What Happened?
Shares of financial data provider FactSet (NYSE: FDS) fell 5.4% in the morning session after the company reported mixed fourth-quarter 2025 results, with its stock falling despite beating Wall Street's revenue and earnings estimates for the period.
The financial data provider posted revenue of $607.6 million, up 6.9% year-over-year, and an adjusted EPS of $4.51, both surpassing analyst forecasts. However, these strong quarterly numbers were overshadowed by the company's guidance for the upcoming year. Management's forecast for full-year earnings per share came in slightly below what analysts had been anticipating. This cautious outlook raised concerns about future profitability, leading investors to sell off the stock despite the solid performance in the quarter.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
FactSet’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 3 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful, although it might not be something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 3 months ago when the stock dropped 4.1% on the news that the company reported third-quarter earnings that missed analyst estimates and provided a disappointing profit forecast for the next fiscal year.
The financial data firm disclosed adjusted earnings of $4.05 per share, which fell short of Wall Street's expectation of $4.13 per share. While revenue for the quarter edged past forecasts at $596.9 million, investors focused on the weaker profit outlook. For fiscal 2026, FactSet guided for adjusted earnings between $16.90 and $17.60 per share, with the midpoint falling below the average analyst projection of $18.27 per share.
The market's negative reaction suggests the earnings miss and downbeat guidance overshadowed the slight revenue beat.
FactSet is down 42.2% since the beginning of the year, and at $275.26 per share, it is trading 44% below its 52-week high of $491.61 from December 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of FactSet’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $793.19.
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