FactSet Research Systems Q4 Earnings Call Highlights

Key Points

• Record growth: FactSet delivered $168 million in fiscal 2026 organic ASV growth, up 7%, while revenue increased 6.7% to $2.476 billion and adjusted EPS rose 6% to $18.01.
• AI is accelerating demand: AI products generated more than 10% of fourth-quarter ASV additions, with clients using AI solutions growing ASV twice as fast as other customers. More than 650 clients were engaged with the company’s Model Context Protocol offerings.
• Fiscal 2027 outlook: FactSet expects organic ASV growth of 5% to 6.5%, revenue growth of 5% to 6%, and adjusted operating-margin expansion of 25 to 75 basis points, while continuing workforce and productivity initiatives.

FactSet Research Systems NYSE: FDS reported record fourth-quarter organic annual subscription value, or ASV, growth for fiscal 2026, as the financial-data provider cited demand for AI-enabled products, data feeds and enterprise agreements.

For the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, FactSet generated $168 million of organic ASV growth, or 7%, bringing total ASV to $2.56 billion. Chief Executive Officer Sanoke Viswanathan said the result exceeded the high end of the company’s guidance range and represented its highest fourth-quarter ASV performance on record.

Fourth-quarter organic ASV increased by $86 million, while revenue rose 6.3% year over year to more than $634 million. FactSet reported adjusted operating income of $209 million and an adjusted operating margin of 33%. Adjusted diluted earnings per share increased 11% to $4.52.

For the full fiscal year, revenue rose 6.7% to $2.476 billion, adjusted operating income was $855 million, and adjusted operating margin was 34.5%. Adjusted EPS increased 6% to $18.01. Free cash flow totaled $707 million for the year, up more than 14%, including $177 million in the fourth quarter.

Growth Across Client Types and Regions

FactSet said growth was broad-based across its customer segments and geographies. In the fourth quarter, institutional buy-side organic ASV rose 5%, while the company’s dealmakers category across buy-side and sell-side clients grew 9%. Wealth-management ASV increased 9%, and market-infrastructure ASV grew 8%.

By region, organic ASV grew 7% in the Americas, 5% in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and more than 10% in Asia-Pacific.

Viswanathan said the company’s commercial activity included six- and seven-figure deals for offerings including AI for Banking, Model Context Protocol, or MCP, Deep Sector content, trading solutions and real-time data. FactSet also cited several eight-figure enterprise agreements with global asset managers.

The company said it is increasingly moving from seat-based contracts to flexible enterprise agreements. During the fourth quarter, a majority of renewed ASV was secured through enterprise agreements or contracts lasting at least three years. That increased average contract length by roughly 30% while broadly preserving pricing, according to management.

AI Products Gain Adoption

Management emphasized that AI-related products are becoming a larger contributor to new business. AI offerings accounted for more than 10% of the ASV added in the fourth quarter, Chief Financial Officer Josh Warren said, exceeding the company’s total AI contribution in fiscal 2025.

FactSet said more than 650 clients were actively engaged through contracts or trials to access datasets through MCP at fiscal year-end. API call volume in the fourth quarter was seven times the prior quarter’s level, according to Viswanathan.

“Clients using our AI solutions grew their ASV twice as fast as the rest of our client base in Q4,” Viswanathan said.

The company launched its first Portfolio Analytics MCP during the quarter, extending portfolio analytics capabilities to agentic workflows involving performance measurement, risk and reporting. FactSet also said it launched products during fiscal 2026 including multi-asset-class risk models, quant-modeling tools and agents for banking, buy-side and wealth-management clients.

Management said MCP adoption often begins with trials and can expand into larger data-feed, workstation and agentic-workflow relationships. Viswanathan said a majority of existing workstation customers that added MCP increased their overall ASV with FactSet, with growth ranging from 20% to 50% more than customers without that addition on average.

Productivity Actions and Margin Outlook

FactSet’s adjusted operating margin declined about 180 basis points during fiscal 2026 from the prior year. Warren attributed the pressure to structural investments in infrastructure modernization, cybersecurity and resilience, along with upfront performance-based incentive compensation related to stronger ASV growth. Revenue associated with ASV is recognized over time, while incentive compensation is expensed upfront, he said.

The company reduced overall headcount during the fourth quarter, marking its first annual headcount decline after several years of growth. Warren said FactSet implemented additional workforce reductions earlier in September, while continuing to invest in product development and client service.

Viswanathan said the company had consolidated business units into a unified product organization, exited businesses where it did not believe it had the right to win, and expanded AI use in engineering, support and data operations. The company said AI-enabled projects in product and engineering rose roughly 40% during the quarter.

FactSet also reported that its client-assist agent was fully rolled out by the fourth quarter and now resolves more than 30% of user-initiated requests without human interaction.

For fiscal 2027, FactSet expects organic ASV growth of 5% to 6.5% and reported revenue growth of 5% to 6%. Like-for-like revenue growth is expected to be roughly 100 basis points higher than reported growth, reflecting factors including the company’s exit from the ESG Signals attribution business, foreign exchange rates and other one-time items.

The company forecast adjusted operating-margin expansion of 25 to 75 basis points in fiscal 2027. Warren said FactSet expects high-single-digit EPS growth despite estimated headwinds of about 2% from a higher assumed tax rate and increased interest expense related to the refinancing of $500 million of notes maturing in March 2027.

BCC Group Acquisition and Capital Returns

Following the close of the fourth quarter, FactSet announced the acquisition of Frankfurt-based BCC Group, a provider of real-time data infrastructure. Viswanathan said the transaction expands FactSet’s ability to offer integrated entitlement management and distribution capabilities for real-time feeds, helping clients transition from incumbent providers.

FactSet repurchased about 552,000 shares for $138 million during the fourth quarter. For fiscal 2026, the company repurchased approximately $644 million in shares, reducing shares outstanding by almost 7%. Combined dividends and repurchases exceeded $800 million, up more than 75% from the prior year.

Management said it plans to provide further details on its medium-term strategy, financial targets and shareholder-value framework at an Investor Day scheduled for Nov. 10.

About FactSet Research Systems (NYSE:FDS)

FactSet Research Systems Inc provides financial data, analytics, and investment management technology to professionals across the global financial services industry. Its platform integrates market, company, portfolio, economic, and alternative data with analytical tools designed to support investment research, decision-making, reporting, and risk management.

The company serves asset managers, investment banks, wealth managers, hedge funds, private equity firms, corporations, and other financial institutions.

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