Free cash flow
Moody's Free cash flow increased by 8.6% to $844.00M in Q1 2026 compared to the prior quarter. Year-over-year, this metric grew by 25.6%, from $672.00M to $844.00M. Over 4 years (FY 2021 to FY 2025), Free cash flow shows an upward trend with a 8.4% CAGR. This is a positive signal — higher values indicate stronger performance for this metric.
Analysis
How to read this metric
An increase suggests strong operational efficiency and the ability to self-fund future innovation or return capital to shareholders, while a decrease may indicate heavy capital expenditure cycles or declining operational profitability.
Detailed definition
Free cash flow represents the cash generated by a company after accounting for cash outflows to support operations and m...
Peer comparison
High-growth semiconductor and AI infrastructure peers typically prioritize reinvestment, so free cash flow margins are often compared against R&D intensity and capital expenditure requirements of industry rivals.
cf_free_cash_flowHistorical Data
| Q2 '21 | Q3 '21 | Q4 '21 | Q1 '22 | Q2 '22 | Q3 '22 | Q4 '22 | Q1 '23 | Q2 '23 | Q3 '23 | Q4 '23 | Q1 '24 | Q2 '24 | Q3 '24 | Q4 '24 | Q1 '25 | Q2 '25 | Q3 '25 | Q4 '25 | Q1 '26 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | $564.00M | $403.00M | $237.00M | $411.00M | $217.00M | $265.00M | $298.00M | $535.00M | $550.00M | $391.00M | $404.00M | $697.00M | $593.00M | $631.00M | $600.00M | $672.00M | $468.00M | $658.00M | $777.00M | $844.00M |
| QoQ Change | — | -28.5% | -41.2% | +73.4% | -47.2% | +22.1% | +12.5% | +79.5% | +2.8% | -28.9% | +3.3% | +72.5% | -14.9% | +6.4% | -4.9% | +12.0% | -30.4% | +40.6% | +18.1% | +8.6% |
| YoY Change | — | — | — | — | -61.5% | -34.2% | +25.7% | +30.2% | +153.5% | +47.5% | +35.6% | +30.3% | +7.8% | +61.4% | +48.5% | -3.6% | -21.1% | +4.3% | +29.5% | +25.6% |
Free cash flow at Other Companies
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is Moody's's free cash flow?
- Moody's (MCO) reported free cash flow of $844.00M in Q1 2026.
- How has Moody's's free cash flow changed year-over-year?
- Moody's's free cash flow increased by 25.6% year-over-year, from $672.00M to $844.00M.
- What is the long-term trend for Moody's's free cash flow?
- Over 4 years (2021 to 2025), Moody's's free cash flow has grown at a 8.4% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), from $1.87B to $2.58B.
- What does free cash flow mean?
- The cash a company has left over after paying for its operating expenses and capital investments.