Equifax beats quarterly profit estimates, raises annual revenue forecast (updated)

Equifax

21/10/2025 17:35

Recast paragraph 1, adds background in paragraphs 3,6, forecast in paragraph 10 and CEO comments in paragraph 8

Oct 21 (Reuters) - Credit bureau Equifax EFX.N raised its annual revenue forecast and reported third-quarter profit above Wall Street estimates on Tuesday, helped by a smaller-than-expected drop in mortgage inquiries.

The U.S. Federal Reserve's first interest rate cut of the year in September and expectations of further easing later in 2025 have fueled hopes of lower mortgage rates.

U.S. mortgage inquiries fell 7% in the quarter from a year earlier, a smaller decline than Equifax's expectation of a 12% drop.

The Atlanta, Georgia-based company's revenue grew 7% to $1.55 billion in the third quarter. Revenue from its workforce solutions unit, the company's largest operating segment, increased by 5% to $649.4 million.

Strong demand from government agencies for the company's employment and income data services offset weakness in the hiring market, driven by federal legislation imposing stricter compliance standards for programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Medicaid.

Earlier this month, U.S. data analytics company Fair Isaac unveiled a program that lets mortgage resellers calculate and distribute its credit scores directly to consumers.

Equifax's CEO Mark Begor said the company is expanding its VantageScore 4.0 mortgage credit score offerings "in response to FICO's aggressive price actions".

"The pricing action that FICO put in place for 2026, doubling of the price increase, is going to add half a billion dollars of cost to the mortgage industry and consumers," Begor added.

Equifax shares, which have fallen 9.3% so far this year, were down 0.6%.

The company now expects revenue for the full year between $6.03 billion and $6.06 billion, above average analysts' estimate of $6.02 billion, according to estimates compiled by LSEG.

On an adjusted basis, Equifax earned $252.9 million, or $2.04 per share, in the three months ended September 30, compared with analyst expectation of a profit of $1.93 per share.

 (Reporting by Prakhar Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed and Krishna Chandra Eluri)

 ((Prakhar.srivastava2@thomsonreuters.com;))