FactSet Research Systems Inc.

For Q4, organic ASV increased 7% year over year to more than $2.56 billion, with $86 million of organic ASV added in the quarter. Revenue grew 6.3% to over $634 million, adjusted operating income was $209 million, adjusted operating margin was 33%, and adjusted EPS was $4.52, up 11.6%. For fiscal 2026, organic ASV grew 7% or $168 million to $2.56 billion, revenue was $2.476 billion, adjusted operating income was $855 million, adjusted operating margin was 34.5%, and adjusted EPS was $18.01, up 6%. Free cash flow was $177 million in Q4 and $707 million for the full year, up more than 14%. For FY'27, FactSet expects organic ASV growth of 5% to 6.5%, reported revenue growth of 5% to 6% (about 100 bps higher on a like-for-like basis), operating margin expansion of 25 to 75 bps, and EPS growth in the high single digits, with roughly a 2% EPS headwind from a higher tax rate and incremental interest expense.

Sanoke Viswanathan framed FY'26 as a transformative year in which FactSet combined stronger commercial execution, higher productivity, and a differentiated AI strategy. He emphasized record Q4 ASV, broad-based client wins, and growing adoption of MCP, APIs, and other AI-enabled delivery methods, saying clients are increasingly choosing FactSet for connected data, embedded workflows, and enterprise-style agreements. His tone was confident and upbeat, but he repeatedly stressed that the company is still early in the AI transition and intends to keep investing while improving operating leverage.

Josh Warren focused on the mechanics behind the year’s results: ASV acceleration, margin pressure from upfront compensation and structural investments, and the path to FY'27 improvement. He said Q4 margins were affected by faster ASV growth, compensation-related expense up 9%, and one-time productivity and restructuring costs, while free cash flow was $177 million in Q4 and $707 million for FY'26. He also highlighted capital allocation, including about 552,000 shares repurchased for $138 million in Q4, about $644 million repurchased in FY'26, gross debt leverage of 1.5x, net debt leverage of 1.2x, and an undrawn revolver after increasing capacity from $1 billion to $1.5 billion.

Analysts pressed on competition, especially MCP and AI ecosystem risks, and management responded that FactSet’s edge is its data quality, workflow depth, and ability to bundle data, analytics, and capabilities into agentic workflows. Questions also focused on the FY'27 ASV guide versus FY'26’s strong exit rate; management said there was no pull-forward into FY'26 and that growth may be back-half weighted because renewals are not linear. Other questions centered on BCC Group, with management saying the deal expands real-time data distribution rather than becoming a services business, and on AI monetization, where Josh Warren said more than 10% of Q4 ASV added came from AI SKUs.