Quality Investor

Fair Isaac Corporation

Rank #17Capital ReturnWatchlistCompare with other stocks

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 2026-10-30 · 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.

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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

Company Snapshot

P/E and reverse DCF are the primary valuation lenses at this stage.

Market Cap

—

P/E (annual)

—

P/S (annual)

—

P/B

—

P/OCF (annual)

—

Shareholder Yield

—

Employees

3,876

Industry

Software - Application

Exchange

NYSE

11/12

Flags passed

FICO passes 11/12 quality flags

1 caution to review

  • CAUTION
    Disclosure regression

    A previously-disclosed line item is no longer reported — worth checking the filing for why

  • PASS
    Gross margin holding
  • PASS
    Dilution within 2%
  • PASS
    FCF not negative from investment
  • PASS
    Revenue not declining
  • PASS
    Operating margin holding
  • PASS
    Free cash flow intact
  • PASS
    Passes safety gate
  • PASS
    Balance sheet stable
  • PASS
    No competitive retreat
  • PASS
    SBC not compressing margin
  • PASS
    No valuation convergence

Strengths Revenue growth accelerating · Operating leverage expanding · Deferred revenue growing · RPO outpacing revenue · Sequential beat (rev + EPS)

A count of the 12 warning flags that could be evaluated. Unweighted: colour follows the worst flag.

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
15.9%
Piotroski F-Score
7 / 9
Share dilution
-2.1%

FCF yield, shareholder yield, and buyback activity are the primary reads at this stage.

Profitability

Does it make money well?

No warning flags · GP/assets 0.80

Gross profitability (GP / assets)

0.80

Primary signal (Novy-Marx).

1st of 11 SIC 7389 peers

Return on equity

-15.9%

Gross margin

82.2%

1st of 11 SIC 7389 peers

Revenue growth (YoY)

15.9%

RPO growth (YoY)

29.3%

Remaining performance obligations growth — RPO > revenue = forward demand building.

Gross margin improving

Margin trend vs prior year.

PASS

Operating Leverage

2022202320242025
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%

Cash Flow Health

Is the cash real?

No warning flags · FCF 18% above net income

Free cash flow

$769.88M

Operating cash flow minus capex.

Positive free cash flow

PASS

FCF vs net income

18.1%

(FCF − net income) ÷ |net income|. Positive: cash above earnings. Negative: below.

FCF not below net income

Fails when free cash flow is below net income (yellow flag).

PASS

Accruals healthy

Cash-backed earnings.

PASS

SBC / revenue

7.9%

Stock-based comp intensity.

Balance Sheet Strength

Can it survive a storm?

No warning flags · net debt $4.99B, F-Score 7/9

Balance-sheet safety

Composite anti-fragile check.

PASS

Debt / equity

—

Current ratio

1.18×

11th of 11 SIC 7389 peers

Quick ratio

1.13×

Net cash

-$4.99B

Cash & equivalents minus total debt.

Piotroski F-Score

7 / 9

Fundamental-strength score (0-9).

Valuation

Is the price reasonable?

No warning flags

Valuation History

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

P / E

Price / diluted EPS

65.6xExpensive
29.0xmed 57.0x102.0x

P / S

Price / revenue per share

21.5xExpensive
8.5xmed 13.2x30.5x

P / GP

Price / gross profit per share

26.1xExpensive
10.9xmed 17.3x38.2x

P / FCF

Price / free cash flow per share

55.5xExpensive
23.2xmed 45.8x83.8x

Capital allocation quality

Composite score

2.0 / 5

Fair
Share count trend(net buybacks)
-2.1%4/5 Strong
Buyback timing
vs own P/E history1/5 Weak
Dividend growth consistency(non-payer or broken streak)
0 yr3/5 Good
Net debt trajectory
-22.8%0/5 Weak

Lifecycle Phase History

20202025
Capital Return

Price History

FICO+92.7% · +14.0% CAGRSPY+84.0% · +12.9% CAGR