Moody's Corporation vs Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund — how do they compare? Moody's Corporation trades at $479.44 (market cap $82.52B), while Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund trades at $168.56. The key difference: Moody's Corporation pays a 0.86% dividend while Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund pays none, and Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund is trading nearer its 52-week high, Moody's Corporation nearer its low. Which is the better fit depends on your goals.
| MCO | XLV | |
|---|---|---|
Market Cap | $82.52B | — |
Sector | Financials | — |
52-Week High | $539.61 | $168.44 |
52-Week Low | $412.23 | $131.16 |
Enterprise Value | $88.54B | — |
Dividend Yield | 0.86% | — |
Signals from Pluang's Aura AI — not financial advice
Moody's Corporation (MCO) trades at $477.00, down 0.24% on the day, with strong fundamentals including 80.15% ROE and 34.25% net margin. The stock shows bearish technical signals but maintains robust earnings momentum with three consecutive quarterly beats. Revenue growth accelerated to $7.72 billion in 2025, while analyst consensus remains bullish with a $561.88 price target representing 18% upside potential.
MCO presents a compelling growth story with premium valuation metrics (P/E 30.23) justified by consistent earnings outperformance and dominant market position. Key risks include sensitivity to debt issuance cycles and elevated valuation multiples. The combination of strong profitability, analyst support, and dividend payments supports a positive long-term outlook despite near-term technical weakness.
XLV, the Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF, trades at $167.93, down 0.3% on the day, with a bullish technical signal driven by moving averages. The ETF offers broad healthcare exposure with a low expense ratio of 0.08% and a trailing dividend yield of 1.6%, positioning it as a cost-effective defensive play amid market volatility. Recent news highlights strong sector inflows and defensive demand, with earnings from key holdings like UnitedHealth showing resilience despite Medicaid pressures.
The outlook for XLV is positive, supported by its defensive characteristics and institutional interest, though risks include regulatory pressures and sector-specific volatility. Investors may find value in its diversification and steady performance, but should monitor healthcare policy developments and earnings trends for sustained growth.
Trailing returns across standard periods
Latest headlines on both assets
Moody's, along with S&P Ratings, is a leading provider of credit ratings on fixed income securities. Moody's ratings segment, known as Moody's Investors Service or MIS, includes corporates, structured finance, financial institutions, and public finance ratings. MIS represents a majority of the firm's revenue and profits. Moody's other segment is Moody's Analytics and consists of Research, Data, and Analytics or RD&A and Enterprise Risk Solutions or ERS. RD&A's products include credit research, quantitative credit scores, economic research, business intelligence, know your customer (KYC) tools, commercial real estate data and analytical tools, and training services. ERS includes risk management software solutions to financial institutions.
Read more on MCO →In seeking to track the performance of the index, the fund employs a replication strategy. It generally invests substantially all, but at least 95%, of its total assets in the securities comprising the index. The index includes companies from the following industries: pharmaceuticals; health care equipment & supplies; health care providers & services; biotechnology; life sciences tools & services; and health care technology. The fund is non-diversified.
Read more on XLV →