FDS

Business Profile & Competitive Position

FactSet Research Systems Inc. operates in the Financial Services sector, specifically the Financial - Data & Stock Exchanges industry. In practice, it sells a global financial digital platform and enterprise solutions: subscriptions to multi-asset-class data, analytics, APIs, data feeds, managed services, and workstation software that support the full investment lifecycle. The model is overwhelmingly recurring, and as of August 31, 2025, FactSet reported 8,996 clients and 237,324 users. Buy-side clients represented roughly 82% of Organic ASV, while sell-side clients made up about 18%, and ASV retention was greater than 95% while client retention stood at 91%. Those retention numbers help explain why the company can carry a 21.5% net margin and a 25.6% ROE; once a buy-side firm has built portfolio analytics, risk models, and reporting workflows around FactSet, switching costs are high, which supports pricing power and renewals. A beta of 0.71 also confirms that the stock historically moves less dramatically than the broad market, consistent with a subscription-driven business whose fortunes are tied more to client retention than to a single quarter’s transaction volumes.

Financial Posture

FactSet currently trades at $268.83 with a market capitalization of $9.6 billion and a trailing P/E of 18.4. Those figures sit alongside a 21.5% net margin and a 25.6% ROE, a combination that underscores above-average profitability for a diversified data-services business. The technical snapshot as of the report date shows an RSI of 45.0 and a 50-day EMA of $275.27, placing the price just under a near-term moving-average reference. The 18.4 P/E can be read as a valuation that reflects both the durable subscription base and the modest top-line growth profile typical of mature data-service providers. In sum, the balance sheet story here is more about capital-efficient cash generation and client stickiness than aggressive expansion.

Strategic Priorities & Outlook

FactSet’s most recent 10-K frames three operational priorities. The first is to expand data offerings and delivery capabilities, including cloud delivery and a broader catalog of proprietary, third-party, industry, real-time, fund, and sustainable-finance data. The second is to embed the platform deeper into client workflows by extending buy-side front-office capabilities, adding advisor-desktop prospecting and digital reporting tools, and automating research, financial modeling, and pitch creation. The third is to innovate with artificial intelligence through the FactSet AI Blueprint, embedding AI and natural-language processing across workflows to boost productivity and accelerate client decision-making.

Operationally, the Americas contributed 65% of fiscal 2025 revenues, EMEA 25%, and Asia Pacific 10%. A leadership change also took effect on September 8, 2025, when Sanoke Viswanathan became CEO, succeeding F. Philip Snow, who remained in an advisory role through December 31, 2025. The combination of a new CEO, a multi-year AI blueprint, and the push into cloud delivery suggests the near-term focus is on protecting the high-retention base while layering on next-generation workflow tools.

Macro & Geopolitical Exposure

As a Financial - Data & Stock Exchanges business, FactSet is exposed to the health of global capital markets. When asset managers and wealth advisors have more assets under management and higher trading and research activity, demand for data, analytics, and workflow tools tends to be stronger; conversely, sustained market downturns or fee compression in asset management can pressure subscription budgets. The company also faces regulatory exposure around market-data pricing, securities-data licensing, data privacy rules such as GDPR in Europe, and emerging AI governance. Because 35% of fiscal 2025 revenue came from outside the Americas, currency movements and cross-border data-transfer rules are relevant macro factors. In addition, interest-rate cycles can influence buy-side IT spending and the pace of hiring among institutional clients, which ultimately affects seat-count growth and user expansion.

Recent Developments

The most clustered news flow arrived around FactSet’s Q4 2026 report. On September 30, 2026, Zacks reported that FactSet’s Q4 earnings beat estimates and that revenues increased 6.3% year over year. That same day, Seeking Alpha published the Q4 2026 earnings-call transcript and MarketBeat published Q4 earnings-call highlights. On October 1, 2026, Benzinga carried a headline noting that FactSet research analysts boosted their forecasts following the upbeat Q4 results. The reported quarter itself delivered actual EPS of $4.52 versus the $4.35 estimate, a 3.9% positive surprise. The stock moved 2.84% the next day, but the five-day post-earnings drift for that specific report was null%, indicating that the immediate optimism was already priced in or quickly offset by other market factors.

Earnings Behavior & Post-Earnings Drift

Over the last eight reported quarters, FactSet has beaten earnings estimates six times, for a beat rate of 75%, with an average earnings surprise of 1.7%. The average five-day price move in the trading sessions after earnings across those same eight quarters has been 2.71% to the upside, classified as an “up” drift. At the same time, the performance in the most recent four quarters shows variation. The September 30, 2026 report beat by 3.9% but produced a 0% five-day drift; the July 1, 2026 report beat by 1.8% and then drifted -1.49% over the following five sessions; the March 31, 2026 report beat by 1.8% and drifted +2.76%; and the December 18, 2025 report beat by 3.4% and saw the strongest follow-through, with a next-day move of 5.54% and a five-day drift of 6.85%. The next scheduled report is December 17, 2026 before the open, with a consensus EPS estimate of $5.01. The historical record suggests beats have been common, but the magnitude and direction of post-earnings drift has not been uniform, so any forward interpretation should treat the 2.71% average drift as a historical tendency rather than a forecast.

For a deeper dive into FactSet’s institutional sentiment, valuation models, and consensus rating history, readers should consult the full institutional verdict rather than relying solely on these summary figures.