Fair Isaac dominates a niche market

Article Excerpt

Shares of Fair Isaac have risen 84.8% for our subscribers over the last year—and a whopping 9,413.5% since we first recommended the stock in our February 1999 issue at $13.60 a share (split adjusted)! That said, we think the shares have room to move much higher. The company plays a key role for lenders making mortgage underwriting decisions. Beyond its mortgage business, Fair Isaac has a dominant market position in credit scoring for other lending. That gives it significant pricing power, particularly with large, institutional customers. For these firms, Fair Isaac’s fees are small compared to the overall cost of credit underwriting, and are especially minimal when compared to the cost of a bad credit decision. Fair Isaac is a Power Buy. FAIR ISAAC CORP., $1,293.84, is a buy. The company (New York symbol FICO; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (www.fairisaac.com; Shares outstanding: 24.9 million; Market cap: $31.6 billion; No divd.) is best known for its FICO Scores software. It lets lenders make better decisions about customer creditworthiness. The company’s…