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Here's Why You Should Hold on to S&P Global (SPGI) Stock Now

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S&P Global Inc. (SPGI - Free Report) has an impressive Growth Score of B. This style score condenses all the essential metrics from a company’s financial statements to get a true sense of quality and sustainability of its growth.

The company has an expected long-term (three to five years) earnings per share growth rate of 12%. The stock has gained 13.5% over the past year against 11.4% growth of the industry it belongs to.

Factors That Auger Well

S&P Global’s growth strategy targets improving its foundational capabilities and core businesses with a view to enhance and differentiate customer experience. The company is banking on its diverse workforce that helps it attain and apply technology and innovation, and also constantly improve the quality of service to its customers. S&P Global continues to focus on disciplined acquisitions, investments and partnerships, and is trying to improve product delivery across multiple channels to fend off growing competition and mitigate the impacts of the pandemic on its business.

S&P Global has a strong balance sheet. The company’s cash and cash equivalent of $6.5 billion at the end of the fourth quarter was well above the debt level of $4.1 billion, implying that the company has enough cash to meet this debt burden. Moreover, the company has no short-term debt.

Commitment to shareholder returns makes the S&P Global stock a reliable investment to compound wealth over the long term. In 2021, 2020 and 2019, S&P Global paid $743 million, $645 million and $560 million in dividend, respectively. The company repurchased shares worth $1.2 billion both in 2020 and 2019. It did not repurchase any share during 2021 due to the pending merger with IHS Markit

Some Risks

S&P Global is seeing an increase in expenses due to investments in productivity programs, higher compensation costs and completion of acquisitions. During 2021, total expenses of $4.1 billion increased 7% year over year. Hence, the bottom line is likely to remain under pressure going forward.

Zacks Rank and Stocks to Consider

S&P Global currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Some other stocks in the broader Business Services sector that investors may consider are Cross Country Healthcare (CCRN - Free Report) , Accenture (ACN - Free Report) and Clean Harbors (CLH - Free Report) .

Cross Country Healthcare sports a Zacks Rank #1. The company has a long-term earnings growth of 6.6%.

Cross Country Healthcare delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 41.5%, on average. CCRN’s shares have surged 63.7% in the past year.

Accenture carries a Zacks Rank #2. The company has an expected earnings growth rate of 19.8% for the current year. It delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 5.3%, on average.

Accenture’s shares have surged 20.7% in the past year. The company has a long-term earnings growth of 10%.

Clean Harbors carries a Zacks Rank #1. The company pulled off a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 43.2%, on average.

CLH’s shares have jumped 13.5% in the past year.

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