FactSet Reports Earnings of $2.74 per Share

This morning, FactSet (FDS) reported fiscal Q3 earnings of $2.74 per share. That missed estimates by two cents per share and it’s down from $2.86 per share one year ago.

“I’m pleased with the acceleration in our top line and proud of our record of returning value to our shareholders every year since we became a public company 25 years ago,” said Phil Snow, CEO, FactSet. “Demand for our open content and analytics platform continues to fuel our growth as clients pursue their own digital transformations. We believe that the next generation of digital solutions we are building for the financial community will enable us to grow faster.”

I was I could share Mr. Snow pleasure. This was a decent quarter for FactSet but I was expecting more.

Revenues increased by 6.8% to $399.6 million. At the end of the quarter, FactSet’s Annual Subscription Value, or ASV, stood at $1.6 billion. That’s up $100 million in the past year. That’s an important indicator of future revenue. What concerns me is that FactSet’s operating margin slipped to 29.5%. That’s down 3% over the past year.

One bright spot is that the company increased its organic ASV plus professional services outlook to be in the range of $85 million to $95 million.

Some more details. At the end of the quarter. FactSet’s client count stood at 6,172. The company’s user count is up to 155,004. Annual ASV retention was greater than 95%. When expressed as a percentage of clients, annual retention improved to 91%, year over year.

During the quarter, FactSet bought 178,100 shares of its stock for $57.6 million. That’s an average price of $323.25. In the current program, there’s $292.4 million left to buy back stock.

FactSet didn’t change its full-year earnings forecast of $10.75 to $11.15 per share. I thought there was a good chance they’d increase the range.

So far this year, FactSet has made $8.32 per share. That implies FactSet expects Q4 earnings to range between $2.43 and $2.83 per share. Wall Street currently expects $2.80 per share.

Here’s an updated look at FactSet’s guidance:

Posted by on June 29th, 2021 at 9:08 am


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