S&P Global Inc. SPGI has performed well over the past year and can sustain its momentum in the near term.

What Makes SPGI an Attractive Pick?

An Outperformer: A glimpse at the company’s price trend reveals that the stock has had an impressive run over the year. Shares of S&P Global have returned 12.5% compared with the 8.2% rally of the industry it belongs to and the 9.5% rise of the Zacks S&P 500 composite.

One-Year Price Performance

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Solid Rank: SPGI currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and a VGM Score of B. Our research shows that stocks with a VGM Score of A or B, when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2, offer the best investment opportunities for investors. Thus, the company appears to be a compelling investment proposition at the moment.

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Northward Estimate Revisions: Nine estimates for 2025 have moved north in the past 60 days versus one southward revision, reflecting analysts’ confidence in the company. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 earnings has moved up 2.8% in the past 60 days.

Positive Earnings Surprise History: SPGI has an impressive earnings surprise history. The company outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the trailing four quarters, delivering an earnings surprise of 8.9% on average.

Strong Growth Prospects: The consensus mark for SPGI’s revenues in 2025 is pegged at $15 billion, indicating 5.9% growth on a year-over-year basis. Revenues are expected to grow 7% in 2026. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for SPGI’s 2025 earnings is pegged at $17.07, implying 8.7% year-over-year growth. Earnings are expected to register an 11.3% increase in 2026.

Growth Factors: Strong demand for pricing and reference data within loan and credit default swap asset classes, industry, and company data is fueling growth in the Market Intelligence segment. Increasing collateralized loan obligation volumes and a surge in transaction revenues, fueled by favorable market conditions, are benefiting the Ratings segment.

Traditional offerings such as the crude and refined product suite are the Commodity Insights segment’s key drivers. Growing demand for the CARFAX product suite, coupled with strong performances from SPGI’s insurance-related products, is aiding revenue growth in the Mobility segment. Growth in asset-linked fees, driven by increased asset under management and growth in Data & Custom Subscriptions, are fueling revenues from S&P Dow Jones Indices.

Acquisitions enable SPGI to innovate, expand content and introduce products. In 2024, the company acquired ProntoNLP, improving the textual data analytics capabilities of the company. Visible Alpha and World Hydrogen Leaders were acquired as well. The former offers fundamental investment research capabilities on Market Intelligence’s Capital IQ Pro platform and the later complements Commodity Insights’ global conference business by providing the full coverage of hydrogen and derivative value chain, respectively.

S&P Global’s strategy to conduct share repurchases and pay dividends is impressive. In 2022, 2023 and 2024, the company had $12 billion, $3.3 billion and $18.6 billion, as share repurchases, respectively, boosting investors’ morale. It paid out $1 billion, $1.1 billion and $1.1 billion in dividends in 2022, 2023 and 2024, respectively, attracting dividend-seeking investors.

Other Stocks to Consider

Some other top-ranked stocks from the broader Zacks Business Services sector are AppLovin APP and PagSeguro Digital Ltd. PAGS, each carrying a Zacks Rank of 2 at present.

AppLovin has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 20%. APP delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 23.5%, on average.

PagSeguro Digital has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 13.6%. PAGS delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 9.3%, on average.

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AppLovin Corporation (APP) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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