Here’s our Pick of the Month

Article Excerpt

FAIR ISAAC CORP. $49.29 (New York symbol FICO; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (415-472-2211; www.fairisaac.com; Shares outstanding: 35.9 million; Market cap: $1.8 billion; Dividend yield: 0.2%) makes FICO Scores, the computer program that dominates the market for software that businesses use to evaluate customer creditworthiness. The company is also profiting by selling software that helps credit card issuers control fraud and analyze their clients’ spending patterns. In its fiscal 2013 second quarter, which ended March 31, 2013, Fair Isaac’s earnings per share before one-time items rose 4.4% from a year ago, to $0.69 from $0.66. Revenue rose 12.4%, to $179.3 million from $159.5 million. Fair Isaac continues to spend around 8% of its revenue on research. That lets it keep producing innovative new products that help it stay ahead of its competitors. It’s also building its expertise by purchasing other technology firms. That adds risk, but most of these are small purchases that it can easily integrate into its current businesses. For…