Great Company - 50+ years old; Branded for today
Pros
Classy individuals and some savvy executives who are generally positive and good people. Incredible cash cow in the Scoring business with several flagship product lines and analytic capabilities servicing the financial services industry which are robust resulting in incredibly strong cash flow. Continually reinventing and fine-tuning itself, FICO differentiates well and is sensitive to change market trends. It's recent scoring partnerships and marketing have launched the enterprise to a whole new level. In addition, while the transition to a SaaS business is not easy, a great focus and enablement of products for various industries and customers into the Cloud is well under way to prepare for the paradigm of today's customer preferences and scale for the future. Though the Company has been around for many decades, the management team and subject matter experts in the organization have prepared a successful business which has and will continue to be rewarded by Wall St.
Cons
Investment is at a premium. Revenue growth is low, single digits and thus the operating expenses are static year over year. You'll see a tepid investment strategy followed by a purge every 12-18 months. As an employee, there is a 5-10% job elimination and/or hiring freeze which creates a degree of instability. (this could easily show as a 'pro' if you are an investor) You'd like to see better communication across the enterprise in terms of strategy with clear goals stretched to each function. Related, resources are at a premium. Other companies have implementation, IT, or integration teams or dedicated functions to augment the operating teams. Leadership assumes a significant double-duty in terms of executing and process improvement which can create challenges on work-life balance. It's a testament to a strong leadership team, but the compromise is a challenged work-life balance.
