S&P Global: AI-Fueled Portfolio Intelligence Meets a Major Corporate Reset

iLEVEL Document Search, Maestro and a strategic reset: a $14.21B business at an inflection#

S&P Global’s most consequential development this summer was the commercial rollout of iLEVEL Document Search and the concurrent partnership with Maestro — announced in early and mid‑August 2025 — at a moment when the company is actively separating its Mobility division and leaning into AI-driven productization. The launch is significant because it targets a high-value, document‑heavy workflow in private markets at scale, and it arrives while S&P Global reported FY2024 revenue of $14.21B, net income of $3.85B and free cash flow of $5.57B, a cash conversion profile that gives management optionality to invest behind AI or return capital to shareholders (S&P Global iLEVEL press release, S&P Global and Maestro press release.

The timing matters. A spin-off of Mobility announced in April 2025 is intended to sharpen the focus of the remaining information services businesses — Ratings, Market Intelligence and Indices — that together produced the high margins and cash flow underpinning FY2024 results (S&P Global Investor Release — Mobility Spin-Off. The twin signals — product commercialization of AI into private-markets workflows and a corporate reweighting via spin-off — define the strategic narrative investors must parse: grow higher‑margin analytics through product innovation while crystallizing value by simplifying the corporate portfolio.

Earnings and cash-flow quality: growth with expanding cash conversion#

S&P Global’s income statement through FY2024 shows expansion across top and bottom lines. Revenue rose to $14.21B in 2024 from $12.50B in 2023, an increase of +13.68% by our calculation using the reported figures. Operating income increased to $5.58B, producing an operating margin of ~39.27% (5.58 / 14.21), and reported net income reached $3.85B, a rise of +46.31% versus 2023’s $2.63B. Free cash flow increased materially to $5.57B in 2024 from $3.57B in 2023, a +56.02% lift, evidence that the underlying earnings gains convert to cash rather than being driven solely by accounting items (figures compiled from FY2021–2024 statements provided by company filings and summary reports) (Morningstar — SP Global Company Report.

The quality of those gains is reinforced by operating cash flow of $5.69B in 2024, slightly above net income, and depreciation & amortization of $1.17B, which signals continued non‑cash amortization related to the company’s material intangible asset base. The cash conversion story is particularly durable: free cash flow margin in 2024 was approximately 39.18% (5.57 / 14.21), a notable improvement from 28.56% in 2023, which suggests both scale effects and working‑capital timing benefitted cash generation.

Balance sheet and leverage: acquisition-made intangibles and manageable net debt#

S&P Global’s balance sheet is characterized by a very large goodwill and intangible asset base and a modest net leverage profile. At year‑end 2024 the company reported goodwill & intangible assets of $51.47B against total assets of $60.22B, meaning intangibles represent roughly 85.50% of total assets — a legacy of prior M&A and the aggregation of proprietary datasets. Total debt stood at $11.93B with cash of $1.67B, yielding net debt of $10.27B. Using FY2024 EBITDA of $6.78B, net debt/EBITDA at year‑end computes to ~1.51x (10.27 / 6.78), a conservative leverage level that supports ongoing buybacks or tuck‑in M&A while leaving headroom for strategic investments.

That said, the intangible concentration elevates sensitivity to impairment risk and to events that change expected future cash‑flow trajectories. The company’s amortization and intangible accounting are material to reported earnings, and while 2024 cash flow was strong, investors should monitor for any downward revisions that would necessitate non‑cash charges.

Two data tables: operating and balance-sheet trends (2021–2024)#

(Table source: company financial statements, FY2021–FY2024 filings.)

(Table source: company balance sheets and cash-flow statements.)

Strategic transformation: AI productization and the Mobility spin-off#

S&P Global’s strategic agenda is twofold: productize proprietary data via AI to increase stickiness and monetization, and simplify the corporate portfolio by separating Mobility. The launch of iLEVEL Document Search and the Maestro partnership are practical expressions of the first objective, enabling natural‑language querying and automated extraction from private‑asset documents — workflows that historically required expensive manual abstraction. Those features, as described in S&P Global’s press materials, seek to convert costly client processes into recurring SaaS‑like value streams (iLEVEL Document Search press release, Maestro partnership release.

In parallel, the Mobility spin‑off announced April 2025 is intended to allow the information franchises to be judged on their own merits. The separation narrows SPGI’s public comparables to Moody’s, ICE and Nasdaq for the core analytics franchise and creates a distinct public vehicle for Mobility’s growth trajectory. The theoretical benefit is multiple expansion for a purer, higher‑margin analytics company, but realizing that benefit depends on clean execution, effective transition service agreements, and a receptive IPO/market window (S&P Global Investor Release — Mobility Spin-Off.

Competitive dynamics and the AI flywheel: moat extension, not replacement#

S&P Global competes with entrenched data providers — Bloomberg, Refinitiv (LSEG), FactSet — and niche private‑markets specialists such as PitchBook and Preqin. Its advantages remain the ratings franchise, indices, and proprietary datasets that underpin Market Intelligence. The strategic play is to turn those datasets into differentiated, AI‑enabled workflows (document search, automated extraction, operational attribution) that increase switching costs and raise the monetizable dollar per client.

The Maestro integration is instructive: by embedding value‑creation tracking into portfolio monitoring, S&P Global is seeking a tighter lock‑in where operational metrics feed analytics and reporting. If adoption scales, the company can create a self‑reinforcing flywheel — more ingestion yields better models, which raises perceived value, which brings more clients and data. That outcome is plausible, but it is not automatic; client adoption, data quality across heterogeneous private‑asset documents, and commercial pricing will determine whether feature wins translate into durable revenue growth.

Valuation framework and multiples: premium priced, but also cash‑rich#

Using the market snapshot in the provided data (share price $556.95, market cap $170.04B) and FY2024 numbers, we calculate an enterprise value of roughly $180.30B (market cap + total debt $11.93B - cash $1.67B). Dividing EV by FY2024 EBITDA ($6.78B) yields an EV/EBITDA of ~26.6x on our calculation. Trailing P/E using reported EPS of $13.01 produces a PE of ~42.81x (556.95 / 13.01), consistent with a premium multiple reflecting quality, cash conversion, and growth optionality in indices and Market Intelligence (market data and calculations based on company financials and market snapshot in the dataset). These headline multiples are meaningfully above typical information‑services peers on a trailing basis and sit in the range the sell-side is using for forward P/E assumptions (ValueInvesting.io - SPGI Valuation Multiples.

Forward multiples embedded in consensus forecasts (forward P/E near the low 30s for 2025 in the data) assume EPS progression tied to both organic growth and margin expansion from scaling AI products. The sensitivity is clear: a few points of EPS beat or miss materially swing implied valuation leverage because the base multiple is elevated.

Execution risks and what to watch next#

Three execution risks merit close monitoring. First, adoption risk: converting product capability into revenue requires broad client adoption and successful upsell. Second, separation risk: the Mobility spin‑off must be executed in a way that avoids costly service disruptions and captures perceived value for core assets. Third, intangible concentration: with ~85% of assets represented by goodwill and intangibles, the company is exposed to impairment risk if growth expectations cool.

Near-term catalysts and checkpoints include detailed spin‑off disclosures and the Investor Day scheduled for November 13, 2025 (management has flagged this as the next major milestone), quarterly adoption metrics for iLEVEL Document Search and Maestro integrations, and ratings issuance trends that influence the Ratings franchise. On the financial side, watch quarterly operating cash flow, free cash flow conversion, and the cadence of buybacks relative to capital deployed for product development.

What this means for investors#

S&P Global sits at the intersection of structural advantages and execution sensitivity. The company generates significant free cash flow — $5.57B in FY2024 — and carries manageable net leverage, giving it the capacity to invest in AI productization or return cash. The iLEVEL Document Search and Maestro integration represent credible steps toward monetizing private‑markets workflows and creating a higher‑value analytics layer, but the payoff requires scale, tight data provenance, and successful commercial packaging.

Investors should therefore track three measurable progress indicators: (1) adoption and monetization metrics for iLEVEL Document Search and Maestro (client wins, ARR uplift, upsell), (2) Mobility separation disclosures and transaction costs, and (3) quarterly cash conversion and any significant impairment signals tied to intangibles. These data points will determine whether S&P Global’s premium multiple is justified by accelerating organic growth and margin expansion, or whether the market’s expectations need recalibration.

Key takeaways#

S&P Global is executing a deliberate strategy to convert its data moat into AI‑enabled, higher‑value workflows targeted at private markets while simplifying the corporate structure via the Mobility spin‑off. The company reported strong FY2024 cash generation and profitable growth that provide optionality for investment, buybacks or M&A, but its balance sheet is heavily weighted to intangibles and the valuation is premium. The next 12 months — product adoption metrics, spin‑off execution, and the November 13, 2025 Investor Day — will reveal whether the company can translate capability into sustained top‑line acceleration and multiple expansion.

Sources and further reading#

Specific product and partnership announcements cited in this piece come from S&P Global press releases on iLEVEL Document Search (Aug 6–7, 2025) and the Maestro partnership (Aug 19, 2025). The Mobility spin‑off announcement is sourced from S&P Global’s investor release (Apr 2025). Financial statements and historical income, balance sheet and cash‑flow figures are drawn from company filings and summarized in third‑party reports such as Morningstar and valuation compendia (Morningstar — SP Global Company Report, ValueInvesting.io - SPGI Valuation Multiples, S&P Global iLEVEL press release, S&P Global and Maestro press release, S&P Global Investor Release — Mobility Spin-Off.

(Analysis completed using the company financials and corporate announcements provided.)