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MSCI (MSCI) Beneish M-Score : -2.66 (As of Oct. 31, 2024)


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What is MSCI Beneish M-Score?

The zones of discrimination for M-Score is as such:

An M-Score of equal or less than -1.78 suggests that the company is unlikely to be a manipulator.
An M-Score of greater than -1.78 signals that the company is likely to be a manipulator.

Good Sign:

Beneish M-Score -2.66 no higher than -1.78, which implies that the company is unlikely to be a manipulator.

The historical rank and industry rank for MSCI's Beneish M-Score or its related term are showing as below:

MSCI' s Beneish M-Score Range Over the Past 10 Years
Min: -2.83   Med: -2.61   Max: -2.03
Current: -2.66

During the past 13 years, the highest Beneish M-Score of MSCI was -2.03. The lowest was -2.83. And the median was -2.61.


MSCI Beneish M-Score Historical Data

The historical data trend for MSCI's Beneish M-Score can be seen below:

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.

* Premium members only.

MSCI Beneish M-Score Chart

MSCI Annual Data
Trend Dec14 Dec15 Dec16 Dec17 Dec18 Dec19 Dec20 Dec21 Dec22 Dec23
Beneish M-Score
Get a 7-Day Free Trial Premium Member Only Premium Member Only -2.57 -2.56 -2.35 -2.71 -2.36

MSCI Quarterly Data
Dec19 Mar20 Jun20 Sep20 Dec20 Mar21 Jun21 Sep21 Dec21 Mar22 Jun22 Sep22 Dec22 Mar23 Jun23 Sep23 Dec23 Mar24 Jun24 Sep24
Beneish M-Score Get a 7-Day Free Trial Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only -2.54 -2.36 -2.46 -2.28 -2.66

Competitive Comparison of MSCI's Beneish M-Score

For the Financial Data & Stock Exchanges subindustry, MSCI's Beneish M-Score, along with its competitors' market caps and Beneish M-Score data, can be viewed below:

* Competitive companies are chosen from companies within the same industry, with headquarter located in same country, with closest market capitalization; x-axis shows the market cap, and y-axis shows the term value; the bigger the dot, the larger the market cap. Note that "N/A" values will not show up in the chart.


MSCI's Beneish M-Score Distribution in the Capital Markets Industry

For the Capital Markets industry and Financial Services sector, MSCI's Beneish M-Score distribution charts can be found below:

* The bar in red indicates where MSCI's Beneish M-Score falls into.



MSCI Beneish M-Score Calculation

The M-score was created by Professor Messod Beneish. Instead of measuring the bankruptcy risk (Altman Z-Score) or business trend (Piotroski F-Score), M-score can be used to detect the risk of earnings manipulation. This is the original research paper on M-score.

The M-Score Variables:

The M-score of MSCI for today is based on a combination of the following eight different indices:

M=-4.84+0.92 * DSRI+0.528 * GMI+0.404 * AQI+0.892 * SGI+0.115 * DEPI
=-4.84+0.92 * 0.9196+0.528 * 1.0046+0.404 * 1.1615+0.892 * 1.1605+0.115 * 0.8719
-0.172 * SGAI+4.679 * TATA-0.327 * LVGI
-0.172 * 0.9592+4.679 * -0.071318-0.327 * 0.9242
=-2.66

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.

This Year (Sep24) TTM:Last Year (Sep23) TTM:
Total Receivables was $644 Mil.
Revenue was 724.705 + 707.949 + 679.965 + 690.106 = $2,803 Mil.
Gross Profit was 598.513 + 579.84 + 551.451 + 567.549 = $2,297 Mil.
Total Current Assets was $1,286 Mil.
Total Assets was $5,409 Mil.
Property, Plant and Equipment(Net PPE) was $184 Mil.
Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization(DDA) was $202 Mil.
Selling, General, & Admin. Expense(SGA) was $468 Mil.
Total Current Liabilities was $1,378 Mil.
Long-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation was $4,609 Mil.
Net Income was 280.901 + 266.758 + 255.954 + 403.38 = $1,207 Mil.
Non Operating Income was -2.927 + -2.091 + -2.863 + 140.684 = $133 Mil.
Cash Flow from Operations was 421.609 + 349.248 + 300.137 + 388.953 = $1,460 Mil.
Total Receivables was $603 Mil.
Revenue was 625.439 + 621.157 + 592.218 + 576.208 = $2,415 Mil.
Gross Profit was 520.128 + 511.091 + 483.571 + 473.824 = $1,989 Mil.
Total Current Assets was $1,639 Mil.
Total Assets was $4,865 Mil.
Property, Plant and Equipment(Net PPE) was $176 Mil.
Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization(DDA) was $147 Mil.
Selling, General, & Admin. Expense(SGA) was $420 Mil.
Total Current Liabilities was $1,205 Mil.
Long-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation was $4,622 Mil.




1. DSRI = Days Sales in Receivables Index

Measured as the ratio of Revenue in Total Receivables in year t to year t-1.

A large increase in DSR could be indicative of revenue inflation.

DSRI=(Receivables_t / Revenue_t) / (Receivables_t-1 / Revenue_t-1)
=(643.807 / 2802.725) / (603.266 / 2415.022)
=0.229708 / 0.249797
=0.9196

2. GMI = Gross Margin Index

Measured as the ratio of gross margin in year t-1 to gross margin in year t.

Gross margin has deteriorated when this index is above 1. A firm with poorer prospects is more likely to manipulate earnings.

GMI=GrossMargin_t-1 / GrossMargin_t
=(GrossProfit_t-1 / Revenue_t-1) / (GrossProfit_t / Revenue_t)
=(1988.614 / 2415.022) / (2297.353 / 2802.725)
=0.823435 / 0.819685
=1.0046

3. AQI = Asset Quality Index

AQI is the ratio of asset quality in year t to year t-1.

Asset quality is measured as the ratio of non-current assets other than Property, Plant and Equipment to Total Assets.

AQI=(1 - (CurrentAssets_t + PPE_t) / TotalAssets_t) / (1 - (CurrentAssets_t-1 + PPE_t-1) / TotalAssets_t-1)
=(1 - (1285.796 + 184.043) / 5408.949) / (1 - (1639.329 + 175.569) / 4865.494)
=0.728258 / 0.626986
=1.1615

4. SGI = Sales Growth Index

Ratio of Revenue in year t to sales in year t-1.

Sales growth is not itself a measure of manipulation. However, growth companies are likely to find themselves under pressure to manipulate in order to keep up appearances.

SGI=Sales_t / Sales_t-1
=Revenue_t / Revenue_t-1
=2802.725 / 2415.022
=1.1605

5. DEPI = Depreciation Index

Measured as the ratio of the rate of Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization in year t-1 to the corresponding rate in year t.

DEPI greater than 1 indicates that assets are being depreciated at a slower rate. This suggests that the firm might be revising useful asset life assumptions upwards, or adopting a new method that is income friendly.

DEPI=(Depreciation_t-1 / (Depreciaton_t-1 + PPE_t-1)) / (Depreciation_t / (Depreciaton_t + PPE_t))
=(147.179 / (147.179 + 175.569)) / (201.818 / (201.818 + 184.043))
=0.456018 / 0.523033
=0.8719

Note: If the Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization data is not available, we assume that the depreciation rate is constant and set the Depreciation Index to 1.

6. SGAI = Sales, General and Administrative expenses Index

The ratio of Selling, General, & Admin. Expense(SGA) to Sales in year t relative to year t-1.

SGA expenses index > 1 means that the company is becoming less efficient in generate sales.

SGAI=(SGA_t / Sales_t) / (SGA_t-1 /Sales_t-1)
=(467.943 / 2802.725) / (420.347 / 2415.022)
=0.16696 / 0.174055
=0.9592

7. LVGI = Leverage Index

The ratio of total debt to Total Assets in year t relative to yeat t-1.

An LVGI > 1 indicates an increase in leverage

LVGI=((LTD_t + CurrentLiabilities_t) / TotalAssets_t) / ((LTD_t-1 + CurrentLiabilities_t-1) / TotalAssets_t-1)
=((4608.712 + 1377.915) / 5408.949) / ((4622.004 + 1204.643) / 4865.494)
=1.1068 / 1.197545
=0.9242

8. TATA = Total Accruals to Total Assets

Total accruals calculated as the change in working capital accounts other than cash less depreciation.

TATA=(IncomefromContinuingOperations_t - CashFlowsfromOperations_t) / TotalAssets_t
=(NetIncome_t - NonOperatingIncome_t - CashFlowsfromOperations_t) / TotalAssets_t
=(1206.993 - 132.803 - 1459.947) / 5408.949
=-0.071318

An M-Score of equal or less than -1.78 suggests that the company is unlikely to be a manipulator. An M-Score of greater than -1.78 signals that the company is likely to be a manipulator.

MSCI has a M-score of -2.66 suggests that the company is unlikely to be a manipulator.


MSCI Business Description

Address
250 Greenwich Street, 49th Floor, 7 World Trade Center, New York, NY, USA, 10007
MSCI has described its mission as enabling investors to build better portfolios for a better world. MSCI's largest and most profitable segment is its index segment, where it provides benchmarking to asset managers and asset owners. In addition, it boasts over $1.4 trillion in ETF assets linked to MSCI indexes. The MSCI analytics segment provides portfolio management and risk management analytics software to asset managers and asset owners. MSCI's all other segment was broken out into ESG and climate and private assets segments in 2021. In ESG and climate, MSCI provides ESG data to the investment industry. In private assets, MSCI provides real restate reporting, market data, benchmarking, and analytics to investors and real estate managers.
Executives
Robert J. Gutowski officer: General Counsel C/O MSCI INC., 7 WORLD TRADE CENTER, 49TH FLOOR, NEW YORK NY 10007
Scott A Crum officer: Chief Human Resources Officer C/O MSCI INC., 7 WORLD TRADE CENTER, 250 GREENWICH STREET, 49TH FL., NEW YORK NY 10007
Henry A Fernandez director, officer: Chairman, CEO and President MSCI INC., 88 PINE STREET, NEW YORK NY 10005
Cd Baer Pettit officer: Head of Client Coverage MSCI INC., 88 PINE STREET, NEW YORK NY 10005
Catherine R Kinney director C/O QTS REALTY TRUST INC., 12851 FOSTER STREET, OVERLAND PARK KS 66213
Andrew C. Wiechmann officer: Interim CFO and Treasurer 7 WORLD TRADE CENTER, 250 GREENWICH STREET, 49TH FLOOR, NEW YORK NY 10007
Robin Matlock director C/O IRON MOUNTAIN INCORPORATED, ONE FEDERAL STREET, BOSTON MA 02110
Jennifer H Mak officer: Principal Accounting Officer 115 TABOR ROAD, MORRIS PLAINS NJ 07950
Rajat Taneja director C/O ELECTRONIC ARTS INC., 209 REDWOOD SHORES PARKWAY, LEGAL DEPT., REDWOOD CITY CA 94065
Paula Volent director MSCI INC., 7 WORLD TRADE CENTER, 49TH FLOOR, NEW YORK NY 10007
Sandy C. Rattray director MSCI INC., 7 WORLD TRADE CENTER, 49TH FLOOR, NEW YORK NY 10007
Laurent Seyer officer: Global Head of Client Cvrg 7 WORLD TRADE CENTER, 250 GREENWICH STREET, 49TH FLOOR, NEW YORK NY 10007
Benjamin F Dupont director C/O MSCI INC., 88 PINE STREET, NEW YORK NY 10005
Linda Huber officer: CFO and Treasurer FACTSET RESEARCH SYSTEMS INC., 45 GLOVER AVENUE, NORWALK CT 06850
Jigar Thakkar officer: Chief Technology Officer C/O MSCI INC., 7 WORLD TRADE CENTER, 49TH FLOOR, NEW YORK NY 10007