S&P Global Inc.

SPGIdata completeness 100%19 fiscal years on file
The thesis, from the filings

S&P Global Inc. earns about 24% on invested capital, far above its ~9% cost of capital, but has diluted owners by 26% over 5 years — a real edge showing up in the numbers. The estimate methods put fair value between $110.32 and $714.14 a share.Whether it’s worth owning at today’s price is the last question — and yours to answer, below.

i. The business — what you’d actually own
FigureFY 2021FY 2022FY 2023FY 2024FY 2025
Revenue$8.3B1$11.2B1$12.5B2$14.2B2$15.3B2
Net income$3.02B3$3.25B3$2.63B4$3.85B4$4.47B4
Operating cash flow$3.6B5$2.6B5$3.71B6$5.69B6$5.65B6
Capital expenditure$35M7$89M7$143M8$124M8$195M8
Free cash flow (derived)$3.56B5$2.51B5$3.57B6$5.57B6$5.46B6
Total debt$8.23B9$21.9B10$22.9B10$22.8B11$26.2B11
Cash & equivalents$6.5B12$1.29B13$1.29B13$1.67B14$1.75B14
Diluted shares241.8M318.5M318.9M311.9M305.1M

Superscripts are receipts. Each links to the SEC filing the number came from (full list at the bottom).

ii. Your slice — ownership made literal
If you owned
shares
Net assets behind them
$1,020.22
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$146.54
Free cash flow it threw off
$178.83
Debt you’d be carrying
$857.95

10 shares is a claim on $1,020.22 of net worth that earned you $146.54 and generated $178.83 of cash last year, against $857.95 of debt.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
24% avg · 5y
FY21 89%FY22 7%FY23 6%FY24 8%FY25 9%

It earned about 24% on invested capital, year after year, against a ~9% cost of capital — the footprint of real pricing power. Competition usually drags returns like this back down; here it hasn't.

seeing a moat in the numbers →
Management signal · capital allocation
+26% shares · 5y

Share count is up 26% over 5 years — owners have been diluted. Worth asking what they got for it. Total debt has risen 218% over the same window.

reading capital allocation →

Signals, not verdicts — read from the filings above. Numbers don’t prove a moat; they show its footprint. You decide.

iv. What it’s worth — engine v0.1.0

The 3 estimate methods that apply put fair value between $110.32 and $714.14 a share. They rest on different assumptions, so where they diverge is the story; the Graham Number is a stricter floor, not a target.

DCF · Growth Exit 10Y
$714.14
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth16.0%
  • fcfBase$5.46B
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$419.58
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth16.0%
  • fcfBase$5.46B
Earnings Power Value
$110.32
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$3.25B
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$183.44
assumptions (1)
  • grahamMultiplier2250.0%

Different models answer different questions — which to trust when →

v. The price question — last, on purpose
Is today’s price fair?
See live price ↗
Type a price. The ledger answers.
Or set your own belief
FCF growth, next 5 years16.0%
Discount rate (WACC)8.93%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $419.58
The three cases
Bear0.0%$175.43
Base16.0%$419.58
Bull20.0%$502.96

Bear/base/bull growth = 0% / filed history / history + 5pp. Type a price to see the return each case implies.

Default growth 16.0%= this company’s own filed history (median-to-median FCF CAGR, clamped 0–20%). Your adjustments are recorded anonymously. They become the “what do owners actually believe” dataset.

Sources — the receipts
  1. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000064040-24-000071 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000064040-26-000013 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000064040-24-000071 (NetIncomeLoss)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000064040-26-000013 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000064040-24-000071 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000064040-26-000013 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000064040-24-000071 (PaymentsToAcquireProductiveAssets)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000064040-26-000013 (PaymentsToAcquireProductiveAssets)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000064040-23-000058 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000064040-24-000071 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0000064040-26-000013 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000064040-23-000058 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000064040-24-000071 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0000064040-26-000013 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)