Fair Isaac can better its 120% return

Article Excerpt

Shares of Fair Isaac have risen 120.0% for our subscribers over the last year—and a whopping 16,882.4% since we first recommended the stock in our February 1999 issue at $13.60 a share (split adjusted)! That said, we think the shares have room to move much higher. The company plays a key role for lenders making mortgage underwriting decisions. Beyond its mortgage business, Fair Isaac has a dominant market position in credit scoring for other lending. That includes significant pricing power, particularly with large, institutional customers. For these firms, Fair Isaac’s fees are small compared to the overall cost of credit underwriting. That’s all the more so when you compare those fees to the cost of making bad credit decisions. Fair Isaac is a Power Buy. FAIR ISAAC CORP., $2,309.60, is a buy. The company (New York symbol FICO; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (www.fairisaac.com; Shares outstanding: 24.3 million; Market cap: $56.2 billion; No divd.) is best known for its FICO Scores software. It lets lenders make better decisions about customer…