FactSet (FDS)
Forward P/E is 15.81x against a peer median of 26.43x, a ratio of 0.60x — well below the fair range — with trailing P/E 21.18x and PEG 1.56. Latest-quarter revenue grew 6.3% year over year (PRIMARY, EDGAR), below the cluster median but still positive, so the value-trap check passes: revenue is growing, not shrinking, and the cluster median is also positive. Delivered demand check: the Financial exchanges, data & ratings group's median growth was 10.7% — demand rising across the group, while this company trades at a deep discount to the peer multiple.
What would change this label: Move to FAIRLY PRICED if the forward P/E rises above about 23.79x (0.90x the peer median) at unchanged estimates, or if revenue growth turns below 0% year over year, which would reopen the value-trap question. The discount case strengthens if the forward P/E stays below 23.79x while revenue growth holds positive.
FactSet sells data and research tools to investment firms, and its sales grew about 6%. Its shares cost far less than similar data companies per dollar of expected profit — about 16 times, versus about 26 times for peers. With sales still growing, that gap makes the shares look undervalued.
Both lines start at 100 on 2020-09-01. Over the full window FactSet returned -11.83% and the S&P 500 +118.28% (price returns; dividends not reinvested). Worst peak-to-trough fall for FactSet: -61.7% (2024-11-14 to 2026-02-17). Source: Nasdaq official daily history.
What the label rests on
Forward P/E is 15.81x against a peer median of 26.43x, a ratio of 0.60x — well below the fair range — with trailing P/E 21.18x and PEG 1.56. Latest-quarter revenue grew 6.3% year over year (PRIMARY, EDGAR), below the cluster median but still positive, so the value-trap check passes: revenue is growing, not shrinking, and the cluster median is also positive. Delivered demand check: the Financial exchanges, data & ratings group's median growth was 10.7% — demand rising across the group, while this company trades at a deep discount to the peer multiple. The company’s forward P/E is 15.8× against a peer median of 26.4×. Its own history: UNVERIFIED — no sourced range available. Sector demand read: Delivered demand check: the Financial exchanges, data & ratings group's median latest-quarter revenue growth was 10.7% year over year (SEC filings) — demand rising. Latest-quarter sales growth was +6.3% versus a year earlier (SEC filings).
| Company | Price (Oct 28, 2026) | Forward P/E | Trailing P/E |
|---|---|---|---|
| FactSet (FDS) | $308.64 | 15.8× | 21.2× |
| CBOE | $321.04 | 22.4× | 25.0× |
| COIN | $157.99 | 105.7× | — |
| MSCI | $605.62 | 27.9× | 32.1× |
| NDAQ | $105.30 | 23.0× | 28.8× |
| MCO | $476.73 | 26.4× | 29.1× |
| Peer median | 26.4× |
Multiples: stockanalysis.com (SECONDARY, S&P Global data), fetched Oct 28, 2026. Peer set chosen by sector; the median is the middle value of the set. The label and its numbers were recorded in the programme’s label registry on Oct 28, 2026 and will be scored at 6 and 12 months.
Sales, profit and cash
This company does not report a gross-profit line in its SEC facts (normal for banks, payment networks and some health insurers), so profit is shown as net income instead — gross margin is marked UNVERIFIED-absent rather than estimated.
Free cash flow = cash from operations minus spending on plant and equipment, both from the company’s SEC cash-flow statement. Gaps are quarters where that spending line is not separately tagged in the filings — shown as gaps, never estimated.
| Quarter | Sales | Gross margin | Net income | EPS (GAAP, diluted) | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q/E Aug 2026 2026-08-31 | $635M | — | $121M | — | $177M |
| Q/E May 2026 2026-05-31 | $623M | — | $127M | 3.50 | $254M |
| Q/E Feb 2026 2026-02-28 | $611M | — | $133M | 3.59 | $186M |
| Q/E Nov 2025 2025-11-30 | $608M | — | $153M | 4.06 | $90M |
| Q/E Aug 2025 2025-08-31 | $597M | — | $154M | — | $178M |
| Q/E May 2025 2025-05-31 | $586M | — | $149M | 3.87 | $229M |
| Q/E Feb 2025 2025-02-28 | $571M | — | $145M | 3.76 | $150M |
| Q/E Nov 2024 2024-11-30 | $569M | — | $150M | 3.89 | $60M |
| Q/E Aug 2024 2024-08-31 | $562M | — | $89M | — | $137M |
| Q/E May 2024 2024-05-31 | $553M | — | $158M | 4.09 | $217M |
| Q/E Feb 2024 2024-02-29 | $546M | — | $141M | 3.65 | $122M |
| Q/E Nov 2023 2023-11-30 | $542M | — | $149M | 3.84 | $139M |
The last twelve reported quarters. Full 24-quarter history sits in the data pack behind this page. A dash means the figure is not tagged as a standalone quarter in the company’s SEC facts (the usual case is the fourth quarter, which many companies only report inside the full-year filing) — it is missing, not zero.
Earnings: getting better or worse?
Each box is one quarter’s earnings per share (EPS). Green means EPS was higher than the same quarter a year earlier; red means lower; a dash means the figure is not tagged in the filings.
Basis: GAAP diluted EPS from SEC company facts, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
Key facts
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Company (legal name in filings) | FACTSET RESEARCH SYSTEMS INC |
| Chief executive | Sanoke Viswanathan (source: https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/09/30/3371739/7768/en/factset-reports-results-for-fourth-quarter-and-fiscal-2026.html) |
| Sector | Financials — Financial Exchanges & Data — sells financial data and analytics software to investment professionals |
| Share price (Oct 28, 2026) | $308.64 |
| Market value (market cap) | $10.9B — share price times shares outstanding of 35,255,660 (SEC filings; SEC EDGAR dei EntityCommonStockSharesOutstanding (latest)) |
| Sales, last twelve months | $2.5B |
| Net income, last twelve months | $533M |
| Free cash flow, last twelve months | $707M |
| Latest reported quarter | Q/E Aug 2026 (of 24 quarters in the data pack) |
| Six-year price return vs S&P 500 | -11.83% vs +118.28% |
| Worst peak-to-trough fall | -61.7% (2024-11-14 to 2026-02-17) |
What we could not verify
- Gross profit / gross margin: not tagged as a standalone line in this company's EDGAR company facts (common for banks, payment networks and some healthcare payers) — shown as UNVERIFIED-absent; the page charts revenue and net income instead.
- TTM GAAP diluted EPS could not be summed from company facts because at least one of the last four quarters (typically Q4) has no standalone tagged EPS; trailing P/E is therefore taken from the labelled secondary source in valuation_label.md.
- Own-history P/E range not yet compiled for this company in the Phase 1 batch run; the label rests on peer-median, growth and PEG evidence.
- Guidance record (each quarter scored against the guidance the company gave the quarter before) is not yet compiled for this company — it is a Phase 2 layer. The earnings strip below therefore uses reported EPS versus a year earlier, which is fully sourced from filings.
The IT factor — the most exciting thing the market is overlooking — is not assessed on an X-Ray page. It belongs to the Deep Dive (Phase 2), where it gets the evidence standard it needs. Leadership-era scoring (the six years split by chief executive) is likewise a Phase 2 layer; this page names the current chief executive only, from a sourced profile.
Sources
- SEC EDGAR submissions — Filing index; company legal name.
https://data.sec.gov/submissions/CIK0001013237.json - SEC EDGAR company facts — Quarterly financial spine: revenue, gross profit, net income, GAAP diluted EPS, operating cash flow, PP&E capex, buybacks, dividends, diluted shares.
https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0001013237.json - Nasdaq official daily history — Daily closes for the company; SPY (assetclass=etf) saved as raw/nasdaq_spy_raw.json over identical dates.
https://api.nasdaq.com/api/quote/FDS/historical?assetclass=stocks - Valuation multiples and peer figures — stockanalysis.com (SECONDARY, S&P Global data), fetched Oct 28, 2026; see valuation_label.md in the data pack.
Conventions: earliest-filed value per period, as first reported; cash-flow years-to-date differenced quarter by quarter; EPS never differenced; free cash flow = operating cash flow minus plant-and-equipment spending. This page is a dated snapshot — updates are new versions, never silent edits.