Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) Stock Price & How to Invest

Fair Isaac Corporation, known by its ticker FICO, is best known for the FICO Score, the credit score most U.S. lenders use to gauge consumer credit risk. The business splits into two segments: Scores, which licenses the FICO Score to lenders and the three credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion) at extraordinarily high margins (the Scores segment operating margin has run around 91%), and Software, which sells the FICO Platform and analytic decisioning tools to banks, insurers, and other enterprises on a recurring-revenue model. Scores is the profit engine, while Software is the growth-and-stickiness story as customers migrate onto the platform.

The investment picture in 2026 is a story of a wide moat meeting new friction. Revenue and earnings have grown rapidly (trailing-twelve-month revenue around $2.39 billion and net income ~$815 million; the June 2026 quarter brought revenue of ~$674 million, up ~26% year over year, and EPS of ~$12.18 against a ~$11.78 estimate, after which management raised full-year guidance), driven by aggressive Scores price increases and a mortgage-origination rebound. Analysts now expect fiscal 2026 (ending September 30) revenue of ~$2.53 billion. But the stock has collapsed during the year, closing at ~$764 on October 16, 2026, down ~54% year to date and well under half its 52-week high of ~$1,859, after FHFA and the government-sponsored enterprises opened the door to VantageScore 4.0 alongside Classic FICO for mortgages, and after FICO restructured mortgage-score pricing (the FICO 10T model priced around $0.99 per score plus a funding fee). The pressure intensified into the autumn: according to a Q3 2026 investor letter from shareholder Lindsell Train, the FHFA under Director Bill Pulte has been pushing a two-bureau credit approach for government-backed mortgages that would bring VantageScore into lenders' workflows, and FICO has been in open dispute with the agency. Brokers cut price targets heavily in mid-October (RBC to $1,045 from $1,525, Raymond James to $1,230 from $1,750, Needham to $1,100 from $1,650), with RBC keeping its outperform rating. On the other side, United Wholesale Mortgage reaffirmed in October that it will use FICO Scores on every broker credit pull, and the stock rose about 11% in a day on that news. The debate is whether these moves protect or erode FICO's long-run pricing power.

The biggest 2026 risk is competitive and regulatory: FHFA and the GSEs now allow VantageScore 4.0 (a joint venture of the three credit bureaus) alongside FICO for mortgages, threatening FICO's long-held mortgage-scoring monopoly and inviting pricing pressure. FICO's own move to a roughly $0.99-per-score-plus-fee mortgage model sharply cut average per-score fees, and investors are debating whether that defends share or signals eroding pricing power. The relationship with the FHFA has become adversarial, and a regulator-led move to a two-bureau mortgage model would hand VantageScore a structural role in the largest Scores market. The stock has already shown how sensitive it is: it fell more than 50% in 2026 despite earnings growing over 40%. The balance sheet has also become more leveraged, with ~$5.6 billion of debt against ~$248 million of cash after debt-funded buybacks, which reduces flexibility if Scores revenue weakens. Concentration is a further concern: an outsized share of profit comes from one high-margin Scores franchise, and the three bureaus are simultaneously distribution partners and backers of the competing VantageScore. Political and public scrutiny of credit-score pricing adds ongoing headline risk.

19 analysts publish price targets on FICO, averaging $1031.89 against a $771.19 price as of October 2026, or +33.8%. The published targets run from $490.00 to $1675.00, a wide spread, and the ratings split 12 buy, 7 hold, 2 sell. Over the last six months there have been 0 raises and 12 cuts among the published actions. A price target is what an analyst published on a date, not a prediction, and sell-side ratings skew positive across the whole market.

Read the full FICO forecast and price target for the target table, the recent rating actions by firm, and how the consensus has shifted.

We give no verdict on Fair Isaac Corporation. Both cases are real, which is why the question is contested at all, so here is the strongest version of each.

The case for buying. Scores pricing power. The Scores segment is FICO's crown jewel, carrying operating margins around 91% because the score is embedded in lending workflows and costs little to reproduce. The most optimistic published target, $1675.00, assumes this works close to its best case.

The case against. The biggest 2026 risk is competitive and regulatory: FHFA and the GSEs now allow VantageScore 4.0 (a joint venture of the three credit bureaus) alongside FICO for mortgages, threatening FICO's long-held mortgage-scoring monopoly and inviting pricing pressure. The most pessimistic target, $490.00, is roughly what FICO is worth if this bites instead.

Read the full bull and bear case on FICO, including what would have to change to break either one. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

No. Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) has not split its stock in the last 10 years. That is a statement about the window we check rather than about the company’s entire history, so an older split is possible. It also matters less than it once did: fractional shares mean a high price per share no longer keeps smaller investors out, which removed most of the practical reason to split.

A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see Fair Isaac Corporation's investor relations page or your broker.

• Revenue (TTM): ~$2.39B (June quarter ~+26% YoY)
• Net income (TTM): ~$815M (profit margin ~34%, operating ~54%)
• Q3 FY2026 EPS (June quarter): ~$12.18 vs ~$11.78 expected
• FY2026 consensus: revenue ~$2.53B, EPS ~$42.80
• P/E trailing / forward: ~22x / ~15x
• Market cap: ~$16.5B (share price ~$764)
• Debt / cash: ~$5.6B / ~$0.25B

FICO grew trailing revenue ~26% and earnings ~41% year over year, yet the shares fell ~54% in 2026 as the FHFA dispute, VantageScore adoption and mortgage pricing changes compressed the multiple from a trailing P/E near 40x earlier in the year to ~22x trailing and ~15x forward on fiscal 2027 EPS estimates of ~$49.59. That is no longer a large premium to the broader software group. Fiscal fourth-quarter results are expected around November 4, 2026, with consensus EPS of ~$10.89 on ~$658 million of revenue; the 19 analysts covering the stock average a buy with a mean target near $1,032.

Other names that sit close to FICO: same theme, named as a direct competitor, or held beside it in the same funds. Each entry says which. Worth a look if you are thinking about diversification within a thesis rather than concentration on one ticker.

There are three common ways to get FICO exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) directly at any major broker. Hold an ETF that includes it, which spreads the position across many companies. Or build it into a focused thematic portfolio, so FICO sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.

Walnut takes the portfolio route. Describe a thesis where FICO fits (for example “AI infrastructure” or “dividend-growth large-caps”) and the AI proposes 5 to 6 constituents with target weights. You review the plan and fund it through your own broker when you're ready.

New to this? Start with how to invest in stocks, see how to analyze a stock with AI, or compare the best AI stock analyzers.

FICO pairs a wide-moat credit-score franchise with a scaling software platform, and its earnings are still growing above 40%, but 2026 has introduced real questions about pricing power and mortgage-score competition that have cut the valuation to roughly 15x forward earnings.

Whether FICO is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, what would have to go right, and the risks in is FICO a buy or a sell?, and where the stock could go from here in the FICO stock forecast.

For income investors, whether FICO pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does FICO pay a dividend? And to weigh FICO against a peer, read the full side-by-side comparisons: FICO vs EFX and FICO vs EXPGY.