Latest news with #Equifax
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Equifax (EFX) Reports Q2 Growth and Raises 2025 Revenue Guidance
Equifax recently raised its full-year 2025 earnings guidance and reported strong Q2 results, with sales increasing to $1,537 million and net income rising to $191 million. During the last quarter, the company also executed a share buyback, repurchasing 483,068 shares for $127 million. These positive developments might have contributed to the company's stock price moving up 5.94% over the quarter, aligning with an overall positive market sentiment as major indexes like the S&P 500 reached record highs, despite some fluctuations in tech stocks. We've discovered 1 risk for Equifax that you should be aware of before investing here. Rare earth metals are an input to most high-tech devices, military and defence systems and electric vehicles. The global race is on to secure supply of these critical minerals. Beat the pack to uncover the 26 best rare earth metal stocks of the very few that mine this essential strategic resource. The recent positive developments, including strong Q2 results and an updated earnings guidance for 2025, have not only given short-term momentum to Equifax's share price, which rose by 5.94% over the past quarter, but they also underline the company's efforts to leverage innovation, particularly through cloud capabilities and new product launches. This is expected to drive long-term revenue growth and improve net margins. Equifax's recent actions, such as the share buyback and dividend increase, may enhance shareholder confidence and perceptions of value. Over the past five years, the company's total return, including both share price appreciation and dividends, was 62.79%, illustrating strong longer-term performance. Despite this, Equifax's one-year return underperformed the US Professional Services industry, which returned 6.2%, and was also below the broader US market's 13.7% return. Analysts' forecasts indicate potential revenue growth of 9.2% annually, outpacing the market, which they expect to grow at 9%. Earnings projections show significant anticipated growth of 20.6% per year, reflecting the optimism surrounding the company's strategic initiatives. The current share price of $259.64 remains below the consensus price target of $289.83, representing a price target discount of 11.63%. This suggests that analysts see room for appreciation if the company executes its plans successfully. Potential risks, such as economic uncertainties and changes in federal funding practices, could impact future revenue and earnings growth. However, with the company's focus on expanding its Total Addressable Market (TAM), particularly in government sectors, and advancing its mortgage products, Equifax might be well positioned to capitalize on these growth opportunities. Learn about Equifax's historical performance here. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Companies discussed in this article include EFX. This article was originally published by Simply Wall St. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@ Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Railroad stocks, Microsoft, Equifax: Trending Tickers
Railroad stocks, like Union Pacific (UNP), Norfolk Southern (NSC), and CSX Corp (CSX), are climbing on reports of railway mergers. Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B, BRK-A) CEO Warren Buffett has denied reports from Semafor and Reuters that BNSF Railway is in talks with Goldman Sachs to acquire a regional rival. Microsoft (MSFT) said Chinese state-sponsored hackers exploited a SharePoint flaw to breach global systems, though the company has since issued a patch. Equifax (EFX) stock is slipping after the company issued weaker-than-expected third quarter and full-year guidance. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Catalysts here. Now it's time for a look at some of today's trending tickers. We're watching railroad stocks, Microsoft, and Equifax. First up, railroad stocks rising on M&A chatter. Warren Buffett denying a report out this morning from Semaphore and Reuters that railroad operator BNSF, which is owned by Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, tapped Goldman Sachs as it looks to acquire a regional rival. Buffett telling CNBC no one from Goldman has spoken to him or Greg Abel about this deal. That follows news that Union Pacific is also exploring an acquisition of Norfolk Southern. So interesting here to see all of this consolidation chatter here. I'm taking a look at the transports on the YFi interactive here, and we're definitely seeing some strength among the railroads. Union Pacific up some 2%, Norfolk Southern up a bit, CSX is up as well. And Allie, uh, Canal is still with me. So it's interesting to see the, you know, the the price action that we've been seeing in these railroads and also the tariff backdrop as we consider what's going on with these companies. Yeah, and a lot of that price action moving on these reports, Warren Buffett denying this, saying that he if he if he chose to go down that route, he would not engage investment bankers, and this is something that he said in the past. But you mentioned that potential deal with Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern. Now these are companies are worth billions and billions of dollars. Norfolk worth 61 billion, Union Pacific worth about 140 billion, and rail consolidation has historically boosted margins, and Union Pacific margins have climbed to 40% from under 30% over the past 15 years. So we've seen this company steadily ramp up. We have the latest price action here, and this would merge eastern and western rail networks and reshape the US freight landscape in general. So, I'm curious to see if a deal gets done and what that could mean for the future of these rail companies and just travel across the board. Yeah, for sure. Um, next up, let's talk Microsoft. It's accusing Chinese state-sponsored hackers of exploiting exploiting a weakness in its SharePoint document management software. It's a tool that many businesses use to store and share documents that they use that to break into computer systems around the world. In a blog post, Microsoft is pointing fingers at two groups supported by the Chinese government. That problem affects organizations that run SharePoint on their own servers versus through Microsoft's cloud. Um, and we learned yesterday morning that SharePoint had some kind of vulnerability, but we didn't know where that vulnerability was originating. And now Microsoft coming out with those details. The shares down a little bit today, but not seeing much move. Yeah, investors largely looking through this, but the campaign has already hit US government agencies, including the Education Department, state entities in Florida, Rhode Island. That's according to Bloomberg. Victims span sectors, span geographies, energy firms, universities in Europe, the Middle East, healthcare providers, institutions in Southeast Asia. So this is a global problem. Microsoft saying that it patched up some of that vulnerability, but researchers have called it a high severity, high urgency risk due to SharePoint's deep integration across the Microsoft ecosystem. So if you look at Outlook to Teams, that's a lot of exposure there, and and that could potentially have exposed entire networks here around the world. So, again, shares not doing too much today, but just points to how critical cybersecurity is, especially for a lot of these big tech companies. Yeah, definitely. Um, let's get to an earnings story last, Equifax, following after giving disappointing third quarter and full-year guidance. The credit reporting agency sees third quarter adjusted earnings per share of a buck 87 to $1.97. Wall Street wanted to see $1.99. The revenue outlook was also a bit soft here. And with today's declines, the stock is a little bit lower here year to date, Allie. Yeah, and Equifax is interesting, too, because they did see stronger than expected mortgage credit inquiries despite that sluggish housing market. Now, we still have mortgage demand pretty muted across the board at this point, but we are at a point where rates are at least lower than they were last year. But, uh, overall, you know, we've been tracking the health of the US consumer, how they're spending, what delinquency rates are telling us when it comes to that health, and so far this earning season, we have received this message of resiliency, but that doesn't mean that there're not cracks underneath the surface, and that's something that investors will be really keen to hear more of on these earnings calls, especially as more of these consumer-facing companies start to report over the next few weeks. What is the message here? Because as soon as consumers start, uh, stop spending, I should say, as soon as they start defaulting potentially on some of their credit card payments, that could be a big problem here for the state of the economy and the growth picture that we know the Fed is really focused on as well. Yes, if indeed that starts to happen, we'll keep an eye on those indicators. Thanks a lot, Allie. And you can scan the QR code below, as always, to track the best and worst performing stocks with the Yahoo finances trending tickers page. Related Videos Big Tech earnings: Why this 'common thread' will be 'key' Meme stock rally heats up: Kohl's stock soars Chip stocks slide, NXP weak outlook, Coinbase inks PNC deal Coca-Cola's Q2 beat, cane sugar Coke: What's next in 2025 Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
CNBC
3 hours ago
- Business
- CNBC
Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Kohl's, General Motors, Lockheed Martin, Medpace and more
Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading: Opendoor Technologies , Kohl's — The two stocks have been cited on Reddit's WallStreetBets forum and have seen some wild moves as retail traders chase meme stocks . Opendoor, an online real estate startup, surged earlier in the day, but was recently down nearly 2%. Still, shares have gained more than 500% this month. The department store didn't appear to have any major corporate announcements, but Kohl's stock surged 37% . General Motors — Shares tumbled nearly 7% despite the automaker beating sales and profit expectations in the second quarter. Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of $3.04 billion were higher than analysts estimated, but down more than 31% from a year ago. Lockheed Martin — The maker of the Air Force's F-35 fighter bomber dropped 6% after quarterly revenue of $18.16 billion trailed analysts' consensus estimate of $18.57 billion, according to LSEG. Earnings per share of $1.46 weren't comparable to estimates. Lockheed also reported a $1.6 billion loss attributed to some defense programs, and management said the "ongoing program review process identified new developments that caused us to re-evaluate the financial position on a set of major legacy programs." Medpace — The outsourced clinical development services provider soared 48% after second quarter net income and revenue topped analyst estimates and it raised full-year guidance. GAAP earnings of $3.10 per share exceeded the FactSet consensus estimate of $2.98, while revenue of $603.3 million beat an expected $538.8 million. IQVIA – The health-care technology and data analytics company saw shares surge 17%. IQVIA narrowed its guidance for full-year adjusted earnings, calling for $11.75 to $12.05 per share. That compares to its earlier call for $11.70 to $12.10 per share, and the FactSet consensus estimate of $11.83 a share. Second-quarter results also surpassed the Street's estimates. Equifax – Shares of the consumer credit company slid nearly 7% on disappointing guidance for the current quarter. Equifax sees third-quarter adjusted earnings ranging from $1.87 to $1.97 per share, while FactSet consensus estimates sought $1.99 a share. The revenue outlook for the period came in at $1.51 billion to $1.54 billion, compared to the Street's estimate for $1.53 billion. Steel Dynamics — Shares retreated nearly 3% after the steelmaker's second quarter results trailed expectations, with $2.01 of earnings per share missing the Street's $2.10 and revenue of $4.57 billion trailing the consensus for $4.76 billion. D.R. Horton — The homebuilder surged 14% after fiscal third-quarter results came in above expectations, with earnings of $3.36 per share exceeding the $2.89 anticipated by analysts surveyed by FactSet. Revenue of $9.23 billion topped the estimated $8.75 billion. PulteGroup — Shares popped 8% after the home construction company posted second-quarter earnings of $3.03 per share, topping analyst estimates of $2.96, per LSEG. PulteGroup's $4.40 billion revenue also came in ahead of the expected $4.39 billion. Northrop Grumman — Shares jumped 8% after Northrop Grumman posted second-quarter revenue of $10.35 billion, topping the LSEG consensus estimate of $10.07 billion. Agilysys — Shares sank 9% after the hospitality software company's first quarter EBITDA of $12.5 million lagged the FactSet consensus estimate of $14.0 million. NXP Semiconductors — The Dutch semiconductor maker dropped 2% after second quarter sales declined due to slow demand in the automotive market. Otherwise, NXP beat on the top and bottom lines, with adjusted earnings of $2.72 per share on revenue of $2.93 billion exceeding $2.67 on $2.90 billion expected by analysts polled by LSEG. Albertsons — The grocery chain rose nearly 3% after UBS upgraded Albertsons to a buy from neutral, and raised its 12-month price target to $27 per share, implying upside of 35%. Zions Bancorporation — Shares rose almost 3% after Zions posted second-quarter earnings of $1.63 per share, beating an LSEG consensus estimate of $1.31 per share. Zions' CEO Harris Simmons said, "We're incrementally more optimistic about growth in the back half of the year than we'd previously been." — CNBC's Sarah Min, Darla Mercado, Lisa Han, Alex Harring, Spencer Kimball, Yun Li and Tanaya Macheel contributed reporting
CTV News
5 hours ago
- Business
- CTV News
Equifax beats quarterly profit estimate, raises annual revenue forecast
A monitor displays Equifax Inc. signage on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York. Credit bureau Equifax beat Street estimates for second-quarter profit on Tuesday, helped by a smaller-than-expected drop in inquiries for mortgage credit reports, and raised its annual revenue forecast marginally. Mortgage inquiries buoyed Equifax's second-quarter results in an otherwise subdued mortgage market, with the 30-year mortgage rate — the interest rate for the most popular U.S. home loan — at lower levels than a year earlier when the Federal Reserve's benchmark interest rate was at a record high. U.S. mortgage inquiries fell eight per cent in the quarter from a year earlier, better than Equifax's expectation of an 11 per cent decline. In the second quarter of 2024, the metric fell by 13 per cent. However, the U.S. mortgage market has seen suppressed loan demand amid rising Treasury yields and economic uncertainties, including fluctuating trade policies from President Donald Trump, and global political tensions. Elevated mortgage rates have discouraged borrowers. That acted as a headwind for Equifax, which sells credit reports and data analytics to consumers and mortgage lenders, as per its earnings report. The company now expects U.S. mortgage inquiries to decline by 11 per cent in 2025, a slight upgrade from the 12 per cent expected in the previous quarter. This helped the company in revising its annual revenue guidance to the range of US$5.97 billion to $6.04 billion, from $5.91 billion to $6.03 billion. Analysts were expecting 2025 revenue of $6 billion, according to estimates compiled by LSEG. On an adjusted basis, Equifax earned $249.7 million, or $2 per share, in the three months ended June 30, compared with $226.6 million or, $1.82 per share, in the year earlier. Analysts had expected a profit of $1.92 apiece. The company's shares, which have gained nearly two per cent in 2025, were up marginally in trading before the bell. (Reporting by Pritam Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
Washington Post
5 hours ago
- Business
- Washington Post
A rule lifting medical debt from credit scores was voided. What will change?
An estimated one-fifth of U.S. households have medical debt on their credit reports, a burden that makes it more expensive for them to buy homes, finance new cars and, in some cases, more difficult to obtain jobs. A recent court decision has now kept that system in place. A Biden-era rule, announced last summer but never put into effect, sought to forbid credit reporting agencies, including Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, from using medical debts over $500 on the detailed credit history reports that lenders use to judge creditworthiness. Amid opposition from industry groups and the Trump administration, a federal judge then struck down the rule earlier this month.
