Moody's posts 4Q profit, results top Wall Street estimates

Moody's Corp. (MCO) on Friday reported fourth-quarter profit of $236.3 million.

The New York-based company said it had profit of $1.12 per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 94 cents per share.

The credit ratings agency posted revenue of $877.5 million in the period, also beating Street forecasts. Analysts expected $846.5 million, according to Zacks.

For the year, the company reported profit of $988.7 million, or $4.61 per share. Revenue was reported as $3.33 billion.

Moody's expects full-year earnings to be $4.55 to $4.65 per share.

Moody's shares have fallen almost 3 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has stayed nearly flat. The stock has risen 25 percent in the last 12 months.

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This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on MCO at http://www.zacks.com/ap/MCO

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