FactSet Research Systems Inc (FDS)
🔔 Watch stock
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The business works in principle, but one material question is open. As long as it stays open, our findings do not carry a quality verdict.
Buying here is not a bet that the clients stay — they do stay, with retention above 95 percent of subscription value. The bet is that FactSet can hold its price while AI tools make part of the same information free, and that its AI products eventually earn more than they cost in tokens and cloud invoices. Three things are measurable until then and will appear in the next filings: the adjusted operating margin (most recently 34.0 percent versus 36.8 percent), the client retention rate (most recently 90 percent versus 91 percent), and whether the annual report for the year ending August 31, 2026 finally reports the control weakness open since 2024 as remediated. After that comes the $500 million maturity on March 1, 2027. The decision is yours.
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FactSet supplies the world's money managers with their numbers, and it has grown without a break for years: organic annual subscription value reached $2,485.6 million on May 31, 2026, up 7.1 percent year over year. The stock still trades at roughly half its all-time high of November 14, 2024. The reason is not on the revenue line but two lines below it: operating margin fell to 26.7 percent in the third quarter of fiscal 2026 from 33.2 percent — and even excluding every one-time item, from 36.8 to 34.0 percent. AI appears twice in the annual report: once as a source of revenue, once as a reason clients may pay less in the future. Not investment advice — just the question of what the filings say when you read them to the end.
Read the analysis
Stock Watch
This analysis is as of July 25, 2026. Stock Watch will tell you what's changed at FDS since then.
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Appears in These Scanners
This stock currently matches 9 of our scanner strategies — each hit links to the scanner.
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Trading Day
Key levels of the most recently completed trading day — not a live quote.
52-Week Range
Current price 263.20 $ — 34% of the range above the low.
Lowest and highest closing price over the last 52 weeks. The marker shows where the current price sits within that range: close to the high speaks for strength, close to the low for weakness.
Basics
Performance
Technical Indicators
Calculated from the price history · as of 08/03/2026
Valuation
Profitability
Balance Sheet & Safety
Growth
Dividend
Quality & Screener
AI Rating
Sells AIFactSet verkauft KI-gestützte Funktionen als Teil seiner Abonnements — der Geschäftsbericht 2025 nennt sie ausdrücklich als Quelle von Nutzung, Nachfrage und kommerziellen Transaktionen; derselbe Bericht führt KI zugleich als Risiko für die eigene Preissetzung.
View the full file — quotes, sources, reviewed filings
„Our AI roadmap, driven by our FactSet AI Blueprint, is resonating with our clients, and FactSet's AI solutions are generating usage, demand and commercial transactions."
Unser KI-Fahrplan, getragen vom FactSet AI Blueprint, findet bei unseren Kunden Anklang, und die KI-Lösungen von FactSet erzeugen Nutzung, Nachfrage und kommerzielle Transaktionen.
„FactSet is delivering AI embedded workflow solutions for various personas including research analysts, bankers, portfolio managers, wealth advisors and engineering teams across our clients."
FactSet liefert Arbeitsabläufe mit eingebetteter KI für verschiedene Rollen — darunter Research-Analysten, Investmentbanker, Portfoliomanager, Vermögensberater und Technikteams bei unseren Kunden.
„Each year, an increasing amount of free or relatively inexpensive information becomes available, particularly through the internet, and this trend is likely to continue, especially with the deployment of AI tools."
Jedes Jahr wird mehr kostenlose oder vergleichsweise günstige Information verfügbar, vor allem über das Internet, und dieser Trend dürfte anhalten — besonders mit dem Einsatz von KI-Werkzeugen.
„Technology-related expenses increased by 40 basis points, primarily driven by higher spend in cloud-based hosting services, licensed software arrangements and AI token consumption."
Die technikbezogenen Aufwendungen stiegen um 40 Basispunkte, überwiegend getrieben von höheren Ausgaben für Cloud-Hosting, lizenzierte Software und den Verbrauch von KI-Token.
Filings Reviewed: 10-Q 2026-07-01 · 10-Q 2026-04-02 · 10-Q 2026-01-05 · 10-Q 2025-07-03 · 10-K 2025-10-22 · 10-K 2024-10-29
Rated on July 25, 2026 · How the Rating Is Built
Analysts & Price Target
The price target sits 3.1% below the current price.
- Consensus
- Hold
- Analyst Ratings
- 21
Combined picture of the price targets and recommendations of every analyst covering the stock. Price targets are expectations for the next 12 months, not promises — and they often follow the price rather than predict it.
Estimates by Fiscal Year
| Fiscal Year | EPS Estimate ($) | EPS Range ($) | Revenue Estimate ($M) | Expected Growth | Analysts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08/31/2026 | 17.83 | 17.49 – 18.01 | 2,470 | 5.0% | 18 |
| 08/31/2027 | 19.70 | 19.15 – 20.30 | 2,615 | 10.5% | 18 |
Average of the analyst estimates for the coming fiscal years. The range shows how far the most optimistic and the most cautious estimate sit apart — the wider it is, the less certain the expectation.
Next Reporting Date
- Expected Earnings per Share
- 4.30 $
Expected date of the next quarterly or annual figures. Dates do shift occasionally — only the invitation issued by the company is binding.
Revenue & Profit
Cash Flow
Balance Sheet
Margins
Per Share
Click the chart or tab into it, then use ← and → to step through the periods.
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· Total · per year
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The figures could not be loaded right now.
Source: fundamental data
Quarterly Figures
| Quarter | EPS (Earnings Per Share) | EPS YoY (%) | Sales ($M) | Sales YoY (%) | Net Margin (%) | OCF ($M) | FCF ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024: Q3 | 3.74 | 27.60 | 562 | 4.90 | 15.90 | 163 | 137 |
| 2024: Q4 | 4.37 | 6.10 | 569 | 4.90 | 26.40 | 86 | 61 |
| 2026: Q2 | 4.53 | 6.10 | 623 | 6.40 | 20.30 | 285 | 254 |
| 2025: Q1 | 4.28 | 1.40 | 571 | 4.50 | 25.40 | 174 | 150 |
| 2025: Q2 | 4.27 | -2.30 | 586 | 5.90 | 25.40 | 254 | 229 |
| 2025: Q3 | 4.05 | 8.30 | 597 | 6.20 | 25.70 | 212 | 178 |
| 2025: Q4 | 4.51 | 3.20 | 608 | 6.90 | 25.10 | 121 | 90 |
| 2026: Q1 | 4.46 | 4.20 | 611 | 7.10 | 21.80 | 212 | 186 |
- EPS (Earnings Per Share):
- Quarterly profit divided by the total share count — how much of the profit works out to a single share.
- YoY (Year over Year):
- Change versus the same quarter a year ago — this is how you compare without seasonal distortion (e.g. the holiday shopping season).
- Sales:
- All revenue for the quarter, before any costs are deducted — the top line of the income statement.
- Net Margin:
- What percentage of sales is left over as profit in the end. Negative means the company is posting a loss.
- OCF (Operating Cash Flow):
- The cash that actually flows into the till from the core business during the quarter — harder to dress up than book profit.
- FCF (Free Cash Flow):
- Operating cash flow minus capital expenditures — the money that's genuinely free to use, say for paying down debt, buybacks, or dividends.
Annual Figures
| Fiscal Year | Revenue ($M) | EBIT ($M) | Net Income ($M) | EPS ($) | Operating Cash Flow ($M) | Equity ($M) | Total Assets ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 1,127 | 350 | 339 | 8.19 | 331 | 517 | 1,019 |
| 2017 | 1,221 | 352 | 258 | 6.51 | 321 | 560 | 1,413 |
| 2018 | 1,350 | 366 | 267 | 6.78 | 386 | 526 | 1,419 |
| 2019 | 1,435 | 438 | 353 | 9.08 | 427 | 672 | 1,549 |
| 2020 | 1,494 | 440 | 373 | 9.65 | 506 | 898 | 2,083 |
| 2021 | 1,591 | 474 | 400 | 10.36 | 555 | 1,016 | 2,223 |
| 2022 | 1,844 | 475 | 397 | 10.25 | 538 | 1,331 | 4,014 |
| 2023 | 2,086 | 630 | 468 | 12.04 | 646 | 1,620 | 3,963 |
| 2024 | 2,203 | 701 | 537 | 13.91 | 700 | 1,912 | 4,055 |
| 2025 | 2,322 | 748 | 597 | 15.55 | 726 | 2,186 | 4,304 |
Fiscal years from the audited annual reports, oldest first. EBIT is the operating profit before interest and taxes; total assets are everything the company owns.
Assessment: Opportunities & Risks
A subscription business with strong retention: organic annual subscription value of $2,485.6 million as of May 31, 2026 (up 7.1 percent), retention above 95 percent of ASV, 9,130 clients (up 3.6 percent) and 247,766 users (up 12.4 percent). Revenues rose without interruption from $1,843.9 million to $2,321.7 million across fiscal 2022 through 2025.
Operating margin fell to 26.7 percent in the third quarter of fiscal 2026 from 33.2 percent. One-time items (restructuring of $19.6 million, CEO compensation of $4.3 million) explain only part of it: even adjusted, the margin slipped from 36.8 to 34.0 percent in the quarter and from 37.2 to 35.1 percent over nine months. The company's own guidance of July 1, 2026 calls for 29.5 to 31.0 percent for the full year, after 32.2 percent in fiscal 2025.
The fiscal 2025 annual report explicitly names the company's AI solutions as a source of usage, demand and commercial transactions; as of May 31, 2026 more than 90 percent of the top 50 clients used four or more AI products. The same report warns in its risk factors that ever more free information is becoming available, "especially with the deployment of AI tools." On the cost side, AI token consumption is driving technology-related expenses higher (up 40 basis points in the third quarter of fiscal 2026).
The principal executive officer and principal financial officer concluded that disclosure controls were not effective as of May 31, 2026. The underlying material weakness in IT general controls — which support revenues, accounts receivable and deferred revenues — was identified as of August 31, 2024 and is open for the third reporting year in a row. The company names fiscal 2026, ending August 31, 2026, as its remediation target.
Goodwill ($1,283.4 million) and intangible assets ($1,868.4 million) make up 75.2 percent of total assets and exceed stockholders' equity of $2,032.3 million by $1,119.5 million. On March 1, 2027, $500 million of 2.900 percent notes come due — against cash of $288.1 million as of May 31, 2026, after $506.0 million had gone into share repurchases over nine months and a further $80.0 million was drawn on the revolver after the balance sheet date.
A market capitalization of about $9.0 billion (35,565,543 shares at the $254.36 close of July 24, 2026) equals roughly 16.6 to 17.1 times the company's own fiscal 2026 earnings guidance and about 3.7 times guided revenues. For a subscription business with a 34 percent adjusted margin that is historically cheap; the average analyst price target of $255.06 (as of July 25, 2026) sits practically at the market price, with 12 of 21 opinions on hold.
FactSet is neither the victim its share price suggests nor the bargain the halved quote implies. The subscription business keeps growing (organic annual subscription value of $2,485.6 million as of May 31, 2026, up 7.1 percent), but the margin is falling even on an adjusted basis (34.0 percent versus 36.8 percent in the third quarter of fiscal 2026), and the company's own annual report names AI both as a source of revenue and as a reason free information may reduce demand. Add two hard facts from the latest filing: a material weakness in internal control open since fiscal 2024, and $500 million of 2.900 percent notes maturing March 1, 2027. Not investment advice.
- FactSet reached our research list through our in-house stock scanner "Turnaround-Kandidaten": rank 7 of 62 U.S. hits, turnaround check 7 of 8, as of July 25, 2026. These lists are recomputed daily, so the ranking is a dated snapshot.
- The fiscal year ends August 31. References to the "third quarter of fiscal 2026" mean the quarter ended May 31, 2026 (reported July 1, 2026); references to "fiscal 2025" mean the year ended August 31, 2025. Anyone comparing FactSet with calendar-year reporters has to allow for that shift.
- Prices are dated valuation anchors, not buy arguments: close of $254.36 on July 24, 2026, all-time high of $499.87 on November 14, 2024, low of $185.00 on February 17, 2026. The share count of 35,565,543 comes from the cover of the quarterly report (as of June 25, 2026).
- Possible confusion: FDS is dual listed — on the New York Stock Exchange and on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The ticker does not refer to any of the several similarly named funds or index products.
About the Company
FactSet Research Systems Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a financial digital platform and enterprise solutions provider for the investment community. It offers data, products, and analytical applications; and workstations, portfolio analytics, and enterprise data solutions, as well as managed services for supporting data, performance, risk, and reporting workflows. The company also provides subscription-based financial data and market intelligence on securities, companies, industries, and people that enable clients to research investment ideas, as well as analyze, monitor, and manage portfolios; and solutions covering investment lifecycle of investment research, portfolio construction and analysis, trade execution, performance measurement, risk management, and reporting. In addition, it offers services through configurable desktop and mobile platform, data feeds, cloud-based digital solutions, and application programming interfaces. It operates in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company serves investment professionals, including institutional asset managers, bankers, wealth managers, asset owners, partners, hedge funds, corporate users, and private equity and venture capital professionals. It has a strategic partnership with Google Cloud to create a new generation of AI-powered solutions for the financial industry. FactSet Research Systems Inc. was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut.
| Employees | 12,694 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Norwalk, CT |
| Address | 45 Glover Avenue, 06850 Norwalk, United States |
| Phone | 203 810 1000 |
| Website | factset.com |
| IPO Date | 3. Jul 1996 |
| ISIN | US3030751057 |
| Stock Split | 3:2 on 02/07/2005 |
Management
| Name | Title | Birth Year |
|---|---|---|
| Christopher McLoughlin | Executive VP, Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary | – |
| Goran Skoko | Executive VP, Chief Revenue Officer and MD of EMEA & Asia Pacific | 1961 |
| Katherine M. Stepp | Chief AI Officer | 1986 |
| Sanoke Viswanathan | CEO & Director | 1975 |
| Joshua B. Warren J.D. | Chief Financial Officer | 1980 |
| Gregory T. Moskoff | MD, Controller & Chief Accounting Officer | 1971 |
| Robert Stolte | Chief Technology Officer | – |
| Kevin J. Toomey Jr. | Head of Investor Relations | – |
| Catrina Harding | Executive VP & Chief People Officer | 1973 |
| Christopher R. Ellis | Executive VP and Head of Strategic Initiatives & Partnership | 1973 |
Executives per the latest required filings; titles kept in their original language. Source: fundamental data.
Chart
Interactive price chart (TradingView).
Data as of: July 31, 2026 · Source: fundamental data & SEC filings (annual and quarterly reports, 10-K/10-Q)
Note: pure fact-based analysis, not investment advice and not a solicitation to buy or sell. All figures without guarantee.