What Happened?
Shares of financial intelligence company S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) fell 9.7% in the afternoon session after its fourth-quarter 2025 earnings fell short of Wall Street's expectations.
The company posted an adjusted profit of $4.30 per share, which was 0.8% below analysts' consensus estimate of $4.34. This earnings miss appeared to overshadow the fact that quarterly revenue of $3.92 billion met expectations, growing 9% year over year. Although management raised its full-year adjusted EPS guidance to a midpoint of $19.53, investors focused on the fourth-quarter profit miss, suggesting concerns about the company's immediate profitability.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
S&P Global’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 4 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful, although it might not be something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 3 months ago when the stock gained 3.8% on the news that it reported strong third-quarter results and provided an optimistic earnings forecast. For the quarter, revenue grew 8.8% year on year to $3.89 billion, while adjusted earnings per share jumped nearly 22% to $4.73. Both figures came in ahead of what analysts had expected. Buoyed by the results, the company issued guidance for the upcoming 2026 financial year, with the midpoint of its adjusted earnings per share forecast beating Wall Street's consensus estimates.
S&P Global is down 21.8% since the beginning of the year, and at $401.01 per share, it is trading 28.9% below its 52-week high of $564.15 from August 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of S&P Global’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $1,204.
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