Fair Isaac Corp.
New York symbol FIC, provides products and services that help businesses make better decisions on customer creditworthiness around the world.
RUBY TUESDAY INC., $7.66, symbol RT on New York, has appointed J.J. Buettgen as its new president and CEO. The move comes after Ruby Tuesday’s founder, Sandy Beall, stepped down in June after heading the company for 40 years. Buettgen was formerly the chief marketing officer at Darden Restaurants (symbol DRI on New York). Darden is the world’s largest casual dining operator, with more than 2,000 restaurants in the U.S. and Canada. It owns the Olive Garden, Red Lobster, LongHorn, Capital Grille, Bahama Breeze and Seasons 52 chains. Ruby Tuesday has 712 company-owned restaurants; franchisees operate another 78. Ruby Tuesday should be a good fit for Buettgen. The company has developed a number of new concepts, including Marlin & Ray’s seafood restaurants and Lime Fresh Mexican Grills, so it needs someone with experience promoting multiple brands. As well, Buettgen has worked on turning around Darden’s well-established but underperforming Olive Garden and Red Lobster chains....
FAIR ISAAC CORP. $44.96 (New York symbol FICO; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (415-472-2211; www.fairisaac.com; Shares outstanding: 33.8 million; Market cap: $1.5 billion; Dividend yield: 0.2%) makes FICO Scores, the computer program that dominates the market for software that businesses use to evaluate customer creditworthiness. The company is also profiting by selling software that helps credit card issuers control fraud and analyze their clients’ spending patterns. I In its fiscal 2012 third quarter, which ended June 30, 2012, Fair Isaac’s earnings per share rose 1.7%, to $0.59 from $0.58. That matched the consensus estimate of $0.59. Revenue rose 6.5%, to $160.5 million from $150.7 million.
Research spending is a hidden plus
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FAIR ISAAC CORP. $44.96 (New York symbol FICO; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (415-472-2211; www.fairisaac.com; Shares outstanding: 33.8 million; Market cap: $1.5 billion; Dividend yield: 0.2%) makes FICO Scores, the computer program that dominates the market for software that businesses use to evaluate customer creditworthiness. The company is also profiting by selling software that helps credit card issuers control fraud and analyze their clients’ spending patterns. I
In its fiscal 2012 third quarter, which ended June 30, 2012, Fair Isaac’s earnings per share rose 1.7%, to $0.59 from $0.58. That matched the consensus estimate of $0.59. Revenue rose 6.5%, to $160.5 million from $150.7 million.
In its fiscal 2012 third quarter, which ended June 30, 2012, Fair Isaac’s earnings per share rose 1.7%, to $0.59 from $0.58. That matched the consensus estimate of $0.59. Revenue rose 6.5%, to $160.5 million from $150.7 million.
Research spending is a hidden plus
...
ALIMENTATION COUCHE-TARD $45.20 (Toronto symbol ATD.B: TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (1-800-361-2612; www.couche-tard.com; Shares outstanding: 179.4 million; Market cap: $8.1 billion; Dividend yield: 0.7%) has reported sharply higher sales and earnings in its latest quarter. Without one-time costs related to its $2.7-billion purchase of Statoil Fuel & Retail ASA, the company’s earnings per share rose 26.7%, to $0.95 from $0.75 (all figures except share price in U.S. dollars). Sales rose 16.1% to $6.0 billion from $5.2 billion. The gains came from higher fuel prices, acquisitions and higher merchandise sales. (The company gets about 30% of its sales by selling merchandise.) The results also included 11 days of operations from the Statoil gas station chain. Alimentation Couche-Tard is still our #1 buy for 2012....
ALARMFORCE INDUSTRIES, $11.65, symbol AF on Toronto, reports that it attracted more customers and increased its revenue in the latest quarter. However, its earnings fell as it continued to expand its business. In the three months ended July 31, 2012, the company’s sales rose 10.9%, to $11.4 million from $10.3 million a year earlier. Even so, AlarmForce lost $6,589, or nil per share, compared to a profit of $831,342, or $0.07 a share. AlarmForce’s earnings fell because it increased its advertising spending as it expanded into Florida. It also invested more in its VideoRelay system, which it launched in October 2011. VideoRelay lets subscribers watch their homes through their computers and smartphones....
FAIR ISAAC CORP. $44.95 (New York symbol FICO; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (415-472-2211; www.fairisaac.com; Shares outstanding: 33.8 million; Market cap: $1.5 billion; Dividend yield: 0.2%) has been awarded seven patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. That brings the company’s total number of patent awards to 128.
Two of the new patents relate to Fair Isaac’s FICO Insurance Fraud Manager software, which detects fraud, waste and abuse in health care claims. These patents cover a method for analyzing codes that health care providers enter to represent specific medical procedures. That helps the program catch both potential and ongoing systematic fraud.
Four of the seven patents were for inventions used in FICO’s Blaze Advisor decision-management software. Additionally, FICO was awarded a patent for an invention related to the FICO Score, the standard measure of consumer credit risk in the U.S. This helps determine the conditions in credit scoring in which additional information is needed. FICO spends a high 9% of its revenue on research and development. That lets it stay ahead of the competition—and patent awards like these help reinforce its research efforts.
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Two of the new patents relate to Fair Isaac’s FICO Insurance Fraud Manager software, which detects fraud, waste and abuse in health care claims. These patents cover a method for analyzing codes that health care providers enter to represent specific medical procedures. That helps the program catch both potential and ongoing systematic fraud.
Four of the seven patents were for inventions used in FICO’s Blaze Advisor decision-management software. Additionally, FICO was awarded a patent for an invention related to the FICO Score, the standard measure of consumer credit risk in the U.S. This helps determine the conditions in credit scoring in which additional information is needed. FICO spends a high 9% of its revenue on research and development. That lets it stay ahead of the competition—and patent awards like these help reinforce its research efforts.
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DUNDEE REIT, $38.84, symbol D.UN on Toronto, has announced plans to sell its portfolio of 86 industrial properties to a new trust called Dundee Industrial REIT. These buildings contain 6.6 million square feet of leasable space. No price has yet been set for the properties. Dundee Industrial REIT will pay for the properties by selling shares to the public through an initial public offering. The trust is selling off these holdings as part of its plan to focus entirely on office buildings. However, it does plan to retain an as-yet-unspecified interest in Dundee Industrial REIT after the share sale. That will let it continue to benefit from these properties’ future growth....
FAIRFAX FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, $377.99, symbol FFH on Toronto, has increased its stake in Research in Motion, symbol RIM on Toronto. The company now owns 9.9% of RIM, up from 5.12%. RIM is a recommendation of our Successful Investor newsletter. Fairfax is now RIM’s largest shareholder. The company’s chairman and founder, Prem Watsa, is also on RIM’s board of directors. RIM’s revenue fell 42.7% in the latest quarter. That’s largely because customers are waiting for the company to launch updated phones that use its new BlackBerry 10 software. However, RIM has now delayed these devices to early 2013. As a result, they will miss the busy back-to-school and Christmas shopping seasons....
FAIR ISAAC CORP. $42.44 (New York symbol FICO; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (415-472-2211; www.fairisaac.com; Shares outstanding: 34.3 million; Market cap: $1.5 billion; Dividend yield: 0.2%) makes FICO Scores, the computer program that dominates the market for software that businesses use to evaluate customer creditworthiness. The company is also profiting by selling software that helps credit card issuers control fraud and analyze their clients’ spending patterns. In its fiscal 2012 second quarter, which ended March 31, 2012, Fair Isaac’s earnings per share excluding one-time items jumped 41.0%, to $0.55 from $0.39. The company’s ongoing cost cuts were a major reason for the increase. Sales rose 4.4%, to $159.5 million from $152.8 million. Fair Isaac spends around 10% of its sales on research. That lets it keep producing innovative new products that help it stay ahead of its competitors....
FAIR ISAAC CORP. $42.44 (New York symbol FICO; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (415-472-2211; www.fairisaac.com; Shares outstanding: 34.3 million; Market cap: $1.5 billion; Dividend yield: 0.2%) makes FICO Scores, the computer program that dominates the market for software that businesses use to evaluate customer creditworthiness. The company is also profiting by selling software that helps credit card issuers control fraud and analyze their clients’ spending patterns.
In its fiscal 2012 second quarter, which ended March 31, 2012, Fair Isaac’s earnings per share excluding one-time items jumped 41.0%, to $0.55 from $0.39. The company’s ongoing cost cuts were a major reason for the increase. Sales rose 4.4%, to $159.5 million from $152.8 million.
Fair Isaac spends around 10% of its sales on research. That lets it keep producing innovative new products that help it stay ahead of its competitors.
...
In its fiscal 2012 second quarter, which ended March 31, 2012, Fair Isaac’s earnings per share excluding one-time items jumped 41.0%, to $0.55 from $0.39. The company’s ongoing cost cuts were a major reason for the increase. Sales rose 4.4%, to $159.5 million from $152.8 million.
Fair Isaac spends around 10% of its sales on research. That lets it keep producing innovative new products that help it stay ahead of its competitors.
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