Topic: Growth Stocks

FAIR ISAAC CORP. $93 – New York symbol FICO

FAIR ISAAC CORP. $93 (New York symbol FICO; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 31.1 million; Market cap: $2.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.3; Dividend yield: 0.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.fico.com) makes FICO Scores, a computer program that helps businesses make better decisions about customer creditworthiness. FICO Scores dominates this niche market. Fair Isaac also sells software that helps credit card issuers control fraud and analyze cardholders’ spending patterns.

The company spends 12% of its revenue on research, which helps it stay ahead of the competition.

It’s now working to incorporate new data into its software. Right now, for example, FICO Scores doesn’t distinguish between people who carry balances on their credit cards (higher credit risk) and those who’ve never had a credit card but pay their utility and other bills off every month (lower risk). In addition, Fair Isaac plans to add data people publicly share on social media like Facebook. Both moves should make FICO Scores more accurate.

The stock has jumped 64% in the past year, but it now trades at a high 33.1 times the $2.81 a share Fair Isaac probably earned in its 2015 fiscal year, which ended September 30, 2015.

Fair Isaac is a hold.

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