Sifting through countless of stocks in the Capital Markets industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in FactSet Research Systems Inc. or MSCI Inc. because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how FactSet Research Systems Inc. and MSCI Inc. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About FactSet Research Systems Inc. and MSCI Inc.

FactSet Research Systems Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a financial digital platform and enterprise solutions provider for the investment community. It offers data, products, and analytical applications; and workstations, portfolio analytics, and enterprise data solutions, as well as managed services for supporting data, performance, risk, and reporting workflows. The company also provides subscription-based financial data and market intelligence on securities, companies, industries, and people that enable clients to research investment ideas, as well as analyze, monitor, and manage portfolios; and solutions covering investment lifecycle of investment research, portfolio construction and analysis, trade execution, performance measurement, risk management, and reporting. In addition, it offers services through configurable desktop and mobile platform, data feeds, cloud-based digital solutions, and application programming interfaces. It operates in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company serves investment professionals, including institutional asset managers, bankers, wealth managers, asset owners, partners, hedge funds, corporate users, and private equity and venture capital professionals. It has a strategic partnership with Google Cloud to create a new generation of AI-powered solutions for the financial industry. FactSet Research Systems Inc. was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut.

MSCI Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides research-based data, analytics, and indexes, supported by advanced technology worldwide. The Index segment provides indexes for use in various areas of the investment process, including indexed financial products, such as ETFs, mutual funds, annuities, futures, options, structured products, and over-the-counter derivatives; performance benchmarking; portfolio construction and rebalancing; and asset allocation, as well as licenses GICS and GICS Direct. The Analytics segment offers risk management, performance attribution and portfolio management content, application, an integrated view of risk and return service, and an analysis of market, credit, liquidity, counterparty, and climate risk across asset classes; managed services, including consolidation of client portfolio data, review and reconciliation of input data and results, and customized reporting; and HedgePlatform to measure, evaluate, and monitor the risk of hedge fund investments. The Sustainability and Climate segment provides products and services that help institutional investors understand how ESG impacts the long-term risk and return of their portfolio and individual security-level investments; and data, ratings, research, and tools to assist investors navigate increasing regulation. The All Other – Private Assets segment comprises private credit, real estate and infrastructure data, benchmarks, return-analytics, climate assessments and market insights; business intelligence to real estate owners, managers, developers, and brokers; and offers investment decision support tools for private capital. The Private Capital Solutions segment offers tools to help private asset investors across mission-critical workflows, such as sourcing terms and conditions, evaluating operating performance, managing risk and other activities supporting private capital investment. MSCI Inc. was incorporated in 1998 and is based in New York, New York.

Latest Capital Markets and FactSet Research Systems Inc., MSCI Inc. Stock News

As of September 9, 2026, FactSet Research Systems Inc. had a $9.9 billion market capitalization, compared to the Capital Markets median of $3.3 million. FactSet Research Systems Inc.’s stock is NA in 2026, NA in the previous five trading days and down 25.62% in the past year.

Currently, FactSet Research Systems Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 18.4. FactSet Research Systems Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $2.4 billion with a 23.2% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 6.4%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $17.829 per share for the current fiscal year. FactSet Research Systems Inc. currently has a 1.7% dividend yield.

Currently, MSCI Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 30.4. MSCI Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $3.3 billion with a 40.7% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 12.2%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $19.741 per share for the current fiscal year. MSCI Inc. currently has a 1.5% dividend yield.

How We Compare FactSet Research Systems Inc. and MSCI Inc. Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at FactSet Research Systems Inc. and MSCI Inc.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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FactSet Research Systems Inc. and MSCI Inc. Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
FactSet Research Systems Inc.	FDS	D
MSCI Inc.	MSCI	D

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection.

Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives from a stock’s value score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.

FactSet Research Systems Inc. has a Value Score of 38, which is Expensive. MSCI Inc. has a Value Score of 22, which is Expensive.

The Value Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither FactSet Research Systems Inc. or MSCI Inc. has a high enough value grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolio. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if FactSet Research Systems Inc. or MSCI Inc. is the better investment when it comes to value.

FactSet Research Systems Inc. and MSCI Inc. Growth Grades

Company	Ticker	Growth
FactSet Research Systems Inc.	FDS	A
MSCI Inc.	MSCI	A

The foundation of growth investing is seeking out stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth that is expected to continue into the future.

In order to compute the growth score and assign it a letter grade, the percentile ranks for each of three components‐consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations‐must be determined. These three rank figures are added together, and the sum is ranked against the entire stock universe to arrive at a company’s Growth Score to create an equal distribution of grades.

The companies in the bottom 20% of the stock universe receive Growth Grades of F, considered to be very weak, while those in the top 20% receive A grades, which are considered very strong.

FactSet Research Systems Inc. has a Growth Score of 100, which is Very Strong. MSCI Inc. has a Growth Score of 89, which is Very Strong.

The Growth Grade Winner: It’s a Tie!

Looking at the Growth Grade breakdown above, both FactSet Research Systems Inc. and MSCI Inc. have a grade of A. For investors who focus solely on a company’s upward growth, further research should be conducted into both companies’ other financial metrics before deciding whether to invest.

FactSet Research Systems Inc. and MSCI Inc.’s Momentum Grades

Company	Ticker	Momentum
FactSet Research Systems Inc.	FDS	D
MSCI Inc.	MSCI	D

Momentum grades help to uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming. Momentum is based on the price change of a stock over a specified period relative to all other stocks.

Typically, AAII looks at the weighted relative strength over the trailing four quarters. The weighted four-quarter relative strength rank is the relative price change for each of the past four quarters. The most recent quarterly price change is given a weight of 40% and each of the three previous quarters are given a weighting of 20%.

FactSet Research Systems Inc. has a Momentum Score of 35, which is Weak. MSCI Inc. has a Momentum Score of 34, which is Weak.

The Momentum Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither FactSet Research Systems Inc. or MSCI Inc. has a strong enough Momentum Grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolios. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if FactSet Research Systems Inc. or MSCI Inc. is the better investment when it comes to momentum.

Other FactSet Research Systems Inc. and MSCI Inc. Grades

In addition to Value, Momentum and Growth, A+ Investor also provides grades for Estimate Revisions and Quality.

Earnings estimate revisions scores take into account the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, surprises beget further surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the ranking of key metrics. Specifically, the quality grade is the percentile rank of the composite of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and F-Score.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether FactSet Research Systems Inc. and MSCI Inc. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, FactSet Research Systems Inc. or MSCI Inc. Stock?

Overall, FactSet Research Systems Inc. stock has a Value Score of 38, Growth Score of 100 and Momentum Score of 35.

MSCI Inc. stock has a Value Score of 22, Growth Score of 89 and Momentum Score of 34.

Comparing FactSet Research Systems Inc. and MSCI Inc.’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.