Analyst Note
| Rajiv Bhatia |MSCI finished 2022 on a high note. Fourth-quarter revenue grew 7% organically to $576 million, edging out the FactSet consensus of $569 million. MSCI was disciplined on expenses, which led to adjusted EBITDA of $339 million and adjusted EPS of $2.84, beating the consensus estimates of $335 million and $2.76, respectively. If there was one quibble in the quarter, it was that MSCI’s retention was a bit soft, but we view this as more of a blip and note that gross sales were strong. As we update our model, we are increasing our fair value estimate to $412 per share from $370 primarily to reflect the effect of the market rebound in the fourth quarter and January 2023 on the firm’s asset-based fees.