Fair Isaac Corp.
New York symbol FIC, provides products and services that help businesses make better decisions on customer creditworthiness around the world.
PLEASE NOTE: This is our last Hotline for 2015. Our next Hotline will go out on Friday, January 8, 2016. ATLANTIC TELE-NETWORK, $76.27, symbol ATNI on Nasdaq, owns wireless and wireline (traditional telephone and Internet) operations in the U.S. Southwest, New England, New York State, Guyana, Bermuda and parts of the Caribbean islands. The company continues to increase its wireless capacity and coverage. That’s paying off as customers use more mobile data for services like music downloads, mobile gaming and e-books....
FAIR ISAAC CORP. $92.85 (New York symbol FICO; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (415-472-2211; www.fairisaac.com; Shares outstanding: 31.1 million; Market cap: $2.8 billion; Dividend yield: 0.1%) makes FICO Scores, the program that dominates the market for software that businesses use to evaluate customer creditworthiness. Fair Isaac also profits by selling programs that help credit card issuers control fraud and analyze cardholders’ spending patterns. In its fiscal 2015 third quarter, which ended September 30, 2015, Fair Isaac’s revenue rose 5.0%, to $232.8 million from $221.6 million a year earlier. Sales at the company’s applications division (64% of the total) fell 1.6% on weaker demand for marketing and fraud-detection software. However, sales of creditscoring programs (25%) jumped 24.5%, while sales of analytics software (11%) gained 8.7%....
FAIR ISAAC CORP. $92.85 (New York symbol FICO; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (415-472-2211; www.fairisaac.com; Shares outstanding: 31.1 million; Market cap: $2.8 billion; Dividend yield: 0.1%) makes FICO Scores, the program that dominates the market for software that businesses use to evaluate customer creditworthiness. Fair Isaac also profits by selling programs that help credit card issuers control fraud and analyze cardholders’ spending patterns. In its fiscal 2015 third quarter, which ended September 30, 2015, Fair Isaac’s revenue rose 5.0%, to $232.8 million from $221.6 million a year earlier. Sales at the company’s applications division (64% of the total) fell 1.6% on weaker demand for marketing and fraud-detection software. However, sales of creditscoring programs (25%) jumped 24.5%, while sales of analytics software (11%) gained 8.7%....
AGT FOOD & INGREDIENTS INC., $31.53, symbol AGT on Toronto, buys and processes a range of pulses, which include peas, beans, lentils and chickpeas, as well as other specialty crops. The Saskatchewan-based company owns processing plants in Canada, the U.S., Turkey, Australia, China and South Africa.
Before one-time items, AGT earned $0.51 a share in the three months ended September 30, 2015, up 10.9% from $0.46 a year earlier. Revenue gained 26.1%, to $362.8 million from $287.7 million. The increases came from recent acquisitions and higher processing activity.
AGT continues to benefit from its plan to focus on more-profitable products, such as ingredients and packaged foods, as opposed to simply cleaning, splitting and bagging bulk crops. Food makers use these ingredients in products such as baked goods, soups and beverages, as well as pet food and animal feed.
The stock trades at a low 13.2 times the $2.38 a share AGT will probably earn in 2016. It yields 1.9%.
OUR RECOMMENDATION: AGT Food & Ingredients is a buy.
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Before one-time items, AGT earned $0.51 a share in the three months ended September 30, 2015, up 10.9% from $0.46 a year earlier. Revenue gained 26.1%, to $362.8 million from $287.7 million. The increases came from recent acquisitions and higher processing activity.
AGT continues to benefit from its plan to focus on more-profitable products, such as ingredients and packaged foods, as opposed to simply cleaning, splitting and bagging bulk crops. Food makers use these ingredients in products such as baked goods, soups and beverages, as well as pet food and animal feed.
The stock trades at a low 13.2 times the $2.38 a share AGT will probably earn in 2016. It yields 1.9%.
OUR RECOMMENDATION: AGT Food & Ingredients is a buy.
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Symantec and Fair Isaac (see next article) continue to spend heavily on research, which is helping them profit as businesses spend more on cybersecurity and fraud prevention. We like the long-term outlook for both, but Symantec is the better choice right now. SYMANTEC CORP. $21 (Nasdaq symbol SYMC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 679.2 million; Market cap: $14.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.2; Dividend yield: 2.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.symantec.com) sells computer-security technology, including antivirus and email-filtering software, to businesses and consumers. In 2014, the company said it would split into two publicly traded firms. One would keep the Symantec name and focus on antivirus and security software and services. The other, called Veritas Technologies, makes products for data backup and recovery....
FAIR ISAAC CORP. $93 (New York symbol FICO; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 31.1 million; Market cap: $2.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.3; Dividend yield: 0.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.fico.com) makes FICO Scores, a computer program that helps businesses make better decisions about customer creditworthiness. FICO Scores dominates this niche market. Fair Isaac also sells software that helps credit card issuers control fraud and analyze cardholders’ spending patterns. The company spends 12% of its revenue on research, which helps it stay ahead of the competition. It’s now working to incorporate new data into its software. Right now, for example, FICO Scores doesn’t distinguish between people who carry balances on their credit cards (higher credit risk) and those who’ve never had a credit card but pay their utility and other bills off every month (lower risk). In addition, Fair Isaac plans to add data people publicly share on social media like Facebook. Both moves should make FICO Scores more accurate....
FAIR ISAAC CORP. $93 (New York symbol FICO; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 31.1 million; Market cap: $2.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.3; Dividend yield: 0.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.fico.com) makes FICO Scores, a computer program that helps businesses make better decisions about customer creditworthiness. FICO Scores dominates this niche market. Fair Isaac also sells software that helps credit card issuers control fraud and analyze cardholders’ spending patterns.
The company spends 12% of its revenue on research, which helps it stay ahead of the competition.
It’s now working to incorporate new data into its software. Right now, for example, FICO Scores doesn’t distinguish between people who carry balances on their credit cards (higher credit risk) and those who’ve never had a credit card but pay their utility and other bills off every month (lower risk). In addition, Fair Isaac plans to add data people publicly share on social media like Facebook. Both moves should make FICO Scores more accurate.
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The company spends 12% of its revenue on research, which helps it stay ahead of the competition.
It’s now working to incorporate new data into its software. Right now, for example, FICO Scores doesn’t distinguish between people who carry balances on their credit cards (higher credit risk) and those who’ve never had a credit card but pay their utility and other bills off every month (lower risk). In addition, Fair Isaac plans to add data people publicly share on social media like Facebook. Both moves should make FICO Scores more accurate.
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SYMANTEC CORP. $19.95 (Nasdaq symbol SYMC; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (650-527-8000;www.symantec.com; Shares outstanding: 684.2 million; Marketcap: $13.5 billion; Dividend yield: 3.0%) continues to strengthen its fast-growing cyber security business. It’salso selling off its Veritas Technologies division. Corporations are spending more on cyber security following high-profile attacks on Sony, Target and Ashley Madison. Symantec is taking advantage of thisby hiring more programmers. It has also cancelled unprofitable contracts and simplified its product lines. These moves cut the company’s profits by 12.1% in its fiscal 2016 first quarter, which ended July 3, 2015,to $275 million, or $0.40 a share, from $313 million,or $0.45. Sales fell 13.6%, to $1.50 billion from $1.74billion....
FAIR ISAAC CORP. $82.43 (New York symbol FICO; TSINetwork Rating: Average)(415-472-2211; www.fairisaac.com; Shares outstanding: 31.1 million; Market cap: $2.6 billion; Dividend yield: 0.1%) makes FICO Scores, the program that dominates the market for software that businesses use to evaluate customer creditworthiness. Fair Isaac also profits by selling programs that help credit card issuers control fraud and analyze cardholders’ spending patterns.
In its fiscal 2015 third quarter, which ended June 30, 2015, Fair Isaac’s revenue rose 5.9%, to $209.3 million from $197.6 million a year earlier. Sales at its applications division (61% of the total) fell 2.1% on weaker demand for marketing and fraud detection software. However, sales of credit-scoring programs (27%) jumped 23.0%, while sales of analytics software (12%) gained 18.1%.
The company earned $32.3 million, up 10.3% from $29.2 million. Earnings per share rose 20.5%, to $1.00 from $0.83, on fewer shares outstanding. Fair Isaac spends around 12% of its revenue on research, which lets it produce innovative products that keep it ahead of the competition.
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In its fiscal 2015 third quarter, which ended June 30, 2015, Fair Isaac’s revenue rose 5.9%, to $209.3 million from $197.6 million a year earlier. Sales at its applications division (61% of the total) fell 2.1% on weaker demand for marketing and fraud detection software. However, sales of credit-scoring programs (27%) jumped 23.0%, while sales of analytics software (12%) gained 18.1%.
The company earned $32.3 million, up 10.3% from $29.2 million. Earnings per share rose 20.5%, to $1.00 from $0.83, on fewer shares outstanding. Fair Isaac spends around 12% of its revenue on research, which lets it produce innovative products that keep it ahead of the competition.
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BROADRIDGE FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS $55.76 (New York symbol BR; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (201-714-3000; www.broadridge.com; Shares outstanding: 119.9 million; Market cap: $6.7 billion; Dividend yield: 2.2%) serves the investment industry in three main areas: investor communications, securities processing and transaction clearing. The company processes 90% of all proxy votes in the U.S. and Canada. Without one-time items, Broadridge earned $171.5 million in its fiscal 2015 fourth quarter, which ended June 30, 2015. That’s up 18.6% from $144.6 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 20.7%, to $1.40 from $1.16, on fewer shares outstanding. Revenue gained 4.9%, to $929.6 million from $885.9 million. The company continues to add new clients and is doing a good job of holding on to existing ones. Recurring fee revenue rose 7% in the latest quarter and accounted for 65% of the total....