Institutional ticker directory tracking stock mentions, long/short ideas, and high-conviction pitches extracted from quarterly hedge fund letters.
| Ticker | Company | Sector | Industry | Pitches | Stance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fund / Manager | Thesis Excerpt | Stance | Period / Date | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Edgewood Management Alan Breed | “Fair Isaac showed 60% year-over-year EPS growth in the most recent quarter. Portfolio weighting is 4.2% as of June 30, 2026. Edgewood estimates 2026 EPS of $46.21 (26x P/E) and 2027 EPS of $60.04 (20x P/E), representing 53% growth in 2025-2026 and 30% growth in 2026-2027, with a 5-year estimated growth rate of 32%. Fair Isaac executed $605M buyback, the largest in company history, with new $2B board authorization including $1.5B accelerated share repurchase. The portfolio added 0.5% to Fair Isaac position during Q2 2026.” | NEUTRAL | Q2 2026 Jul 30, 2026 | View Pitch |
Virtus Silvant Mid-Cap Growth Fund Michael A. Sansoterra, Sandeep Bhatia, Sowmdeb Sen | “Although Fair Isaac's stock faced pressure due to political scrutiny over its pricing power and monopoly status, its underlying financial metrics remain robust. The manager took advantage of the weakness to add to the position, noting that competitors have failed to gain market share.” | BULL | Q1 2026 Mar 31, 2026 | View Pitch |
Baron FinTech Fund Josh Saltman | “Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO), a data and analytics company focused on predicting consumer behavior, contributed to performance. FICO reported strong quarterly financial results and solid fiscal 2026 guidance, which calls for 28% EPS growth. The company also launched its new Direct Licensing Program for mortgage lending, which provides greater flexibility to monetize its intellectual property. The initiative was well received by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, which should help temper concerns about regulatory risk. We expect FICO to retain its dominant market position in the consumer credit ecosystem and continue growing earnings per share at a rapid rate from price increases, a rebound in mortgage originations, and continued growth in non-mortgage consumer lending. BSD Analysis: FICO owns the scoring algorithm that underwrites modern consumer credit. Lenders can complain about pricing, but they cannot function without the model embedded in risk workflows. Investors fixate on valuation while pricing power quietly compounds. New score versions and analytics deepen lock-in rather than disrupt it. Cyclicality in lending affects volumes, not relevance. Margins reflect monopoly-like economics in a regulated moat. This is financial infrastructure hiding in plain sight.” | BULL | Q4 2025 Dec 31, 2025 | View Pitch |
Brown Advisory Large-Cap Growth Strategy Brown Advisory LLC | “Fair Isaac rebounded early in the quarter as clarity emerged around competitive risks in mortgage scoring. A softened regulatory stance and hurdles for VantageScore reinforced FICO's dominant position and pricing power. Mortgage scores revenue grew 60% year-over-year, and non-mortgage scores delivered double-digit growth. These trends underscored FICO's ability to drive pricing and maintain leadership in credit analytics. The company continues to benefit from embedded industry standards. BSD Analysis: FICO's moat is a de facto standard—credit scoring that regulators, lenders, and consumers all accept without debate. That acceptance is the real barrier; better models don't matter if no one can deploy them. Pricing power is exceptional because the score's value far exceeds its cost. Growth is steady, driven by usage and pricing rather than customer count. Regulatory scrutiny is ever-present but paradoxically reinforces incumbency. The platform expansion beyond scores adds upside, but the core already prints cash. The bull case is continued price realization with minimal churn. The bear case is political pushback on scoring economics. FICO compounds by being unquestioned infrastructure.” | BULL | Q4 2025 Dec 31, 2025 | View Pitch |
Spyglass Capital Management Portfolio Manager | “The fund re-established its position in FICO as transitory regulatory uncertainties faded and the firm introduced a highly lucrative direct licensing model. This model bypasses traditional bureaus to capture a larger share of transaction economics without increasing costs to end lenders. FICO's status as a near-monopoly in credit scoring with low costs relative to value-add provides immense long-term pricing power.” | BULL | Q3 2025 Sep 30, 2025 | View Pitch |
Edgewood Management Alan Breed | “As the primary industry standard in consumer credit scoring, the company holds an incredibly durable market position. Recent regulatory headline risks are overblown, and the manager remains highly confident in management's pricing flexibility and ability to maintain a strong long-term growth trajectory.” | BULL | Q3 2025 Sep 30, 2025 | View Pitch |
Edgewood Management Alan Breed | “Leading provider of consumer credit analytics and scoring algorithms that is best known for the “FICO Score”—a three-digit metric used in a variety of consumer credit decisions. Thesis: FICO is the industry standard, used in 90%+ of consumer credit decisions across the US. There is an opportunity to proliferate scores beyond originations and close the Scores' price to value gap, specifically in mortgage and auto. FYQ3 Results: Revenue +20% and EPS +47%. Raised full year EPS. What Happened: Stock declined after FHFA Director Bill Pulte posted on X that government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) could use an alternate score, creating headline risk around FICO's mortgage score moat and 2026 pricing. Edgewood's View: The market overestimated share-loss and pricing risk; we viewed management as having flexibility in how they wanted to approach Scores monetization and felt confident in the 20%+ multi-year EPS growth algorithm. Resulting Action: Added to the position throughout the quarter (250bps in total), with additions in the post Q3 earnings sell-off after numerous meetings with senior FICO management. BSD Analysis: FICO is the quiet monopoly behind consumer credit decisions in the United States. Lenders may complain about pricing, but they still pay. Switching costs are enormous because underwriting standards are embedded systemwide. Pricing power has been aggressive — and largely accepted. Growth is steady because credit markets don't reinvent themselves overnight. Margins are elite because data scales cheaply. Regulatory scrutiny is a constant background hum. This is not fintech disruption bait. It's scoring infrastructure with monopoly economics and unapologetic pricing discipline.” | BULL | Q3 2025 Sep 30, 2025 | View Pitch |
Edgewood Management Alan Breed | “FICO is the leading provider of consumer credit analytics and scoring algorithms: Best known for the “FICO Score”—a three-digit metric used in 90%+ of consumer credit decisions across the U.S. (including mortgage, auto, credit card, and personal loans). FICO generates revenue in two ways: Scores (53% FY24 revenue / 76% FY24 EBITDA): Proprietary risk algorithm is licensed to banks, credit bureaus, insurance companies, and other financial intermediaries. Royalty paid on a per score basis. Software (47% FY24 revenue / 24% FY24 EBITDA): Subscription software solutions, help banks and lenders manage the lifecycle of a loan (customer acquisition, fraud detection, repayment schedules). 35+ year history in consumer scoring has established it as the benchmark used in all domestic credit decisioning: In 1987, they introduced nation's first standardized credit score. Since then, all key constituents in consumer credit value chain have adopted and embedded it into their risk systems. Industry standard: FICO score is used in 90% of lending decisions. Embedded in underwriting & secondary market risk technology systems. Entrenchment makes it difficult to displace as it serves as the common language in communicating consumer risk profiles to market participants. Score monetization/Proliferation: Accelerates volume by encouraging increased score pull cadence (monthly → weekly pulls) and monetizing new areas (mortgage non-originations). Volume Growth in Core Categories: Mortgage volumes are depressed relative to recent history (53% below the 2021 peak). We see potential for bounce back followed by long-term secular growth driven by housing starts. Pricing Opportunity across Mortgage and Auto: FICO is underpriced relative to the value it provides in credit underwriting. Management Aligned with Shareholders: CEO Will Lansing is a top 15 shareholder. Company has investor friendly capital return strategy (~$3B shares repurchased since 2021). Why Now? New U.S. administration created policy uncertainty which led to a buying opportunity: Investors have raised concerns around changes at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that could impact FICO's position in market and its role in scoring government-backed mortgages (~57% of new mortgages). FICO has faced regulatory scrutiny before and navigated it successfully. We felt that the recent stock pullback (down 20%+ in mid-May) compensated investors for regulatory uncertainty. BSD Analysis: Fair Isaac continues to flex its monopoly-like pricing power in 2026, doubling its FICO score pricing for mortgages to $10 per score, a move that is expected to contribute significantly to its high-margin revenue. The company's "Scores" division recently achieved nearly 30% year-over-year growth, fueled by resilient demand in the auto and mortgage sectors despite fluctuating interest rates. While the FHFA's inclusion of VantageScore in mortgage processing creates a long-term competitive threat, FICO's dominant brand and entrenched status in underwriting provide a formidable defensive moat. Bearish sentiment is currently limited to the software segment's slower scaling, but the firm's ability to implement aggressive price increases underscores its pricing power. With a consensus "Buy" rating and robust cash flow, FICO remains a premier play on the structural reliance of the global credit ecosystem.” | BULL | Q2 2025 Jun 30, 2025 | View Pitch |
Conestoga Mid Cap Composite Conestoga Capital Advisors, LLC | “Fair Isaac Corp. (FICO) A graduate of our SMid Cap Growth strategy, FICO provides credit-scoring and other services throughout a wide variety of industries to assist companies with providing credit, protecting against fraud, and analyzing customer data. The company's successful growth in revenue and earnings has raised its market capitalization to levels appropriate for the Mid Cap Growth strategy, and we believe FICO continues to offer long-term capital appreciation potential. BSD Analysis: FICO benefits from a highly entrenched credit-score franchise with quasi-utility characteristics and growing demand for advanced decision analytics. Pricing power and volume growth in scores, combined with expanding software adoption, support strong, high-margin recurring revenue. The company's asset-light model converts a large share of earnings into free cash flow, enabling buybacks and potential strategic investments. While the stock trades at a premium P/E relative to the market, its dominant competitive position and durable mid-teens EPS growth profile justify the valuation. Rising consumer credit usage and bank investment in risk analytics remain key tailwinds, though regulatory changes and macro credit cycles are risks to monitor.” | BULL | Q2 2025 Jun 30, 2025 | View Pitch |
Each excerpt above is the manager's commentary on this ticker specifically. The full letter has the rest of their portfolio thinking, risk discussion, and broader institutional context.
