New Deal Cuts Fair Isaac’s Uncertainty

Article Excerpt

FAIR ISAAC CORP. $22 (New York symbol FIC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 48.6 million; Market cap: $1.1 billion; WSSF Rating: Average) has dropped its lawsuit against credit bureau company Equifax. In 2006, Fair Isaac sued the three major U.S. credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion) for anti-trust violations. The three credit bureau companies teamed together to create VantageScore credit scoring software, which competed with Fair Isaac’s FICO scoring software. Fair Isaac is still suing Experian and TransUnion. As part of the settlement, Fair Isaac has formed a new partnership with Equifax. The partnership will combine Fair Isaac’s expertise in credit scoring software with Equifax’s consumer credit data to produce new credit analytics programs. Under this new partnership, Equifax will sell FICO 08, the latest version of Fair Isaac’s scoring software, to its customers in 2009. Fair Isaac is a buy. buy…