Offshore

Dimitry Nakhla | Babylon Capital®
RT @DimitryNakhla: Sharing some thoughts on $FICO 👇🏽

Photo 1: $FICO now trades 32x NTM earnings estimates. Just four days ago, ahead of its Q1 2026 report, it traded 39x. $FICO is down ~5% in the past 5 days, so most of that multiple contraction (~18%) is due to aggressive growth in earnings.

Photo 2: Since January 2023, $FICO has a total return of 147.50% or a 34.3% CAGR despite the multiple expanding only 11.83% since then. In other words, nearly all of the return over that time period has been driven by strong earnings growth.

Photo 3: Since September 2019, $FICO has a total return of 355.80% or a 26.9% CAGR despite the multiple contracting -5.81% since then. Again, an incredible return in the face of slight multiple compression due to strong earnings growth.

Photo 4: Since September 2024, $FICO is down -24.20% while its multiple was halved, contracting -50.78%. While $FICO dropped during that period, again you see the impact strong earnings growth can have even in the face of severe multiple compression.

𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘴 𝘋𝘦𝘷 𝘒𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘥𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘴:

💬 The biggest mistake investors make is focusing on the nominal P/E ratio of a high-quality company today. If you have a business that can grow its free cash flow at 15% or 20% for a decade or two, the ‘expensive’ 30x or 40x multiple you are paying today is actually a significantly lower multiple on the earnings power just a few years out. The market consistently underestimates the duration of growth for these ‘toll-bridge’ monopolies.
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Today, $FICO trades at a more than reasonable PEG of ~1.41x.

My research also leads me to believe $FICO could have an $ASML moment within the next five years.

Here’s what I mean by that. Those of us who have been bullish on $ASML for the last several years knew, with a high degree of certainty, that $ASML would eventually see a surge in orders as demand naturally had to increase to support the advancement of AI and chip production at an unprecedented scale.

Yes, it wasn’t linear for $ASML, and for a few years it lagged many semiconductor players. Yet, what happened? In $ASML’s latest report, Q4 net bookings came in at €13.13B (+86% YoY) versus estimates of €6.85B — nearly double. And of course the stock surged +93% in just the past year.

At some point within the next five years, I anticipate that mortgage rates (among other things) will fall meaningfully enough to drive a surge — similar to $ASML net bookings spike — in refinance demand, alongside higher origination volumes from lower rates, all coupled with price increases.

That combination creates a “twin engine” of higher volumes + higher prices, which could translate into materially higher earnings and free cash flow than what current estimates imply, especially over the long term.

Here’s the catch: nobody knows when this will happen (similar to $ASML). However, those who are patient may be rewarded.

If you deeply understood $ASML importance and the inevitable, much greater demand for its machines, you were able to hold with confidence.

$FICO rhymes.

Two different “toll booths” in two different sectors — yet potentially very similar dynamics.
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