TIVP043: MSCI (MSCI): The Financial Giant Enabling Passive Investing w/ Shawn O’Malley & Daniel Mahncke
The Intrinsic Value Podcast - The Investor’s Podcast Network
Capital Allocation Discipline and Buyback Timing
Shawn outlines payout targets, buyback behavior relative to valuation, and modest leverage levels.
Shawn O’Malley and Daniel Mahncke break down MSCI Inc. (MSCI), the global leader in financial market indexes that power the passive investing revolution. They explore how MSCI built its dominant, utility-like business model, its compounding potential, and whether the stock remains attractively priced.
IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN:
00:00:00 Intro
00:03:08 How indexes produced by MSCI help to organize, simplify, and provide context for different aspects of financial markets
00:06:01 What makes MSCI one of the highest quality businesses we’ve ever looked at
00:12:05 Why MSCI has become the industry standard for indexes outside of the U.S.
00:14:27 Whether passive investing will be a boon going forward for MSCI, or if declining management fees in mutual funds will devastate the business
00:30:13 About MSCI’s relationship with major asset managers like Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street
00:54:01 Whether direct indexing will disrupt MSCI’s golden goose
01:02:59 How to think about modeling MSCI’s intrinsic value
01:06:59 Whether Shawn and Daniel add MSCI to their Intrinsic Value Portfolio
*Disclaimer: Slight timestamp discrepancies may occur due to podcast platform differences.
BOOKS AND RESOURCES
- The Investors Podcast Network is excited to debut a new community known as The Intrinsic Value Community for investors to learn, share ideas, network, and join calls with experts: Sign up for the waitlist(!)
- Get smarter about valuing businesses in just a few minutes each week through our newsletter, The Intrinsic Value Newsletter.
- Shawn & Daniel use Fiscal.ai for every company they research — use their referral link to get started with a 15% discount!
- Podcast interview with MSCI’s CEO.
- MSCI Investor Relations’ page.
- Pitch for MSCI on the Value Investors Club forum.
- BuyBack Capital’s research on MSCI.
- Check out The Outsiders, by William Thorndike.
- Explore our previous Intrinsic Value breakdowns: Paypal, Uber, Nike, Reddit, Amazon, Airbnb, TSMC, Alphabet, Ulta, LVMH, and Madison Square Garden Sports.
- Related books mentioned in the podcast.
- Ad-free episodes on our Premium Feed.
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