MCO Moodys Corp

Moody's Corp. said revenue edged up in the second quarter as bond issuance recovered, though the ratings firm said heightened market uncertainty outside of the U.S. would pressure full-year results.

The New York-based company, the world's second-biggest ratings firm behind Standard & Poor's, relies on activity in global credit markets as corporations and lenders pay firms like Moody's to rate the debt they issue. In April, Chief Executive Raymond McDaniel said he expected activity to pick up in the second half of the year after a rocky first half owed to growing fears stemming from the Chinese economy, turbulent financial markets and concerns over the sturdiness of the domestic economy.

On Friday, he said profit this year would come in at the low-end of the downbeat guidance Moody's offered in April, which pegged per-share earnings between $4.55 to $4.65 and revenue to grow by a low single-digit percentage.

Aside from rating debt, the company sells financial data and other types of market intelligence to investors and banks. In that segment, sales climbed 8.7% to $303.3 million and offset a 2.1% decline in the bigger investors service business.

Over all, Moody's posted a profit of $255.5 million, down from year-earlier earnings of $261.7 million. The company's per-share earnings, though, rose to $1.32 from $1.28 because of fewer shares outstanding.

Revenue edged up 1.2% to $928.9 million.

Analysts projected $1.27 in adjusted earnings per share on $909.1 million in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters.

Write to Lisa Beilfuss at lisa.beilfuss@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 22, 2016 08:15 ET (12:15 GMT)

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