S&P Global Inc Q3 2024 Earnings Call Summary

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Ashish Sabadra - RBC Capital Markets - Analyst : Thanks for taking the question. I just wanted to drill down further on the MI segment, the execution that has been a bit choppy and so just as we think about with the new leadership changes and some of the portfolio rationalization that we have seen, is there further opportunity for more rationalization there? Or how do we get there the business on a more steady execution, thanks.

Question: Toni Kaplan - Morgan Stanley - Analyst : Thanks so much. Martina, I wanted to ask you a bit of a broad question about where you see as the biggest areas of opportunity for investment in your mind. Just any I imagine AI is probably up there, but just any others you've identified where you feel like the opportunity is really there for the company? Thanks.

Question: Manav Patnaik - Barclays Capital - Analyst : Thank you. Martina, I was just wondering with all the work you've done leading up to taking overhead. You know, I think you ended with a question on the comment on solving for the collective whole in. It seems like with five big business as well as a whole lot going on. So, I was just curious if the comment you made calculation and MI if you have any thoughts on the broader company and portfolio in terms of where it stand today.

Question: Scott Wurtzel - Wolfe Research - Analyst : Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. I just wanted to hit on the synergy topic. I mean, good to see that run rate increasing there. And just wondering in the context maybe some of the choppiness that we're seeing in market intelligence and the outperformance in some of the other segments. Are we seeing any sort of change in geography in terms of where the synergies are impacting by division?

Question: Faiza Alwy - Deutsche Bank - Analyst : Hi, thank you. I wanted to ask about ratings. I think, Doug, in your comments you mentioned some pull forward from 2025 and even 2026. This year, it's certainly been a very strong year for issuance. And I'm curious if you have any early thoughts around 2025. And I know a few years ago, you talked about a 6% to 9% of the long-term growth rate over 25% to 26% growth rate. Do you think that is achievable and what are some of the factors to consider?

Question: David Motemaden - Evercore - Analyst : Hey thanks. Good morning. Just wanted to follow up on the competition and market intelligence. It sounded like that the pricing competition picked up a little bit this quarter. I'm wondering if you could just elaborate on that and maybe secondly, specifically within market intelligence. Martina, if you're thinking about maybe incremental areas of investment that are needed to reach the 7% to 9% revenue growth target. Thank you.

Question: Craig Huber - Huber Research - Analyst : Thank you. Doug, I just want to say, and I thought you've done a great job running the company here just for last 11 years. I wish all the best going forward here. You're a tough act for Martina to follow here. But Martina my question to you is, as you think about what your plans for the company here, what do you plan on potentially doing different here going forward? Of course, we don't want to screw up anything here, it's the number one thing. But what are your plans to potentially do anything different here to enhance shareholder value? Thank you.

Question: Alex Hess - JP Morgan - Analyst : Hi, this is Alex Hess on for Andrew, on industry business, can you walk through some of what gives you conviction in the price actions falling through the year? I know you guys touched on ACV number. And how we should maybe think about the relative strengths that you're calling out in that index data custom piece versus a challenging end market for financial services and versus one of your peers calling out some softness in their ETF business? So it would be helpful maybe to get your thoughts on the landscape in the Index segment.

Question: George Tong - Goldman Sachs - Analyst : Hi thanks, good morning. I wanted to dive a little bit deeper into market intelligence. Can you elaborate on what you would need to see with respect to external market conditions for our growth performance to improve and what the low watermark for MI growth should be, including when you would expect to see growth the bottom out?

Question: Alex Kramm - UBS - Analyst : Yes. Hey, good morning, everyone. Can you talk a little bit more about what you're seeing in commodity insights and your outlook here going forward. I mean, I think this year, you're punching nicely above your kind of medium-term Investor Day targets. I know the energy market backdrop is pretty good, but I think things like energy transition are still early. So, I think as you look going forward or do you think some of the cyclicality is going to get worse or another secular side? You see we're just at the beginning a lot of maybe some prolonged like upside. So maybe the cyclical versus secular? It's really the heart of the question. Thanks.

Question: Ryan Griffin - BMO Capital Markets - Analyst : Hey, Good morning. This is Ryan here on for Jeff. Just on the private market solutions, it sounds like the revenues there were up 22% in Q3, and you're seeing some strength from the buzz going on in private credit going on at the moment. I was just curious how you think your products are positioned to succeed and win share as the market itself and gets more competitive going forward? Thank you.

Question: Jeffrey Meuler - Baird - Analyst : Yes, thank you. Good morning. Just can you address the mobility revenue guidance for the second quarter in a row? You've trimmed the high end. There are multiple positive callouts for vitality and subscription growth looks good. Is it still recall activity headwinds? Or just any other callouts on mobility guidance?

Question: Jason Haas - Wells Fargo - Analyst : Hi, good morning and thanks for taking my question. Curious if you could talk about where you're seeing in terms of the pace of AI adoption among your customers, what, if anything, do you see holding them back from further adoption of some of the AI products that you are rolling out, It is a budgetary? is it in terms of data accuracy? And then I don't know if it's relevant or not, but if you could talk about your own learning system rolled out AI maybe what others can learn from that? Thank you.

Question: Owen Lau - Oppenheimer - Analyst : Good morning and thank you for taking my question. Could you please give us more color on the sustainability products? What is the outlook there and how should we think about the new product launches? Thanks.

Question: Russell Quelch - Redburn Atlantic - Analyst : Hi thanks for having me on. I want to get back to market intelligence, please specifically the desktop business folks, you mentioned some cyclical headwind to sales and pricing has been a narrative for many quarters now. I wonder, is this more a function of locker structural growth in financial service headcount sort of high competition in this area that permanently restrict growth opportunities in terms of time on pricing. I also wondered how S&P's thinks it can win market share in desktops. And if I can give you can give us a flavor perhaps of what customer sets you are targeting, what asset classes you're targeting, what geographies you're targeting, it's that would be very helpful.

Question: Surinder Thind - Jefferies - Analyst : Thank you. Following up on the creation of the Chief Client Officer role. You've talked about connecting the dots with the client level. Can you provide a bit more colour on the site, so that should at challenges that's being addressed? Is the idea to have a more integrated approach to sales here or customer service or how should we think about that?