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    FDS
    Earnings call· Feb 2026(Q2 FY26)

    FACTSET RESEARCH SYSTEMS Q2 FY26 earnings call FDS

    Mar 31, 2026 Source

    Executive summary

    FactSet Q2 FY26 — Organic ASV Growth Accelerates for Fourth Consecutive Quarter

    FactSet delivered strong Q2 FY26 results, marked by accelerating organic ASV growth for the fourth consecutive quarter, driven by robust client expansion and new business wins. The company is strategically investing in AI capabilities, data differentiation, and workflow integration, which is deepening client relationships and driving significant productivity gains. Management raised its full-year ASV, revenue, and EPS guidance, signaling confidence in continued momentum and the value of its foundational strengths in an AI-intensive financial environment.

    Highlights

    5

    • Organic ASV grew 6.7% to $2.45 billion, accelerating for the fourth consecutive quarter across all geographies.

    • ASV retention continued at over 95% in Q2, reflecting the mission-critical nature of the business.

    • Data Solutions grew by double digits across all firm types, including the highest expansion since 2023.

    • 48 of top 50 clients are using at least 3 of FactSet's AI solutions, with several more in trials.

    • Marketing leads increased 11% year-over-year, and win rates for these opportunities improved by 29% year-over-year.

    Concerns

    2

    • Adjusted operating margin was 35%, down from 37.3% a year ago, reflecting strategic investments in technology and people.

    • Softness with asset owners in EMEA, partly due to pension reform in the Netherlands, offset some regional gains.

    Guidance & targets

    6
    CategoryTargetConfidence
    ASV growth
    $130 million to $160 million
    high materiality
    High
    GAAP revenue
    $2,450 million to $2,470 million
    high materiality
    High
    GAAP operating margin
    maintained
    medium materiality
    High
    Adjusted operating margin
    maintained
    high materiality
    High
    GAAP EPS
    $14.85 to $15.35
    high materiality
    High
    Adjusted EPS
    $17.25 to $17.75
    high materiality
    High

    Segment performance

    9
    SegmentRevenueYoYQoQMargin
    Americas
    Up from 6% in Q1. Growth driven by asset management (trading and middle office solutions) and dealmakers (competitive displacements in banking, successful renewals in sell-side research). Increase in new business logos from hedge funds and corporates.
    Organic ASV growth: 7%
    		—7%——
    EMEA
    In line with Q1. Driven by competitive managed services win, higher demand for data solutions in wealth, and a large banking renewal. Offset by softness with asset owners due to pension reform in the Netherlands.
    Organic ASV growth: 4%
    		—4%——
    Asia Pacific
    Up from 8% last quarter. Improved demand from asset managers and hedge funds for middle office and trading solutions, coupled with stronger banking retention.
    Organic ASV growth: 10%
    		—10%——
    Institutional Buy-Side
    Up from 4% last quarter. Reacceleration driven by higher trading volumes (Portware installations), increased data demand by hedge funds, and continued strength in managed services.
    Organic ASV growth: 5%
    		—5%——
    Wealth
    Maintained 10% growth rate despite challenging year-over-year comparison (UBS win). Driven by higher demand for wealth platform, integrating proposal generation and Advisor Dashboard solutions.
    Organic ASV growth: 10%
    		—10%——
    Dealmakers
    Up from 6% in Q1. Momentum from competitive displacements and successful enterprise renewals in banking. Corporates and private capital accelerated to double-digit growth.
    Organic ASV growth: 8%
    		—8%——
    Corporates
    Accelerated to double-digit growth this quarter with new business and competitive wins fueled by demand for data.
    		—double-digit growth——
    Private Capital
    Accelerated to double-digit growth this quarter with new business and competitive wins fueled by demand for data.
    		—double-digit growth——
    Market Infrastructure
    Up from 7% in Q1 with robust sales in real-time data and higher retention. Strong issuance activity supported CUSIP results.
    Organic ASV growth: 8%
    		—8%——

    Operational metrics

    31
    Organic ASV growth
    6.7%up from 6.0% in Q1 FY26
    Q2 FY26

    Accelerated for the fourth consecutive quarter across all geographies.

    Adjusted operating margin
    35%compared to 36.2% in Q1 FY26 and 37.3% a year ago
    Q2 FY26

    Reflects investments made this year.

    Adjusted diluted EPS
    $4.46up 4% year-over-year
    Q2 FY26

    Driven by higher revenue and lower share count, partially offset by a higher tax rate.

    ASV retention
    over 95%maintained
    Q2 FY26

    Reflects the mission-critical nature of the business.

    Top 200 clients using 5+ solutions
    86%up from 78% 3 years ago
    Q2 FY26

    Indicates increased solution penetration within key client accounts.

    Data Solutions growth
    double digitshighest expansion since 2023
    Q2 FY26

    Strong growth across all firm types.

    Top 50 clients using AI solutions
    48
    Q2 FY26

    Several more clients in trials.

    Marketing leads increase
    11%year-over-year
    Q2 FY26

    Stronger lead scoring and more targeted outreach.

    Win rates improvement
    29%year-over-year
    Q2 FY26

    For opportunities from marketing leads.

    Productivity improvement target
    100 bpsmore than half captured in H1
    FY26

    Targeted for the year, with significant progress in the first half.

    AI coding assistants code authoring
    nearly 1/5
    Q2 FY26

    Of successful code commits.

    Engineers' capacity freed up by AI
    1/4
    Q2 FY26

    In teams using AI coding assistants.

    Time to market reduction for new product development
    1 dayfrom month-long cycle
    Q2 FY26

    Achieved by fully automating the delivery life cycle in some teams.

    Data operations manual curation reduction
    25%+
    Q2 FY26

    On average, across 4 distinct AI tools deployed.

    Text to Formula agent impact
    client inquiries handled by CSRs started to decline
    Q2 FY26

    Agent absorbs an increasingly large share of inquiries, allowing support colleagues to focus on higher-level activities.

    Custom models built on data growth
    17%
    Q2 FY26

    Models built on FactSet data by clients.

    Research notes stored growth
    over 35%per year
    last 3 years

    Buy-side analyst clients store over 2.5 million research notes in FactSet's database.

    Institutional portfolios integrated growth
    20%
    last year

    Increased integration into client workflows.

    Data checks in analytics suite growth
    29%
    last year

    Underscores the importance of robust infrastructure for risk, valuation, and compliance workflows.

    MCP server clients
    over 120
    Q2 FY26

    Actively engaged, built on a robust ecosystem of content APIs.

    API call volume growth
    3xvs February
    March

    Steady growth in API call volume for MCP server.

    Net new clients
    98
    Q2 FY26

    Led by corporates and wealth.

    User base increase
    10%
    annual growth rate

    Additions largely in wealth and dealmakers.

    Client retention
    91%
    Q2 FY26

    Solid retention rates.

    Revenue growth (organic)
    6.8%year-over-year
    Q2 FY26

    Excluding impact from foreign exchange and M&A.

    Gross debt leverage
    1.4x
    Q2 FY26

    Balance sheet remains strong, providing capacity for capital deployment.

    Shares repurchased
    $163 million
    Q2 FY26

    Part of the buyback program.

    Shares repurchased year-to-date
    over $300 million
    YTD FY26

    Deployed at attractive prices.

    Shares outstanding reduction
    3%
    last 2 quarters

    Resulted from accelerated pace of buybacks.

    Remaining buyback authorization
    $700 million
    Q2 FY26

    Under upsized authorization.

    Cost of vectorizing client data reduction
    80%
    Q2 FY26

    While delivering faster and more accurate results.

    Product announcements

    3
    ProductTypeDetails
    LiquidityBookupdate
    Text to Formula agentlaunch
    MCP serverlaunch

    Deals & partnerships

    11
    Major global investment bankMultiyear renewal and expansion into international corporate bankmultiyear

    Expanded relationship into their international corporate bank, driven by deep sector content.

    Leading Australian private equity fundNew mandate for private capital data assets

    Private capital data assets central to new mandate.

    International wealth clientSelected proposal generation solution

    Selected proposal generation solution as an extension of existing use.

    Major Canadian wealth managerAdopted real-time exchange data feed product

    Adopted real-time exchange data feed product.

    Capital GroupExpanded use of Portware trading platform

    Expanded use of Portware trading platform, which also achieved several new wins with other large asset managers.

    SchrodersExpanded relationship to provide managed services

    Expanded long-standing relationship to provide managed services.

    SnowflakeEnable clients to seamlessly combine FactSet data with their own sources

    Partnership enables clients to combine FactSet data with their own sources for AI-driven workflows.

    DatabricksEnable clients to seamlessly combine FactSet data with their own sources

    Partnership enables clients to combine FactSet data with their own sources for AI-driven workflows.

    AnthropicEnsure FactSet data sets are readily available in their marketplaces

    Partnership to facilitate rapid development of new AI solutions using FactSet data.

    OpenAIEnsure FactSet data sets are readily available in their marketplaces

    Partnership to facilitate rapid development of new AI solutions using FactSet data.

    FinsterAccelerate agentic platform for banking

    Newly announced partnership to accelerate agentic platform for banking, meeting demands of dealmaker clients.

    Risks & headwinds

    1
    Softness with asset owners in EMEAQ2 FY26

    softness

    Mitigation: Offset by competitive managed services win, higher demand for data solutions in wealth and a large banking renewal. Partly due to pension reform in the Netherlands.

    What to watch in Q3 FY26

    5

    Organic ASV Growth

    next quarter
    Current6.7%
    TargetContinued acceleration

    Why it matters

    Sustained ASV acceleration is key to demonstrating the effectiveness of strategic investments and commercial excellence initiatives.

    ASV growth accelerated in Q2 for the fourth consecutive quarter. Organic ASV grew 6.7% to $2.45 billion.

    Q&A highlights

    5

    How does FactSet's business model evolve in a "post-AI world" where data consumption increases, and how important is owning the UI for research analysts?

    Management sees strong growth across all channels (Workstation, Data Solutions, MCP server) and a compounding effect as user personas expand. They are proactively restructuring contracts into enterprise agreements with longer durations (30%+ extension) to provide flexibility for clients to consume data via various channels, ensuring FactSet's core valuable data remains central.

    “The way we are working through that, it's early stages in this evolution of the market as we are developing our strategy by working jointly with our customers to effectively look carefully at our pricing and packaging, and we are striking enterprise contracts with them that gives both them and us a lot of flexibility in how to continue to deliver value to them in the future.”

    asked by Kelsey Zhu · answered by Sanoke Viswanathan

    2 min read7 chapters

    Detailed Narrative

    01

    ASV Growth & Performance Drivers

    Organic ASV accelerated to 6.7% in Q2 FY26, reaching $2.45 billion, marking the fourth consecutive quarter of acceleration. This growth was balanced across all regions and driven by strong client expansion, new business wins, and higher pricing capture. The company highlighted customer wins with a major global investment bank, a leading Australian private equity fund, and expansions with international wealth clients, showcasing the breadth of its data and product capabilities.

    02

    Commercial Excellence & Client Franchise Health

    FactSet is bolstering its client franchise through new pricing and packaging strategies, AI integration in sales, and realigned incentives. Direct seat-based exposure now represents less than 20% of ASV, with the majority of renewed ASV in Q2 being enterprise agreements or contracts over 3 years, extending in length by over 30%. ASV retention remained strong at over 95%, and Net Promoter Score improved by 5 points among investment banking users.

    03

    Productivity Initiatives & AI Integration

    The company has captured over half of its targeted 100 basis points of productivity improvement for the year, focusing on technology, data operations, and client support. AI coding assistants now author nearly 1/5 of successful code commits, freeing up 1/4 of engineers' capacity. In data operations, 4 distinct AI tools have reduced manual curation by over 25% on average, while the Text to Formula agent launched in October 2025 is absorbing client inquiries, allowing support staff to focus on higher-value activities.

    04

    AI Strategy & Foundational Strengths

    FactSet aims to be a leading data and workflow infrastructure provider for AI-enabled institutional finance. Its connected data, embedded workflows, and high-quality standards (depth, cohesiveness, comparability, traceability, quality) make it integral to clients' mission-critical operations, especially as they move AI into production. The company emphasizes that AI accelerates data aggregation but cannot substitute its trusted data production and modeling infrastructure for risk, valuation, and compliance workflows.

    05

    Partnerships & Ecosystem Integration

    Partnerships are a key component of FactSet's strategy. Collaborations with Snowflake and Databricks enable seamless data integration for clients, while partnerships with Anthropic and OpenAI ensure FactSet data is available in their marketplaces. A new partnership with Finster will accelerate the agentic platform for banking. The MCP server, launched in December, already has over 120 active clients, with API call volumes growing significantly, demonstrating rapid adoption of AI solutions.

    06

    Capital Allocation & Shareholder Returns

    FactSet's capital allocation framework prioritizes organic investments, followed by strategic M&A, and then returning excess capital to shareholders. The balance sheet remains strong with gross debt leverage at 1.4x. In Q2, the company repurchased approximately 652,000 shares for $163 million, and year-to-date, deployed over $300 million, resulting in a 3% reduction in total shares outstanding over the past two quarters.

    07

    Guidance Update

    Based on strong first-half performance and improved visibility, FactSet raised its fiscal 2026 guidance for ASV growth, GAAP revenue, GAAP EPS, and Adjusted EPS. Operating margin guidance was maintained, reflecting continued strategic investments balanced with productivity improvements and potential higher performance-based compensation.

    AI-generated summary of the company’s earnings call. Not investment advice.