Buybacks, new products give it an edge

Article Excerpt

FAIR ISAAC CORP. $33 (New York symbol FICO; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 35.7 million; Market cap: $1.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend yield: 0.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.fairisaac.com) sells products and services that help businesses around the world make better decisions on customer creditworthiness. The company is best known for its FICO credit scores, which creditors use to decide if they should give a customer a mortgage, a credit card or any other type of loan. Fair Isaac also makes software that helps credit-card issuers control fraud and analyze cardholders’ spending patterns. Banks and insurance companies provide 78% of Fair Isaac’s revenue. Recovering from subprime crisis The company’s revenue fell 23.6%, from $822.2 million in 2007 to $605.6 million in 2010 (fiscal years end September 30). That’s mainly because the subprime crisis and falling housing prices cut demand for the company’s credit-scoring products. However, revenue rose 2.3%, to $619.7 million, in fiscal 2011. Earnings fell 37.4%, from $104.7 million…