Good day and welcome to the MSCI first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. This press release, along with an earnings presentation, are available on our website, msci.com, under the Investor Relations tab. You'll find a reconciliation of our non-GAAP measures to the equivalent GAAP measures in the appendix of the earnings presentation. Important information regarding our use of operating metrics such as run rate and retention rate are available in the earnings presentation.

Our key financial metrics included organic revenue growth of over 13%, adjusted EPS growth of nearly 14%, adjusted EBITDA growth of almost 19%. We remain long-term believers in the MSCI franchise, and we are committed to maximizing value creation through the disciplined deployment of our excess capital. In addition, we recently completed three very exciting and highly strategic small bolt-on acquisitions in key growth areas. Our Q1 operating metrics included total run rate growth of nearly 13%, fueled by a record asset-based fee run rate of $872 million, growing 25%.

Recurring subscription run rate growth of 9%, fueled by net new recurring subscription sales of $39.6 million, growing 52%. It was our best first quarter for net new recurring subscription sales since 2022. In fact, we posted our strongest ever Q1 on record for recurring sales in APAC at $15 million, up 46% from a year earlier. In index, for example, subscription run rate growth returned to double digits in Q1 at 10.7%.

What went well
  • Best first quarter for net new recurring subscription sales since 2022 at $39.6 million (up 52%); organic revenue grew over 13%, adjusted EPS nearly 14%, and adjusted EBITDA almost 19%
  • Record asset-based fee run rate of $872 million (up 25%), fueled by a record $103 billion of equity ETF inflows (about 35% of all flows into equity index-linked ETFs), well above the prior $67 billion record
  • Index subscription run rate growth re-accelerated to double digits at 10.7% with record Q1 recurring sales (~$33M / $25M organic up 75%) and index retention near 97%; strong custom index traction
  • Private Capital Solutions subscription run rate accelerated to nearly 16% with recurring net new sales up ~44%; three bolt-on acquisitions (Vantager, Compass, PM Insights) closed in key growth areas
  • Standout hedge fund and APAC momentum: hedge funds 17% subscription run rate growth and ~$12M record Q1 net new; APAC record Q1 recurring sales of $15 million (up 46%); analytics net new sales $8.2M up ~55%
What went wrong
  • March market volatility and the Iran/Gulf conflict caused a slowdown in dialogue, demos and presentations in the Arabian Gulf region (though management said no pullback elsewhere)
  • Sustainability and climate new recurring sales grew only modestly and were offset by higher cancels as clients rightsize sustainability spend; management expects muted growth and continued pressure near term
  • Real assets still faces headwinds in property transaction solutions despite improving cancels
  • Analytics Q1 revenue growth (>10%) was flattered by a large one-time implementation in non-recurring revenue; management guided Q2 analytics revenue growth down to roughly 5%
  • Trending toward the top half of the full-year expense guidance range; Q1 effective tax rate rose on lower stock-comp windfall benefits and Q2 is seasonally the highest cash-tax quarter; ABF basis points dipped on lower BlackRock floors

More on MSCI Inc.

Reported 2026-04-21 · figures from the MSCI Inc. Q1 2026 earnings call.

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