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FactSet Research Systems Inc. FDS

NYSEExchanges and financial dataFinancials to Aug 31, 2026 · Updated Nov 11, 2026

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FDS financials
Moat score
85
ROIC
18.6%
P/E
21.6
EV/EBIT
18.0
FCF yield
6.1%
Dividend yield
1.4%
Market cap
$11.5B

Moat ranks

Score rankTied #79 of 396
Durabilitydurable
Market structureOligopoly
Pricing powermoderate

Balance sheet

8/31/26
$BAug '25Aug '26
Cash0.30.2
Securities0.00.0
Debt1.41.4
Net cash-1.0-1.1
Equity2.22.0
Leverage
Debt / EBITDA
1.56×
Debt / equity
0.68×
Leases (8/31/26)
$172M
Capital
Diluted shares
37M
Book value / share
$54.68
Price / book
5.7×
Net cash / share
−$30.17
Market cap
$11.5B
Enterprise value
$12.6B

Per-share record

Fiscal years and TTM
Scale
$0$20$40$60$80'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'2567.64'26
Revenue per shareCash flow per share

Key indicators

Latest: Q4 '26
IndicatorLatestVs year agoLast 8 quarters
Revenue growth6.3%+0.2 pts
Operating margin24.7%-5.0 pts
FCF margin27.9%-1.9 pts
Capex / revenue4.3%-1.4 pts
Clients≥9,200+2%
Users≥260,000+10%
ASV retention≥95.0%0.0 pts
Americas organic ASV$1.7B+7%
EMEA organic ASV$624M+5%

Margins and growth from reported quarters; company KPIs as reported in results releases.

About FDS

FactSet sells subscriptions for financial data, research workstations, portfolio analytics, trading and enterprise feeds. FY2025 revenue came 64.9% from Americas, 25.0% from EMEA and 10.1% from Asia Pacific.

Revenue mix
Americas 64.9%EMEA 25.0%Asia Pacific 10.1%
  • Data Workflow Lockin

    FactSet is embedded in investment research, portfolio, risk, trading, reporting and data-management workflows, often handling clients' proprietary portfolio data.

  • Procurement Inertia

    FactSet's subscription model, client-specific entitlements, data integrations and high retention make displacement slow even in competitive procurement cycles.

  • Standards Registry

    CGS is the exclusive issuer of CUSIP and CINS identifiers and the US ISIN numbering agency.

  • Data Workflow Lockin

    FactSet's EMEA offering embeds data, portfolio analytics, workstations, feeds, APIs and managed services into regulated investment workflows.

Timeline
  1. Oct 8, 2026

    Scotia Wealth Management expanded its FactSet relationship across advisor research and investment platforms, deepening workflow use; contract value and incremental subscriptions were not disclosed.

  2. Sep 30, 2026

    FactSet reported 7.0% organic ASV growth and about 30% longer average renewal contracts in Q4, strengthening contract visibility. Reported operating profit fell with higher compensation and restructuring costs.

  3. Sep 22, 2026

    FactSet acquired BCC Group International, adding open real-time market-data distribution and governance. The purchase price was not disclosed and management expects no material immediate financial effect.

  4. Jul 28, 2026

    FactSet expanded its RepRisk relationship for sustainable-investing data, giving customers access to additional conduct-risk intelligence; incremental revenue was not disclosed.

  5. Jun 30, 2026

    FactSet partnered with Google Cloud to embed Gemini tools and develop investment and deal-making agents, expanding AI distribution while adding cloud and execution costs.

Ownership

To 10/9/26
CEO
Sanoke Viswanathan
Since 2025 · 1 yrs
Professional CEOSingle share class
Insider trades16
Planned sales2

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Financial record

Fiscal year2017201820192020202120222023202420252026TrendChange 2017–26
Per share ($)
Revenue30.8134.2936.9238.6641.2647.6053.6157.0560.4967.64+9.1%/yr
Cash flow8.099.7910.9913.0914.4013.9016.6018.1418.9222.46+12.0%/yr
Earnings6.516.789.089.6510.3610.2512.0413.9115.5514.57+9.4%/yr
Free cash flow7.168.949.4611.0812.8112.5815.0315.9216.0919.32+11.7%/yr
Capex0.930.851.532.011.591.321.562.222.833.13+14.5%/yr
Dividends2.042.272.572.863.063.253.563.904.174.48+9.1%/yr
Book value14.1213.3617.2923.1926.3534.3741.6549.5256.9654.68+16.2%/yr
Diluted shares (M)40393939393939393837-0.9%/yr
Totals ($B)
Revenue1.21.41.41.51.61.82.12.22.32.5+8.2%/yr
Operating income0.40.40.40.40.50.50.60.70.70.7+7.9%/yr
Net income0.30.30.40.40.40.40.50.50.60.5+8.4%/yr
Free cash flow0.30.40.40.40.50.50.60.60.60.7+10.7%/yr
Buybacks0.30.30.20.20.30.00.20.20.30.6+10.6%/yr
Dividends0.10.10.10.10.10.10.10.20.20.2+8.2%/yr
Net cash-0.3-0.3-0.20.00.1-1.4-1.2-0.9-1.0-1.1−$0.8B
Margins & returns (%)
Gross margin53.651.253.853.550.652.853.354.152.750.6-3.0 pts
Operating margin28.827.130.529.429.825.830.231.832.228.3-0.6 pts
Net margin21.119.824.625.025.121.522.424.425.721.5+0.4 pts
FCF margin23.226.125.628.731.026.428.027.926.628.6+5.3 pts
ROIC32.135.142.142.044.914.218.820.819.318.6-13.5 pts
Return on equity46.150.852.541.639.329.828.928.127.326.6-19.5 pts
R&D % of revenue17.616.115.015.015.713.812.812.013.0––
Stock pay % of revenue2.82.32.32.42.83.03.02.92.63.4+0.6 pts
Capex % of revenue3.02.54.15.23.92.82.93.94.74.6+1.6 pts

Change uses 2017 and 2026 only: compound annual growth for amounts, points for margins and returns, and the change in amount for net cash. A dash means no 2017 base. Trend shows the fiscal years.

Per-share values use diluted weighted shares.ROIC = operating income × (1 − 17.3% tax rate, the company's own over three fiscal years excluding one-offs) ÷ (equity + debt − cash and current securities). Returns show a dash when their base is negative or under 10% of revenue. Free cash flow = operating cash flow − capex. Debt is all borrowings; net cash counts long-term securities and excludes leases. No trailing-twelve-month column: no complete four quarters end after the last fiscal year.

Moat

Moat scorecard

Moat score85
Strength
Confidence
Structure
Oligopoly
Durability
durable
Trajectory
stable
Pricing power
moderate
Segments
  • Americas64.9%
    3 claims
  • EMEA25.0%
    2 claims
  • Asia Pacific10.1%
    2 claims

Moat claims

Applies to
Americas
Confidence
Durability
durable
Trajectory
stableas of Oct 9, 2026
Why it holds

FactSet is embedded in investment research, portfolio, risk, trading, reporting and data-management workflows, often handling clients' proprietary portfolio data.

Why stable

Americas organic ASV grew 7.1% in Q4 and company-wide subscription-dollar retention stayed above 95%; this supports continued workflow demand, without a separately reported regional renewal rate.

Indicators
  • Clients≥9,200+2%
  • Users≥260,000+10%
  • ASV retention≥95.0%0.0 pts
  • Client retention90.0%-1.0 pts
  • Organic ASV and professional services$2.3B+5%
  • Americas organic ASV$1.7B+7%
  • Organic ASV$2.6B+7%
Risks
  • AI-native interfaces can abstract users away from traditional terminals and workstations.
  • Large customers can consolidate data spend with Bloomberg, LSEG, S&P Global or internal platforms.
  • Loss of key third-party data rights could weaken product completeness.

Profile change log

  1. Oct 9, 2026 · business change

    Scotia Wealth Management expanded its FactSet relationship across advisor research and investment platforms, deepening workflow use; contract value and incremental subscriptions were not disclosed.

  2. Oct 9, 2026 · business change

    FactSet reported 7.0% organic ASV growth and about 30% longer average renewal contracts in Q4, strengthening contract visibility. Reported operating profit fell with higher compensation and restructuring costs.

  3. Oct 9, 2026 · business change

    FactSet acquired BCC Group International, adding open real-time market-data distribution and governance. The purchase price was not disclosed and management expects no material immediate financial effect.

  4. Oct 9, 2026 · business change

    FactSet expanded its RepRisk relationship for sustainable-investing data, giving customers access to additional conduct-risk intelligence; incremental revenue was not disclosed.

  5. Oct 9, 2026 · business change

    FactSet partnered with Google Cloud to embed Gemini tools and develop investment and deal-making agents, expanding AI distribution while adding cloud and execution costs.

  6. Oct 9, 2026 · business change

    Sanoke Viswanathan became CEO, bringing a new operating plan and one-time make-whole compensation whose expense is recognized over service periods.

  7. Oct 9, 2026 · analyst revision

    Replaced quarter-only segment weights with FY2025 annual revenue shares, removed unsupported regional market-share ranges, linked all regions to their shared market and completed moat trajectories, management and the investment debate. Moat strengths and all original profile timestamps remain unchanged.

Industry & peers

Peer map

0%10%20%30%40%50%60708090100Moat scoreIndustry medianFDSLSEGMSCIBLKMCOICENDAQTRI

Hover a point for its values; click a peer to compare. Dashed lines: industry medians.

Financial market data and analysis

As of Oct 9, 2026
OligopolyMedium cyclicalityUSD 49B in 2025

Global vendor services supplying financial market prices, reference data, research, analytics, desktops and enterprise feeds to institutions and corporates. This broad spending pool is not just terminal seats and can overlap with index/data products; it must not be added to adjacent market sizes.

  1. Bloomberg
  2. FactSet
  3. Morningstar
  4. S&P Global
2024 leaders, no comparable shares · Burton-Taylor 2025 Company Reports
StocksMoatGross m.Op. m.
FDS8550.6%28.3%
Industry median178262.9%41.6%
Sector median497361.5%35.0%
All stocks median3987653.1%20.0%

Moat medians cover every stock. Margin medians count only stocks with collected numbers and need at least three.

Drivers & risks

Demand drivers
  • More automated investing and risk analysis increase demand for reliable, licensed feeds. AI can increase data consumption even when the user interface changes.
  • Data rights, provenance and accurate identifiers matter when financial institutions put AI outputs into regulated processes.
  • Financial employment, investment-banking activity and technology budgets affect seats and new contracts. Wealth platforms broaden access, while existing essential subscriptions and longer enterprise terms reduce short-term cyclicality. Volatility increases the need for analysis but does not automatically increase contracted seat revenue.
  • Most large vendors sell dollar-based data but pay staff and cloud costs in several currencies. Exchange rates can move operating costs as well as translated sales. Interest rates mainly affect debt expense and client hiring or investment budgets; exposure differs by vendor.
Risks
  • AI and cloud tools can reduce dependence on a proprietary desktop and give competing datasets easier access to users.
  • Bloomberg, S&P, FactSet and specialist vendors compete for the same budgets; customers can buy from several suppliers.
  • Content royalties, skilled staff, cloud computing and cyber-security costs can rise faster than customer prices.
  • Outages, inaccurate data and licence disputes threaten renewals and create financial losses. Lawsuits or open-identifier rules can constrain proprietary security-identifier fees; integration and data rights remain separate competitive advantages.
  • Execution-derived data providers can depend on an affiliated distributor or trading volumes. Contracts can support revenue visibility while renewal pricing and alternative datasets still determine long-term protection.

Bulls & bears

Key question · as of Oct 9, 2026

Can FactSet turn longer enterprise renewals and AI data demand into durable cash growth while keeping cloud, compensation and client consolidation costs under control?

Arguments

4 forFaded: weakening or settled5 against

What to watch

  1. 1Organic ASV and regional growth, with acquisition and currency exclusions checked
  2. 2Subscription-dollar retention, client retention and renewal term length
  3. 3Operating cash flow, capitalized software, buybacks and total debt

Next check: FY2027 Q1 results: test Investor Day organic-growth and margin targets against renewal economics, AI adoption and spending; earnings date remains unconfirmed.

Sources: company filings and dated sources collected for Find My Moat; market cap as of Nov 10, 2026. Not investment advice.

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Moat Score 85/100 by <a href="https://www.findmymoat.com/stocks/XNYS:FDS">Find My Moat</a> (as of September 2026)

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