Company Overview
Verisk Analytics, Inc. engages in the provision of data analytics and technology solutions primarily serving the insurance industry across the United States and internationally, offering specialized underwriting solutions such as forms, rules, and loss costs services that deliver policy language and prospective loss cost data. The company operates within the Industrials sector and specifically functions under the Consulting Services industry, positioning it as a provider of essential operational tools and data infrastructure for insurance entities. Its current market capitalization stands at $25.47B, while the firm reported annual revenue of $3.07B and maintains an employee base of 8000 individuals. These valuation and revenue figures indicate that Verisk Analytics is a significant market participant with substantial scale, suggesting a dominant role in the specialized analytics space for the insurance sector rather than a niche or emerging player.
Financial Health
Verisk Analytics, Inc. reported a trailing twelve-month revenue of $3.07B, generating a net income of $908.30M and an EBITDA of $1.48B during the same period. The substantial gap between the $3.07B in revenue and the $908.30M in net income reveals a highly efficient cost structure where operating expenses are managed to allow nearly 30% of revenue to convert directly into profit. The company generated $1.01B in free cash flow, which provides significant financial flexibility to fund operations, invest in technology infrastructure, or return capital to shareholders without relying on external financing. This financial strength is underpinned by a gross margin of 69.9%, an operating margin of 44.0%, and a profit margin of 29.6%, each indicating an extremely efficient business model where the company retains the vast majority of its revenue after covering the cost of goods sold and operational expenses. Regarding its balance sheet, the company holds $2.18B in cash against $4.90B in debt, resulting in a debt-to-equity ratio of 1581.80, which reflects a leveraged position rather than a conservative one. Despite the high leverage, the current ratio of 1.20 indicates that the company possesses adequate short-term liquidity to cover its current liabilities with its current assets. Furthermore, the return on equity stands at 437.9% and the return on assets is 16.5%, metrics that reveal exceptional management effectiveness in generating returns from the shareholder equity and the total asset base, respectively.
Valuation Assessment
The trailing twelve-month P/E ratio for Verisk Analytics is 28.16, while the forward P/E is 21.28, implying that the market expects earnings to grow significantly in the coming years to justify the lower forward multiple. The price-to-book ratio is 81.84, indicating a substantial market premium over the company's book value, which is typical for software and data-driven firms with high intangible assets. Additional alternative valuation metrics include a price-to-sales ratio of 8.29 and an EV/EBITDA of 18.81, suggesting that investors are willing to pay a high multiple for the company's sales and earnings power relative to its enterprise value. The stock has traded between a 52-week low of $164.60 and a 52-week high of $322.92, and without the current specific stock price provided in the facts, the precise percentage position relative to this range cannot be calculated from the available data points. The company exhibits a beta of 0.80, which means its stock price volatility is historically lower than that of the broader market, making it a less volatile holding relative to the overall market index.
Growth & Income
Available growth metrics for revenue and earnings are currently listed as N/A, meaning specific year-over-year growth rates are not reported in the provided financial data to assess whether earnings are expanding faster or slower than revenue. As a dividend payer, the company offers a dividend yield of 1.1% with a payout ratio of 27.8%, indicating that the dividend is highly sustainable as it covers the payout with a small fraction of its net income. The low payout ratio suggests that the company retains the majority of its earnings for reinvestment into its analytics platforms, technology development, and market expansion rather than distributing them entirely as dividends. Consequently, the overall growth and income profile reflects a mature, highly profitable business that generates strong cash flows and supports a modest but reliable dividend while retaining earnings to fuel internal growth initiatives.