Cost cuts spur Fair Isaac’s earnings

Article Excerpt

FAIR ISAAC CORP. $18 (New York symbol FIC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 48.9 million; Market cap: $880.2 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; WSSF Rating: Average) sells products and services that help businesses evaluate customer creditworthiness. Its earnings shrank with the end of the subprime boom in 2007. But thanks to cost cuts, its earnings are now rising again, despite a drop in sales. In its third quarter, which ended June 30, 2009, Fair Isaac’s earnings per share fell 2.6%, to $0.37 from $0.38 a year earlier. But the latest earnings include an $0.08-a-share charge related to the sale of two businesses that help telecom companies detect and prevent fraudulent use of their networks. If you exclude all unusual items, per-share earnings actually rose 9.8%, to $0.45 from $0.41, even though sales fell 14.9%, to $156 million from $183.3 million. Fair Isaac continues to devote nearly 12% of its revenue to research. This helped it launch FICO08, the latest…