Research positions these two for a rebound

Article Excerpt

FAIR ISAAC CORPORATION $22.22 (New York symbol FICO; SI Rating: Average) (415-472-2211; www.fairisaac.com; Shares outstanding: 48.9 million; Market cap: $1.1 billion) sells products and services that help businesses around the world make better decisions on customer creditworthiness. Its main business is its FICO software, which lets creditors use a customer’s information to calculate a credit score. The lender can then use that score to decide if they should give the customer a mortgage, a credit card or any other type of loan. Fair Isaac’s major clients include banks, credit-card issuers, insurers, retailers, telecom providers and government agencies. In the three months ended June 30, 2009, Fair Isaac’s revenue fell 14.9%, to $156 million from $183.3 million. Tight credit markets have hurt the financial institutions that are its main customers. Fair Isaac offset some of the revenue drop with cost-cutting measures, including layoffs. Despite the lower revenue, earnings per share, excluding one-time items, rose 9.8%, to $0.45 from $0.41 a year earlier. The…