What happened
Shares of Fair Isaac (FICO 0.78%), a leading analytics software company, doubled in 2019, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. That performance made it one of the year's top-performing large-cap tech stocks. For context, the S&P 500 index returned 31.5% in 2019.
Fair Isaac stock isn't slowing down in 2020: It's up 7.9% through Jan. 10, compared with the S&P 500's 1.1% return.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
We can attribute Fair Isaac's powerful 2019 stock rise to its strong financial performance. In the company's most recently reported quarter, the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019, its revenue jumped 19% year over year to $305.3 million. Applications revenue increased 8% to $149.9 million, scores revenue was up 30% to $115.9 million, and decision-management software revenue surged 41% to $39.5 million.
Under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), net income soared 67% to $54.6 million, which translated to a 68% rise in earnings per share (EPS) to $1.80. On an adjusted basis, net income surged 48% to $60.8 million, which translated to a 50% increase in EPS to $2.01. That result crushed Wall Street's $1.68 consensus estimate.
"Our strong fourth quarter capped off another great year," said CEO Will Lansing in the earnings release. "We delivered double-digit revenue and earnings growth while expanding our margins."
Fair Isaac stock isn't just a one-year big outperformer, it's been a long-term winner, as this 10-year chart shows:
Data by YCharts.
Now what
Investors should be getting material news soon. While Fair Isaac hasn't yet scheduled a date for the release of its first-quarter results for fiscal 2020, it should be late this month or early in February.
Wall Street is expecting adjusted EPS of $1.86 on revenue of $288.8 million, representing growth of 28.3% and 10.1%, respectively, year over year.
