S&P Global SPGI reported impressive second-quarter 2026 results. The company's adjusted earnings were $4.83 per share, rising 23% year over year and beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4.49 by 7.6%. Pro-forma revenues of $3.68 billion increased 11% and surpassed the consensus mark of $3.64 billion by 0.8%.
SPGI stock has moved up 3.7% in the past three months compared with the industry’s 9% return and the Zacks S&P 500 Composite's 1.9% uptick.
3-Month Share Price Performance
How Is S&P Global Faring?
SPGI’s recurring revenues gained 8% year over year during the second quarter of 2026, while benchmark product revenues moved up 15%. This recurring revenue base supports durable growth across its primary businesses.
The company is expanding its distribution on the back of rapid AI adoption, with customers exceeding 500 using LLM-ready APIs and MCP-connected solutions, up more than 70% sequentially and API call volume outpacing five times the first-quarter level.
S&P Global’s profitability is backed by its productivity initiatives. During the second quarter of 2026, adjusted operating profit gained 15% year over year with margins expanding 200 basis points (bps).
The Enterprise Data Organization has achieved approximately 60% of its $100-million annualized savings via AI and other efficiency tactics. Banking on this positive, the company anticipates the adjusted operating margin to log a gain of 35-60 bps, or 75-100 bps excluding OSTTRA.
During the first half of 2026, the company repurchased $1.5 billion in shares, of which $500 million in shares were repurchased during the second quarter of 2026. Management raised its 2026 repurchase target by $3 billion to more than $7 billion, while the quarterly dividend remains 97 cents per share. Such shareholder-friendly actions boost investor morale, resulting in an enhanced bottom-line position.
Amid these positives, rapid technology investment, buyouts and growth initiatives raise expenses. During the second quarter of 2026, expenses rose 5.7% year over year, with adjusted expenses rising 6% against 11% pro-forma revenue growth. Continued investments could further strip margins if top-line growth slows.
Market Intelligence is undergoing a broad reset with new leadership, a revised structure and plans to consolidate redundant platforms. In the second quarter of 2026, Platforms, the larger part of Kensho Data & Platforms, grew in the low-single digits organically versus high-single-digit to low-double-digit growth in Kensho Data.
Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider
SPGI currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks from the broader Zacks Finance sector are Bread Financial BFH and Interactive Brokers IBKR. These two companies presently flaunt a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Bread Financial has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 13.1%. BFH delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 147.1%, on average.
Interactive Brokers has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 20.2%. IBKR delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 10.9%, on average.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).