Bank focus could slow sales

Article Excerpt

FAIR ISAAC CORP. $68.40 (New York symbol FICO; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (415-472-2211; www.fairisaac.com; Shares outstanding: 32.1 million; Market cap: $2.2 billion; Dividend yield: 0.1%) earned $1.10 a share in its fiscal 2014 fourth quarter, which ended September 30, 2014. That was up 39.2% from $0.79 a year earlier. Sales rose 16.4%, to $221.6 million from $190.3 million. The company saw stronger sales at its applications division (66% of total revenue) on increased licensing revenue from software that detects bank fraud. The company expects to earn $2.78 to $2.88 a share for all of fiscal 2015, and it trades at a high 24.2 times the midpoint of that range. As well, the banking industry supplies 75% of Fair Isaac’s revenue, and slowing mortgage demand could hurt sales of its credit-scoring software. Fair Isaac is a hold. hold. …