FactSet (FDS) to Report Q2 Earnings: What's in the Offing?

OMC FDS G

FactSet Research Systems Inc. (FDS - Free Report) is scheduled to report second-quarter fiscal 2020 results on Mar 26, before the bell.

The company has trailing four-quarter positive earnings surprise of 6.6%, on average. FactSet’s earnings have surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all of the last four quarters.

The stock has dropped 0.8% in the past year compared with 8.3% decline of the industry it belongs to.

Q1 Highlights

FactSet reported mixed first-quarter fiscal 2020 results, with earnings topping the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 6.6% and revenues missing the same by a slight margin.

Total revenues of $366.7 million increased 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. FactSet delivered adjusted EPS of $ 2.58, up 9.8% year over year.

Q2 Expectations

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the to-be-reported quarter’s revenues is pegged at $370.4 million, which indicates growth of 4.4% from the year-ago quarter’s actual figure. Higher sales of analytics, wealth management as well as content and technology solutions (CTS) are likely to have benefited the top line.

The consensus estimate for earnings is pegged at $2.47, which suggests year-over-year growth of 2.1%. Higher revenues and operating efficiency are expected to have boosted the bottom line.

The consensus mark for FactSet’s Annual Subscription Value (ASV) generated from the United States is at $921 million, which indicates 3.4% year-over-year growth. International ASV is expected to grow 4.5% year over year to $554 million.

Zacks Rank & Other Stocks to consider

FactSet currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Few other top-ranked stocks in the broader Zacks Business Services sector are Sykes Enterprises , Omnicom (OMC - Free Report) and Genpact (G - Free Report) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Long-term expected EPS (three to five years) growth rate for Sykes, Omnicom and Genpact is pegged at 10%, 5.6% and 14%, respectively.

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