# Moody’s Moat

Status: published. Policy: company-analysis-1.

The supplied passages support a narrow moat through Moody’s Analytics’ proprietary data and integration into regulated customer workflows, corroborated by signed multiyear subscriptions, recurring revenue growth and customer expansion. Realized annual price increases support pricing power, although their contribution is not isolated from volume. The evidence does not establish exceptional durability or a wide ratings franchise moat: competitive pricing pressure is disclosed, and recent ratings growth benefited from favorable issuance conditions.

## switching_costs

MA’s integration into banking, insurance and KYC workflows creates switching friction. Signed multiyear subscription obligations and expansion of existing banking relationships corroborate the issuer’s integration claims.

Durability: Multiyear commitments and recurring demand support persistence beyond a single transaction. Migration costs and renewal rates are not quantified, limiting confidence in longer-term durability.

Risks: Alternative systems, lower-cost information and AI could reduce dependence. Banking growth partly reflects revenue recognition timing, and the KYC retention description is an issuer assertion without a disclosed retention rate.

Invalidation: Persistent contraction in organic recurring revenue and ARR, accompanied by customer migration or declining renewals attributable to substitutable offerings, would invalidate the switching-cost assessment.

Competitors: Not established
## intangible_assets

MA’s proprietary company and credit data, historical depth and associated analytics support differentiated products. Continued demand for data applications and ratings feeds corroborates commercial usefulness, while annual price increases demonstrate some willingness to pay for Moody’s services.

Durability: Historical data and intellectual-property safeguards can preserve differentiation, but the claimed database leadership is issuer-described and comparative data coverage is absent. The evidence supports a current advantage more clearly than an exceptional long-term barrier.

Risks: Some underlying technology and information are broadly available. Disclosure requirements can make paid information free, and competitive pricing pressure has intensified. AI-driven commoditization is a potential risk rather than demonstrated displacement.

Invalidation: Evidence that customers replace proprietary datasets and analytics with comparable cheaper alternatives, together with sustained pricing concessions and weakening organic demand, would undermine this advantage.

Competitors: Not established
- [https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1059556/000162828026009136/mco-20251231.htm](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1059556/000162828026009136/mco-20251231.htm) · 2026-02-18
- [https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1059556/000162828026049398/mco-20260630.htm](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1059556/000162828026049398/mco-20260630.htm) · 2026-07-23
- [https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1059556/000105955626000019/mco-20260304.htm](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1059556/000105955626000019/mco-20260304.htm) · 2026-03-04

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