Topic: How To Invest

Stock Pickers Digest Hotline – Friday, February 2, 2018

Article Excerpt

FAIR ISAAC CORP., $169.38, symbol FICO on New York, is best known for its FICO Scores software. They let lenders make better decisions about customer creditworthiness. The company also makes programs that help credit-card issuers reduce fraud and analyze the spending patterns of cardholders. For the fiscal first quarter ended December 31, 2017, revenue rose 7.2%, to $235.3 million from $219.6 million a year earlier. Sales of computer applications (60% of the total) rose just 5% mostly due to the timing of several large new orders. However, sales of credit-scoring programs (30%) rose 18%. Sales of analytics software (10%) fell 6%. The company earned $41.1 million, or $1.30 a share, in the latest quarter. That’s a 22.9% jump from $33.5 million, or $1.03, a year earlier. Fair Isaac expects to earn $5.32 a share in 2018. The stock trades at 31.8 times that forecast. That multiple is somewhat high considering banks supply 75% of the company’s revenue and further interest-rate increases could reduce…