Quality Investor

Fair Isaac Corporation

Rank #17Hypergrowth

FICO · NYSE · Technology

Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) — Rank #17 by gross profitability (GP/assets 0.80) · ROE -15.9% · Piotroski F-Score 7 / 9.

As-of 2026-09-15 · CIK 0000814547 · all metrics point-in-time as of the filing date.

About

Fair Isaac Corporation provides analytics software in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific.

Show more

It operates through two segments, Scores and Software. The Scores segment offers business-to-business scoring solutions and services that give clients access to predictive credit and other scores that can be integrated into their transaction streams and decision-making processes, as well as business-to-consumer scoring solutions comprising myFICO.com subscription offerings. Its Software segment provides pre-configured analytic and decision management solution designed for various business needs or processes, such as account origination, customer management, customer engagement, fraud detection, and marketing, as well as associated professional services. This segment also offers FICO Platform, a modular software offering designed to support advanced analytic and decision use cases, as well as stand-alone analytic and decisioning software that can be configured by customers to address a wide range of business use cases. In addition, the company offers analytic and decisioning software comprising FICO Decision Modeler, FICO Blaze Advisor, FICO Xpress Optimization, FICO Analytics Workbench, FICO Data Orchestrator, FICO DMP Streaming, FICO Business Outcome Simulator, and FICO Decision Optimizer; pre-configured solutions consisting of FICO Fraud Solutions, FICO Originations, FICO Customer Communication Service, FICO Strategy Director, and FICO TRIAD Customer Manager; and professional services software, including FICO Implementation Services and FICO Analytic Services. It markets its products and services primarily through its direct sales organization and indirect channels, as well as online. The company was formerly known as Fair Isaac & Company, Inc. and changed its name to Fair Isaac Corporation in July 1992.

Fair Isaac Corporation was founded in 1956 and is headquartered in Bozeman, Montana.

Industry
Software - Application
Sector
Technology
State
DE
Filer Category
Large accelerated filer
Fiscal Year End
September 30
Website
fico.com

Price History

FICO+116.6% · +16.7% CAGRSPY+80.3% · +12.5% CAGR

Company Snapshot

P/S is the primary valuation lens — earnings are reinvested, not available for P/E.

Market Cap

$21.31B

P/E (annual)

37.2

P/S (annual)

10.7

P/B

P/OCF (annual)

27.4

Shareholder Yield

23.8%

Employees

3,876

Industry

Software - Application

Exchange

NYSE

Signal Flags

4 green1 yellow1 red
Revenue growth acceleratingGrowth rate increasing year over year
Operating leverage expandingOperating income growing faster than revenue
Deferred revenue growingRevenue and deferred revenue both growing — retention signal
Sequential beat (rev + EPS)Both revenue and EPS exceeded prior quarter — 3-quarter streak
Disclosure regressionA previously-disclosed line item is no longer reported — worth checking the filing for why
Balance sheet deterioratingNet cash collapsed with receivables or inventory outpacing revenue

Quality Profile

Profitability

1/1 pass
GP / assets
0.80
Return on equity
-15.9%
Gross margin trend
PASS

Safety

1/1 pass
Balance-sheet safety
PASS
Debt / equity
Current ratio
1.18×
Net cash
-$4.99B

Cash Flow

3/3 pass
Positive FCF
PASS
Cash-backed earnings
PASS
Accruals healthy
PASS
SBC / revenue
7.9%

Growth

2/2 pass
Revenue growth
113.6%
Piotroski F-Score
7 / 9
Share dilution
-23.8%

Terry Smith quality gate

Passes 4/5 Terry Smith thresholds

1 of 5 threshold not computable from filed data.

What Growth Is Priced In

Implied revenue growth (10Y)

13.9%

incredible deal

The annual FCF growth rate today's price requires over a 10-year horizon (discount rate 10%, terminal growth 2.5%).

Buyback tailwind: -23.8% — per-share value needs a total required return of -10.0% once share-count change is priced in.

vs. own 6-year median revenue growth: 24.8%

within its own history

Cost-of-equity sensitivity (implied growth at different discount rates)

r = 8%

9.2%

r = 10% (base)

13.9%

r = 12%

17.9%

Net debt / market cap: 20.6%

Note: current FCF margin is 1.8σ above its historical mean — implied growth may understate valuation risk if the margin reverts.

Base FCF: $769.9M3Y mean FCF: $191.8M

Valuation History

Current multiple vs historical range at each filing date. Band spans 25th-75th percentile.

P / E

Price / diluted EPS

31.3xFair
13.8xmed 46.1x58.4x

P / S

Price / revenue per share

8.5xFair
1.6xmed 7.8x10.7x

P / B

Price / book value per share

N/A
2.1xmed 19.0x41.7x

P / GP

Price / gross profit per share

10.9xFair
2.5xmed 10.6x14.8x

P / FCF

Price / free cash flow per share

23.2xCheap
8.5xmed 31.3x42.5x

Revenue growth and the path to profitability (margin trend) are the primary reads at this stage.

Profitability

Gross profitability (GP / assets)

0.80

Primary signal (Novy-Marx).

2nd of 9 SIC 7389 peers

Return on equity

-15.9%

Gross margin

82.2%

1st of 9 SIC 7389 peers

Revenue growth (YoY)

113.6%

Gross margin improving

Margin trend vs prior year.

PASS

Operating Leverage

2018202020212022
Revenue vs COGS
Revenue vs OpEx
Op. Income vs Revenue

Growth

Revenue CAGR (3Y)

13.1%

Revenue CAGR (5Y)

9.0%

Earnings CAGR (3Y)

20.4%

FCF CAGR (3Y)

15.2%

Anti-fragile safety

Balance-sheet safety

Composite anti-fragile check.

PASS

Debt / equity

Current ratio

1.18×

9th of 9 SIC 7389 peers

Quick ratio

1.13×

Net cash

-$4.99B

Cash & equivalents minus total debt.

Cash-flow health

Free cash flow

$769.88M

Operating cash flow minus capex.

Positive free cash flow

PASS

FCF / net income

0.18

Cash-backing of earnings.

FCF/NI divergence

Unfavorable divergence (yellow flag).

PASS

Accruals healthy

Cash-backed earnings.

PASS

SBC / revenue

7.9%

Stock-based comp intensity.

Piotroski F-Score

F-Score

7 / 9

Fundamental-strength score (0-9).

Lifecycle Phase History

20162022
Capital Return
Hypergrowth