
108.67
Gross Margin
82.86

How Does This Firm Power Investor Decisions?

MSCI Inc builds and sells tools that help investors measure and manage portfolios. Its offerings center on indexes, analytics, and data that institutions use to benchmark performance and make allocation decisions. The business is positioned as infrastructure for investment workflows, where clients embed MSCI’s datasets and models into recurring processes. At today’s scale, it sits in the large-cap range at about USD 41.5 billion in market value.

Are Profits and Cash Flow Holding Steady?

Fundamentals

In 2025, reported in USD, revenue reached USD 3.13 billion, alongside EBIT of USD 1.71 billion and net income of USD 1.20 billion. Revenue grew 9.7% versus the prior year, and profitability stayed elevated, with a 55.36% operating margin and a 40.74% net profit margin on a trailing basis.

Cash generation, using the provided proxy that adjusts EBIT after tax for depreciation and capital spending, was about USD 1.55 billion. Depreciation and amortization ran at USD 169.5 million, while capital spending was modest at USD 39.3 million. On the balance sheet, cash of USD 515.3 million sat against USD 6.2 billion of total debt.

Is the Market Paying Too Much Now?

DCF / Multiples

At USD 569.69 per share, the stock is above the DCF range that runs from USD 206.15 in a weaker outcome through USD 358.30 at the midpoint to USD 533.98 in a stronger outcome. The pricing also sits alongside a 31.48 P/E and 24.24 EV/EBITDA, with a 12.82 price-to-sales multiple.

Leverage Limits the Comfort Zone

Takeaway

The price is asking for very little balance-sheet friction. Debt stays manageable if cash generation remains dependable. High margins help, but they cannot absorb every shock. If leverage grows faster than earnings, the setup weakens quickly.

Disclaimer
This information is for general analytical purposes and is not investment advice.
Fair Value Rankings

Market Price vs Intrinsic Value

Quick access to the most undervalued and overvalued stocks, ranked by their discount or premium to DCF-based fair value.

Undervalued

Stocks trading below fair value

View full ranking
1
Newmont Corporation
NEM
+80%
discount
2
Plains All American Pipeline LP
PAA
+79%
discount
3
Marathon Petroleum Corp
MPC
+79%
discount
Overvalued

Stocks trading above fair value

View full ranking
1
Entegris Inc
ENTG
+398%
premium
2
Prudential Financial Inc
PRU
+395%
premium
3
Alcoa Corp
AA
+382%
premium
INDEX
VDIX
ValueDetect Intrinsic eXpectations Index
Overvalued market
View index

VDIX measures whether the market is expensive or cheap relative to intrinsic value. For each company, ValueDetect estimates fair value using a discounted cash flow (DCF) model, then compares it with the current share price to derive a RiskRatio. These signals are capped, weighted by market capitalization, and aggregated into a single market-wide score.

Current score-0.80Negative = market trades above fair value
1-day move-0.04Rising score = improving valuation conditions
7-day average-0.76Smoothed market valuation signal
Latest observation01 July 2026The latest weighted reading suggests that the market is trading above DCF-based intrinsic value in aggregate.
Next actions

What would you like?

Continuously expanding company coverage — prioritized by user demand.

Suggest a company to analyze

Help shape what we analyze next.

We'll send a confirmation email to verify your request — not for marketing.

New analyses are added regularly. Request processing times may vary.