Date clarification: The earnings event date cited—Wednesday, July 29, 2026—is today, not tomorrow. This preview is framed ahead of the report, using the July 28 closing share price.
FICO enters fiscal 3Q26 with operating momentum that is unusually strong: fiscal 2Q revenue rose 39% year over year to $692 million, non-GAAP EPS rose 60% to $12.50, and management raised FY26 revenue guidance to $2.45 billion and non-GAAP EPS guidance to $40.45. The main question for investors is whether FICO can sustain the Scores segment’s exceptional mortgage-led growth while continuing to translate Software platform adoption into durable ARR and revenue growth.
The stock closed at $1,336.26 on July 28, up about 32% from the April 28 close immediately before the last earnings release. That appreciation raises the threshold for the report: evidence that FY26 guidance remains conservative—or another raise—matters more than a narrow quarterly beat. At the current price, FICO trades at roughly 33x FY26 management-guidance non-GAAP EPS; this is a premium valuation that requires continued execution in Scores, credible platform expansion, and contained regulatory disruption.
Scores revenue grew 60% in fiscal 2Q26 to $475 million. B2B Scores rose 72%, led by the higher mortgage-originations unit price and increased mortgage volumes; mortgage originations revenue itself rose 127% year over year and represented 72% of B2B Scores revenue. The segment also generated extraordinary profitability: segment operating income was $432 million on $475 million of revenue.
For 3Q, investors should focus on:
Read-through: A positive report would show continued elevated mortgage growth, stable-to-improving non-mortgage demand, and management confidence that the recent mortgage strength is not merely a short-lived rate-driven spike.
The mortgage-market transition remains the central strategic issue. At the prior call, FICO said:
The most valuable update this quarter would be tangible progress on direct licensing: full reseller participation, regulatory approval, a launch timetable, or early lender adoption. Conversely, another delay would probably not impair the near-term income statement much, but it could sustain investor concern about execution and the eventual competitive structure of conforming mortgage credit.
Management’s prior stance was clear: FICO believes it is competitive with VantageScore on upfront price and superior on predictive performance. Investors should listen closely for whether that confidence remains unchanged, particularly around lender behavior, GSE implementation details, use of multiple scores, and the timing of FICO Score 10T data availability.
The Software business is the more nuanced part of the earnings story. Fiscal 2Q Software revenue grew 7% to $217 million, but the internal mix was much stronger than the aggregate headline:
| Fiscal 2Q26 Software metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Total Software ARR | $789M, +10% YoY |
| Platform ARR | $349M, +49% YoY |
| Platform ARR growth excluding migrations | Mid-30% range |
| Non-platform ARR | $440M, -8% YoY |
| Platform revenue growth | +54% YoY |
| Non-platform revenue growth | -12% YoY |
| Total dollar-based net retention | 109% |
| Platform net retention | 136% |
| Trailing-12-month ACV bookings | $126M, +36% YoY |
The platform’s land-and-expand indicators are strong, particularly the 136% platform net-retention rate. However, investors will want proof that rapid platform expansion can more than offset legacy-product declines and the reduced availability of point-in-time license revenue.
Key questions for the call:
A healthy quarter should pair continued strong platform ARR and retention with a clearer path to faster consolidated Software revenue growth.
Management’s FY26 outlook after fiscal 2Q was:
| FY26 guidance | Updated guidance |
|---|---|
| Revenue | $2.45B |
| GAAP net income | $825M |
| GAAP EPS | $35.60 |
| Non-GAAP net income | $946M |
| Non-GAAP EPS | $40.45 |
Through the first half, FICO generated $1.204 billion of revenue, $422.8 million of GAAP net income, and $472.4 million of non-GAAP net income. The current guide therefore implies roughly $1.246 billion of second-half revenue, $402 million of GAAP net income, and $474 million of non-GAAP net income. In other words, the existing FY26 framework implies little aggregate second-half profit growth versus the already strong first half—suggesting management retains room for upside if Scores trends and mortgage volumes remain favorable.
That said, FICO has explicitly built in a timing lag from the performance-pricing model, and management has indicated operating-expense dollars and interest expense should rise modestly through the back half. An investor should not assume every incremental revenue dollar falls through at the exceptional 2Q rate.
FICO’s capital-return model remains a material component of the equity story.
The buyback supports per-share growth—diluted shares fell to 23.75 million in fiscal 2Q from 24.69 million a year earlier—but it also leaves FICO with a highly levered balance sheet and a stockholders’ deficit. The balance sheet is manageable given the company’s high margins and cash generation, but the market will watch whether FICO continues to balance buybacks with debt discipline as interest expense rises.
Using the July 28 close and March 31 share count, equity value is approximately $31.1 billion. Including net debt, implied enterprise value is roughly 14x FY26 guided revenue. That valuation supports the notion that investors are paying for durable Score pricing power, resilient credit-market volumes, and an eventual larger Software-platform contribution—not just one strong mortgage quarter.
FICO has entered the report with a high-quality but high-expectations setup. The company’s fiscal 2Q performance demonstrated exceptional pricing power and operating leverage in Scores, while Software showed attractive platform adoption beneath a still-modest consolidated growth rate.
For this quarter, the most investable signals are likely to be: (1) whether mortgage Scores growth remains resilient on a tougher comparison, (2) whether platform growth begins to lift overall Software revenue more meaningfully, and (3) whether management provides concrete progress on FICO Score 10T direct licensing and mortgage modernization.
A guidance raise plus tangible implementation progress would reinforce the bull case that FICO’s earnings power remains underappreciated. A simple beat without those qualitative markers may be insufficient given the stock’s roughly 32% move since the prior report and its premium valuation.