tapebrief
FICO · Q1 2026

FICO · Q2 2026 Earnings

Bullish

Fair Isaac

Reported April 28, 2026

30-second summary

Q2 FY2026 revenue of $692M grew 39% YoY with non-GAAP EPS of $12.50, paced by Scores +60% on continued mortgage dominance (B2B Scores +72%) and Platform ARR accelerating again to +49%. Management raised the FY2026 guide across the board — revenue $2.35B → $2.45B (+4.3%), non-GAAP EPS $38.17 → $40.45 (+6.0%) — confirming last quarter's "well positioned to exceed" telegraph as the base case. The print resolves four of five prior watch items positively; only Direct License reseller go-live dates and 10-T-specific revenue remain undisclosed.

Headline numbers

EPS

Q2 FY2026

$12.50

Revenue

Q2 FY2026

$0.69B

+39.0% YoY

Gross margin

Q2 FY2026

86.8%

Free cash flow

Q2 FY2026

$0.21B

Operating margin

Q2 FY2026

58.2%

Key financials

Q2 FY2026
MetricQ2 FY2026YoYQ1 FY2026QoQ
Revenue$0.69B+39.0%$0.51B+35.1%
EPS$12.50—$7.33+70.5%
Gross margin86.8%—83.0%+384bps
Operating margin58.2%—45.7%+1248bps
Free cash flow$0.21B—$0.17B+29.9%

Guidance

Company raised full-year FY2026 guidance across all metrics—revenue to $2.45B (+4.3%), GAAP EPS to $35.60 (+6.4%), and Non-GAAP EPS to $40.45 (+6%)—driven by strong Q2 execution with 39% YoY revenue growth and 60% growth in Scores segment.

Guidance is issued for both next quarter and the full year. Both may appear below.

Changes to prior guidance

MetricPeriodPrior guideNew guideΔResult
Revenue
FY 2026
$2.35 billion$2.45 billion+$0.10 billion (+4.3%)Raised
GAAP EPS
FY 2026
$33.47$35.60+$2.13 (+6.4%)Raised
Non-GAAP EPS
FY 2026
$38.17$40.45+$2.28 (+5.97%)Raised
GAAP Net Income
FY 2026
$795 million$825 million+$30 million (+3.8%)Raised
Non-GAAP Net Income
FY 2026
$907 million$946 million+$39 million (+4.3%)Raised

Segment performance

Q2 FY2026
SegmentQ2 FY2026YoY
Scores$0.475B+60.0%
Software$0.217B+7.0%
B2B Scores Revenue Growth+72% YoY—
B2C Revenue Growth+5% YoY—

Platform metrics

Q2 FY2026
SegmentQ2 FY2026
Software ARRup 10% YoY
Platform ARR+49% YoY
Non-Platform ARR-8% YoY
Dollar-Based Net Retention Rate109%
Platform Software NRR136%
Non-Platform Software NRR90%

Management tone

Narrative arc: Q3 FY2025 FICO Score 10-T regulatory victory → Q4 FY2025 Direct License Program offense → Q1 FY2026 platform ARR re-acceleration → Q2 FY2026 categorical VantageScore dismissal.

On VantageScore, management's posture this quarter is dismissive. Per the prepared remarks and transcript, Lansing argued that on both predictability and price, FICO is "highly competitive and frankly [doesn't] see good reasons to switch," noting 10-T at $0.99 is at parity with Vantage on price and superior on predictiveness. Steve Weber reiterated that guidance assumes no share loss to Vantage in any vertical in FY2026. After three quarters of escalating confidence, this is the cleanest signal yet that management views the competitive threat as contained — expressed before, not after, the FHFA decision.

The pricing model evolved further. The FICO Score 10-T price in the Direct License Program was repriced from $4.95 + $33 funding fee to $0.99 + $65 funding fee — a dramatic shift toward the closing-funding-fee component, with Lansing framing it as flexibility to "distribute the value, the monetization of that IP over more players across the chain." The shift ties pricing directly to monetizable closings rather than to score-pull volume, and management characterized the two models as roughly revenue-neutral to FICO.

The AI-by-design framing escalated to offensive: "FICO platform is architected from the ground up to be agentic by design...every new model, agent, and integration from the ecosystem strengthens the customer profile engine." This is operating-system language — management is now arguing for compounding network effects across an ecosystem, and Platform NRR at 136% provides quantitative cover.

Guidance posture continues to telegraph conservatism even into the raise. Per the transcript, Weber said Q2 volume came in "probably better than we expected when we gave our guidance," but "we guide very conservatively because it's really difficult to know what those numbers might be." The FY2026 raise to $2.45B does not extrapolate Q2's 39% growth — it implies H2 deceleration. Either the raise is sandbagged again, or the +60% Scores print is being treated as a peak rather than a baseline. H2 pacing will tell.

Recurring themes management leaned on this quarter:

Mortgage origination score dominance (72% of B2B, 63% of total scores revenue; 127% YoY growth)Platform land-and-expand acceleration (49% ARR growth, 136% NRR, mid-30s organic growth ex-migrations)FICO 10T adoption strategy via aggressive pricing and direct licensing programAgentic AI-by-design positioning as explainability moat against unregulated competitorsVantageScore as immaterial threat across all verticals (estimated 2% market share)Capital return acceleration ($605M Q2 buyback; $1.5B board authorization; aggressive opportunistic buying at current valuations)

Risks management surfaced:

FHFA/GSE gaming scenario in two-score conforming mortgage marketDelayed direct licensing program go-live (regulatory sign-off on reseller score calculation)Potential share loss to VantageScore if consumer shopping/gaming makes competing score preferable in subset of transactionsLLPA grid design by FHFA could create price advantages for VantageScore in certain borrower segmentsSecuritization market acceptance of VantageScore (currently <0.1% of securitizations)

Answers to last quarter's watch list

Q2 FY2026 guidance action. FY2026 revenue raised from $2.35B to $2.45B (+4.3%) and non-GAAP EPS from $38.17 to $40.45 (+6.0%) — Q1's "well positioned to exceed" language converted to an explicit raise across all metrics.
Resolved positively
Platform ARR holding above 25% YoY. Platform ARR grew +49% (mid-30s ex-migrations), with Platform NRR at 136%. Well above the 25% threshold.
Resolved positively
Non-platform ARR floor. Non-platform ARR held at -8% YoY (unchanged from Q1), and Non-Platform NRR was 90%. The deterioration didn't accelerate but also didn't stabilize — the legacy bleed is baked in as a structural drag offset by platform strength.
Continue monitoring
First disclosure of Direct License reseller go-lives and/or FICO 10-T revenue. The press release did not disclose go-live dates or 10-T-specific revenue. Per the transcript, three of the top five major resellers are signed and management is "closing in on" go-live subject to FHFA sign-off on reseller score calculation — but no concrete date. The pricing model was repriced ($4.95 + $33 → $0.99 + $65), signaling continued program iteration.
Not resolved
Mortgage concentration sensitivity. Mortgage origination revenue is now 63% of total Scores revenue and grew 127% YoY, with B2B Scores at +72%. Scores +60% is overwhelmingly a mortgage story, and the FY2026 guide raise implicitly assumes continued mortgage strength. The cyclical exposure has grown.
Resolved negatively

What to watch into next quarter

H2 FY2026 pacing vs. the $2.45B FY guide. H1 FY2026 revenue totaled ~$1.20B against the $2.45B FY guide, implying H2 of ~$1.25B. Q2 FY2026 delivered +39% YoY — if Q3 FY2026 prints meaningfully above the implied H2 trajectory, another raise is likely; if it tracks the implied trajectory, the conservatism reset is real.

Direct License reseller go-live disclosure. Three of the top five resellers are signed and FHFA sign-off is the gating item. A concrete go-live date in Q3 FY2026 (or its continued absence) materially changes the FY2026 → FY2027 bridge.

Mortgage scores revenue if rates reverse. Mortgage origination revenue is now 63% of total Scores revenue and grew 127% YoY. A rate-driven origination slowdown would expose how much of the +60% Scores print is pricing power vs. cyclical volume — watch whether management begins to disclose volume vs. price decomposition.

Platform ARR sustaining above 40% with NRR at 136%. Underlying Platform ARR ex-migrations was in the mid-30% range. If Q3 FY2026 platform ARR holds above 40% headline (or mid-30s ex-migrations), the platform business has structurally re-rated; deceleration would signal bookings normalization.

FY2027 revenue/EPS framing on the Q3 or Q4 FY2026 print. Initial FY2027 guidance commentary — particularly whether Direct License contribution gets quantified separately — will set the bar for whether mortgage strength can extend a third year. Per the transcript, some performance-model funding-fee revenue is expected to shift from late FY2026 into early FY2027.

Sources

  1. FICO Q2 FY2026 press release, filed 2026-04-28 (SEC EDGAR exhibit 99.1)
  2. FICO Q2 FY2026 earnings call prepared remarks and Q&A transcript
  3. FICO Q1 FY2026, Q4 FY2025, and Q3 FY2025 briefs and watch lists (Tapebrief internal)

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