Why Professional Services Company Equifax Shares Are Surging Today

Equifax Inc. EFX shares are surging today after the company reported better-than-expected second-quarter FY24 financial results.

Revenue grew 9% Y/Y to $1.43 billion, beating the consensus of $1.42 billion. Despite a 13% decline in USIS mortgage credit inquiries, U.S. mortgage revenue grew by 4% Y/Y in the second quarter.

In the second quarter, Workforce Solutions saw a 5% Y/Y increase in overall revenue, led by a 12% growth in non-mortgage revenue, particularly in Verification Services, where Government and Talent Solutions led with a 20% increase. However, mortgage revenue declined by 12% in the quarter.

Adjusted EBITDA margin declined to 32.0% from 32.7% a year ago. Adjusted EPS of $1.82 surpassed the street view of $1.73.

In the second quarter, there was significant new product innovation leveraging the new EFX Cloud, with a 12.5% increase in the new product Vitality Index.

Additionally, 89% of new models and scores were developed using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.

Outlook: Equifax revised guidance for FY24 revenue to $5.69 billion-$5.75 billion (from $5.67 billion-$5.77 billion) vs. $5.72 billion and adjusted EPS of $7.22-$7.47 (from $7.20-$7.50 earlier) vs an estimate of $7.38.

For the third quarter, Equifax sees adjusted EPS of $1.75-$1.85 (vs. street view of $2.01) and revenue of $1.425 billion-$1.445 billion (vs. consensus of $1.45 billion).

Mark W. Begor, Equifax Chief Executive Officer, said, “While Equifax continues to execute well against its EFX2026 strategic priorities, our 2024 guidance reflects an expectation of a decline of about 11% in our 2024 U.S. mortgage credit inquiries, which is consistent with the current run-rates, and compares to down 34% in 2023.”

“Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EPS continue to benefit from organic revenue growth and the additional cost savings from Cloud spending reduction plans.”

Also, BofA Securities maintained a Buy rating on the stock and raised its price target from $255 to $286.

Investors can gain exposure to the stock via Fidelity Disruptive Finance ETF FDFF and VanEck ETF Trust VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat Growth ETF MGRO.

Price Action: EFX shares are up 5% at $272.27 at the last check Thursday.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.