Factset Research Systems Inc (FDS) stock analysis
Factset Research Systems Inc (FDS) clears 3 of this site's 8 mechanical value filters, 7 of 8 Buffett-style checks and 1 of 5 Lynch-style checks. A free-cash-flow DCF does not fit financial services companies, so no margin of safety is shown. Its earnings quality rates Strong and it returns +6.3% to shareholders net of dilution. Figures are as of October 23, 2026, from SEC filings and market data refreshed weekly; this is educational analysis, not investment advice.
Data as of October 23, 2026. Refreshed weekly from SEC filings and market data.
What does Factset Research Systems do?
FactSet sells financial data, analytics and software to investment banks, asset managers and wealth advisers.
What stands out about Factset Research Systems?
- Misses 3 of the 8 value filters. It fails Market Cap > $25B ($11.5B), PEG Ratio < 1.5 (2.25) and EPS Growth YoY > -5% (-15.4%); the other 3 pass and 2 were not evaluated. See every filter.
- Close to its 52-week high. At $335.45, FDS is within 0.4% of its high of $336.84, 76.5% above its low of $190.06. See the range.
- Strongest against peers: return on equity. At 26% (peer median 18%) it ranks 11th of 40 among financial services stocks this site tracks. See the ranking.
- Short interest is elevated. 9.1% of the float is sold short, 3.9 days to cover, above this site's 5% flag. See the figures.
How has Factset Research Systems' share price moved?
The interactive price chart needs JavaScript.
Is Factset Research Systems undervalued? The value diligence check
Every value-investing signal this site computes for this stock, gathered in one place: the same real numbers from the tools below, not a new score.
- Margin of safety (DCF) n/a (Financial Services)
- P/E vs. its own history 21.5x · at/below its cheapest point Real range: 21.5x–42.2x over 5 years (net income per diluted share from each fiscal year's 10-K, paired with the real closing price at that fiscal year-end).
- Wall St. analyst rating Hold · 2.70/5 27 analysts this month: 1 strong buy, 3 buy, 12 hold, 9 sell, 2 strong sell (Finnhub). Up from 2.63 last month.
- Altman Z″-Score (bankruptcy risk) n/a (Financial Services)
- Earnings quality (is the profit real?) Strong · all 5 checks clean Beneish M-score −2.73 · accruals −6.8% of assets · 135% of profit arrived as cash · stock comp 3.4% of revenue · share count −2.6% a year. From the latest 10-K (year to Aug 2026) - see the Earnings Quality Screener for how each check is scored.
- Shareholder yield (cash back to owners) +6.3% net Latest fiscal year (2026): dividends 1.4% + buybacks 5.6% − stock comp 0.7%, as a share of today's market cap. Over 14 years its split-adjusted share count fell 20%. See Shareholder Yield Leaders.
- Capital needed to grow (See's test) $6.24 per $1 of new profit · Capital-hungry · but only 24% return on capital Operating profit $385M → $716M, capital needed $931M → $3.0B, 2017–2026 (3-year averages); return on capital now 24% before tax. Buffett's See's Candies needed $0.42 per $1 of new profit, FlightSafety $3.20, a typical grower about $5. See Capital-Light Compounders.
- PEG (growth at a reasonable price) 2.25 · Well above fair P/E 21.5× ÷ 9.6% a year of growth behind it. 251st lowest of 447 stocks with a usable PEG. Lynch's fair value is a PEG of 1; a very high PEG usually means almost no growth, a very low one a profit spike. See PEG Ratio Ranking.
- Compounder lenses (4) 2 of 4 · misses capital-light, price Capital-light growth: not cleared (profit grew 1.9×, under 2×); Profit is real: cleared; Cash to owners: cleared; Fair price (PEG): not cleared (PEG 2.25, over 1.5). See Compounders at a Fair Price, which also lets you move the PEG bar.
- Munger's Inversion Check 2 flags
- Standing vs. sector peers 3 of 4 measures above the median Compared with the 39 other financial services stocks this site tracks: 1 in the top third, 0 in the bottom third.
- Dividend payout sustainability 0/6 · clean
How does Factset Research Systems compare with its peers?
3 of 4 measures sit above the median of the 39 other financial services stocks tracked here, 1 in the top third.
- P/E ratiolower is cheaper · peer median 21.7× 21.5× –18th of 37
- Return on equityhigher is better · peer median 18% 26% ✓11th of 40
- Net marginhigher is better · peer median 20.2% 21.5% –19th of 40
- Dividend yieldamong dividend payers · peer median 1.56% 1.43% –19th of 33
Peers are the stocks this site tracks in the same sector group, not every listed competitor. The bar runs from the weakest peer (left) to the strongest (right); the tick is the middle. Measures that don't apply to a sector (cash-flow yield for banks, debt for financials) are left out.
What would Buffett & Lynch say?
Buffett's checklist is built around durable, profitable businesses bought at sensible prices, and FDS clears it. In its favor: FDS is currently earning a strong return on shareholders' equity, and has kept that profitability up over five years, not just this year, converts sales into profit at healthy margins, has grown earnings per share at a solid clip over five years, earns many times its interest expense, so debt service isn't a worry, is trading below what a conservative discounted-cash-flow estimate says it's worth - his own "price is what you pay, value is what you get" test, not a fixed multiple ceiling, and trades at a reasonable multiple of owner earnings, his own term for the real cash a business could pay out. Where it comes up short: FDS carries more debt relative to equity than he typically tolerates.
- ROE (TTM) > 11% ✓
- ROE (5yr avg) > 11% ✓
- Debt/Equity < 0.5 ✕
- Pretax margin > 15% ✓
- EPS growth (5yr) > 7% ✓
- Interest coverage > 5x ✓
- Trading below intrinsic value (DCF) ✓
- Price vs. owner earnings < 25x ✓
- Bonus: returning capital via buybacks FY2026
Lynch looked for growth stories that weren't overpriced for that growth, and FDS falls short of his bar. In its favor: FDS converts earnings into real cash at a reasonable price. Where it comes up short: FDS doesn't pay much of a dividend, which is the main reason to own a slow grower in the first place, isn't even growing at the modest pace he'd expect from a slow grower, carries more debt than he liked to see, even allowing for the extra room a large, stable business gets, and is priced too rich for how little growth is actually left in the business.
- Dividend yield > 2.5% ✕
- EPS growth 0%-10% ✕
- Debt/Equity < 0.6 ✕
- P/E < 20 ✕
- Price/FCF < 25 ✓
Quantitative approximations of each investor's documented approach, not endorsed by either investor or their estates - commentary, not this site's actual ranking criteria. Buffett never published a numeric checklist: only 2 of his 8 checks here trace to his own documented concepts ("owner earnings," from his 1986 shareholder letter, and "price is what you pay, value is what you get," his case against fixed P/E/P/B ceilings) - the other 6 (ROE, debt, margins, growth, interest coverage) use commonly-cited thresholds that are not numbers he himself published. The 8 hard filters below (plus the Munger check and Graham margin of safety) are this site's real, mechanical screen and are computed completely independently of the checklists above.
Berkshire Hathaway's own filing
Which of the 8 value filters does Factset Research Systems pass?
- Market Cap > $25B $11.5B
- Trailing P/E < 25 21.52
- PEG Ratio < 1.5 2.25
- Price/Book < 8 5.74
- Price/Sales < 7 4.64
- EPS Growth YoY > -5% -15.4%
- vs 50-day MA (±12%) Not evaluated †
- vs 200-day MA (±12%) Not evaluated †
What is Factset Research Systems' margin of safety?
A standard free-cash-flow DCF doesn't fit how financial services companies report cash flow.
Where is Factset Research Systems in its 52-week range?
What is the short interest in Factset Research Systems?
3,179,609 shares short as of 2026-09-30 (FINRA settlement date). Reported twice a month, so this only changes roughly every two weeks, not daily.
What could go wrong with Factset Research Systems? Munger's inversion check
"Invert, always invert." Instead of reasons to buy, these are reasons to hesitate, not a verdict, and not everything worth knowing about a business.
- Margin of safety, even in the bull case n/a (Financial Services)
- Short interest under 5% of float 9.1%
- Passes most of the 6 fundamental filters 3/6 passed
Doesn't cover circle of competence, management quality, or accounting concerns: those need judgment, not data.
How much have Factset Research Systems shareholders gained per year?
Earnings growth per share plus dividend.
An earnings-based proxy, not a stock-price total return - it doesn't capture multiple expansion/contraction or reinvested dividends. EPS from FDS's own 10-K filings; dividend yield is the current trailing yield on today's price, from the same weekly fetch as the rest of this site.
What do Factset Research Systems' 10-year financials show?
From FDS's own 10-K filings (SEC EDGAR): up to the last 10 fiscal years. Press any year's bars for the exact figures.
Frequently asked questions about Factset Research Systems
What kind of company is Factset Research Systems?
FactSet sells financial data, analytics and software to investment banks, asset managers and wealth advisers. This site groups it with Financial Services stocks.
Why does Factset Research Systems have no margin of safety on this site?
This site's DCF values a company from its free cash flow, and that does not fit financial companies, whose operating cash flow swings with client money, loans and trading rather than with what is left over for owners. So FDS gets no margin of safety; judge it on the other checks on this page, such as its filters, shareholder yield and ranking against its peers. The method is in the Intrinsic Value Calculator.
How many of this site's 8 value filters does Factset Research Systems pass?
FDS passes 3 of 8. It passes Trailing P/E < 25 (21.52), Price/Book < 8 (5.74) and Price/Sales < 7 (4.64). It misses Market Cap > $25B ($11.5B), PEG Ratio < 1.5 (2.25) and EPS Growth YoY > -5% (-15.4%). vs 50-day MA (±12%) and vs 200-day MA (±12%) were not evaluated, because the moving-average checks only run on stocks that clear the fundamentals first. The 8-filter list shows every stock that passes all of them.
Where is Factset Research Systems trading compared with its 52-week range?
At $335.45, FDS trades 77.2% above its 52-week low of $190.06 and 0.4% below its 52-week high of $336.84.
Is Factset Research Systems's P/E ratio high or low compared with its own history?
FDS trades at 21.5× trailing earnings. At the end of each of its last 5 fiscal years its P/E was between 21.5× and 42.2× (average 30.9×), so today's multiple is at or below the lowest of those years. Each year's P/E pairs net income per diluted share from the 10-K with the closing price at that fiscal year-end.
How heavily is Factset Research Systems stock sold short?
As of September 30, 2026, 9.1% of FDS's float was sold short (3,179,609 shares, 3.9 days to cover), down 17.3% from the prior reporting period. FINRA publishes short interest twice a month, so it changes about every two weeks; this site flags anything above 5% of the float.
Where do these numbers come from?
- Financial statements: Factset Research Systems's 10-K annual report for the year ended Aug 31, 2026, filed Oct 20, 2026 (filing index). Every earlier year in the 10-year financials comes from the company's older 10-K filings, all listed on SEC EDGAR.
- Prices and market data: quotes, P/E and analyst ratings from Finnhub; daily price history and the 52-week range from Twelve Data, both refreshed weekly. Short interest comes from FINRA, reported twice a month.
- How to check a figure: click any number in the card above to see its exact source, and read the Editorial Standards for every rule behind the checks.
About this Factset Research Systems Inc analysis
This page shows every value-investing check the site runs on Factset Research Systems Inc (FDS) in one place: the 8 mechanical filters, the Buffett and Lynch checklists, a margin of safety from a disclosed DCF, earnings quality, shareholder yield and how it ranks against its sector peers. The numbers come from SEC filings and public market data, refreshed weekly, and the same rules apply to every stock on the stock list. See Editorial Standards for the sources and the rules, or run your own filters in the stock screener.