S&P GLOBAL INC earnings calls

why start strategic review now

Q (Ashish Sabadra · RBC): Why launch the strategic review now? How does it help the remainco financially and in quality?

A: Management said they launched the review from a position of strength and see opportunities for faster growth under a new owner for some pieces. They said a more focused S&P Global could concentrate investments where it is strongest and improve the financial profile. They expect to update more as they define the perimeter and by the February earnings call.

"As we enter into this review, we are coming at it from a position of strength, really." — Martina L. Cheung (CEO)

which businesses are in review and interest

Q (Toni Kaplan · Morgan Stanley): Which businesses are in the perimeter and how big might they be including Kensho pieces? Any inbounds after the Bloomberg report?

A: They said the review covers Cap IQ and associated data businesses such as financials, F&L, and Visible Alpha, and that Ratings Direct and Ratings Express are out of scope. They are still fine-tuning the perimeter and expect to provide more clarity in February. Management also said they have received significant interest, signed NDAs, and engaged advisers, but there is no certainty of an outcome.

"We have gotten quite a bit of interest from a number of different potential-- potential firms on the other side." — Eric Walter Aboaf (CFO)

ratings market outlook and issuance drivers

Q (Faiza Alwy · Deutsche Bank): Does strong issuance this year imply slower growth in 2027? What are puts and takes across scenarios?

A: They said it is early for 2027 commentary but view the market medium-term as high growth with strong secular tailwinds and large refinancing needs. They pointed to demand in private credit, project finance, structured finance, and investment grade inflows, and said they will assess hyperscaler CapEx announcements and how much will be funded by debt versus equity.

"I would say we look at this market overall over the medium term as being high growth with, very strong secular tailwinds." — Martina L. Cheung (CEO)

planned bond offering size and interest impact

Q (Jeffrey Silber · BMO): How big will the expected bond offering be and how will it affect interest expense?

A: They said buyback plans expanded to $7 billion for the year and they expect to issue about $2 billion of debt at prevailing market rates. That additional debt will increase interest expense accordingly.

"The expectation right now is about $2 billion of debt at prevailing market rates, and that obviously factors into interest expense that we will we will actually cover." — Eric Walter Aboaf (CFO)

CapEx timing change

Q (Surinder Thind · Jefferies): Is the CapEx adjustment just timing or are there other reasons to consider?

A: They said the adjustment is just timing, quarter by quarter, and also reflects ongoing technology spend to support growth. There was no indication of structural change to planned technology investments.

"it is, Surinder. it is just the, the usual, timing, quarter by quarter and kind of within and outside the year." — Eric Walter Aboaf (CFO)

AI revenue contribution by segment

Q (Curtis Nagle · BofA): How much did AI revenues contribute to growth in Energy and Market Intelligence, and what about prior quarters?

A: They said AI features are important across products and that discrete AI-paid offerings exist like AI data, AI-ready portal access, and advanced search. They quantified AI as about a 50 basis point tailwind in the energy business and about 50 basis points in Market Intelligence (Kensho Data and Platforms).

sales cycle improvement for AI products

Q (Scott Wurtzel · Wolfe): Is the positive sales-cycle inflection broad across AI product sales and will it persist?

A: They said sales execution improved in Market Intelligence and Energy, with renewals back to prewar levels in Energy after clarifying AI rights. They standardized terms and conditions, clients accepted those, and management believes the sales-cycle issues have been largely solved going forward.

"So this is something that was really more of an impact prior, and so we would see that as something that we have solved for going forward." — Martina L. Cheung (CEO)

derivatives and prediction markets opportunity

Q (Alex Kramm · UBS): What opportunities do you see on the derivatives side and in prediction markets, and what might be coming with Calci/Kalshi?

A: They said the Cboe extension accelerates economics into SPDJI and provides clarity that supports the SPX and VIX ecosystem and market participant investment. They view prediction markets as early but see opportunities to provide indices and data, and to create innovative indices using prediction market data while also innovating with long-standing partners like Cboe and CME.

"The equally important outcome, though, of this extension is that it really provides clarity and certainty for all market participants that are key to this really valued ecosystem." — Catherine R. Clay (CEO)

margin profile of reviewed portfolio

Q (Manav Patnaik · Barclays): Can you help with the margin profile of the businesses in review and why Enterprise Solutions is retained?

A: They said it is premature to comment on growth and margin profiles until they finalize the perimeter and will come back when they have more detail. They explained Enterprise Solutions is core to the credit markets and lending workflows, generating unique, proprietary content and supporting mission-critical market decisions, which is why it remains with S&P Global.

"it is a little bit too early. it is premature really to comment on the growth and margin profile of the in scope products and services for the strategic review" — Martina L. Cheung (CEO)

impact of separation on AI strategy

Q (Keen Fai Tong · Goldman Sachs): If CapIQ/Kensho are separated, how would it affect the wider AI strategy and which AI capabilities stay with S&P?

A: They said Kensho has driven many AI capabilities and they expect the Kensho team to be important to the perimeter while ensuring momentum continues. They also said S&P Global will retain the AI capabilities needed to integrate AI into its products and workflows, and will keep innovation and integration across products like iLEVEL and Energy.

"And so they have really been very focused on helping to drive the growth particularly within Cap IQ and the associated data businesses." — Martina L. Cheung (CEO)

AI-driven cost savings

Q (Craig Huber · Huber Research Partners): Can you annualize AI cost savings for the company or by segment?

A: They said AI is expanding across workflows—data ops, research, software development, and analysts—and is part of productivity and workflow redesigns. AI-driven gains are intermingled with other productivity efforts, and each year they plan for a couple points of productivity, with some savings reinvested into growth and some delivered to the bottom line.

"AI though functionality, is part and parcel of workflow redesigns simplification, and change." — Eric Walter Aboaf (CFO)

Q4 issuance assumptions and MI ACV growth

Q (Andrew Steinerman · JPMorgan): What are the puts and takes for Q4 credit issuance including AI-related issuance, and what was MI ACV growth?

A: They said investment grade should remain a tailwind, with offsets from rising rates in high yield and leveraged loans, and that more hyperscaler issuance is expected in Q4. They reported organic constant currency growth around 7% and ACV growth for Market Intelligence around 6.5 percent.

"And then ACV came in nicely around 6.5 percent." — Eric Walter Aboaf (CFO)

what S&P Global will look like after reviews

Q (Owen Lau · Clear Street): After Mobility spin-off and CapIQ review, what will S&P Global look like in 3 years and where can revenue grow faster? Also, what does preferred (non-exclusive) Kalshi relationship mean?

A: They said the strategic priorities remain unchanged: advance market leadership, expand into high-growth adjacencies, and expand enterprise capabilities and AI. The review is aimed at focusing S&P Global on markets where it leads and providing more capital allocation flexibility. On Kalshi, they prefer partnering with multiple participants in a nascent market to explore opportunities rather than exclusivity.

"Our priorities are consistent with what we set out at IR day last year, which is around advancing our market leadership, expanding into high growth adjacencies, and expanding our enterprise capabilities and AI." — Martina L. Cheung (CEO)

integration of CapIQ with other divisions

Q (Jason Haas · Wells Fargo): How integrated are CapIQ and other reviewed businesses with the rest of S&P, compared with Mobility?

A: They said there are cross-divisional commercial agreements—for example, Ratings analysts use CapIQ—and some data foundations support other parts of the business. But most major divisions (Ratings, Indices, Energy, Enterprise Solutions outside KDP) run on separate technology stacks and they believe they have the playbook to execute transactions without disrupting customers.

"I would say that there are cross-divisional commercial agreements." — Martina L. Cheung (CEO)

AI-ready data contracts and pricing

Q (Jeffrey Meuler · Baird): How are you structuring AI-ready data distribution deals on duration and revenue terms to grow with clients as they ramp usage?

A: They said they are seeing price increases on broader renewals driving subscription growth and expect that to continue. For adaptive retrieval (agents), they see potential for consumption-based pricing that complements demand for new datasets; clients may license adaptive retrieval for existing datasets and add new datasets, and over time AI and normal growth rates should converge as adoption rises.

"that is where we are seeing a potential for consumption based pricing models and it also complements just the increased interest in new datasets that we are seeing with our clients." — Martina L. Cheung (CEO)