Verisk Analytics, Inc. (VRSK) · Nov 5, 2026 · Earnings
Beat — Adj. EPS $1.96 vs ~$1.92 consensus
Verisk’s third-quarter earnings narrowly beat consensus and full-year guidance held, but sharply lower cash flow and heavier debt temper the result.
Verisk is a recurring-revenue insurance data and analytics provider trying to return to its Investor Day growth path through subscription expansion, AI-enabled products, proprietary data, and ecosystem connectivity. Its 2026 framework calls for roughly $3.19–$3.24 billion of revenue and $7.45–$7.75 of diluted adjusted EPS, while its longer-term plan emphasizes compounding growth and margin expansion.
The quarter beat a modest market bar, but not by enough to rewrite the story. Adjusted EPS of $1.96 topped the published consensus near $1.92, while revenue of $809 million exceeded the roughly $805.9 million estimate. The underlying business was better than the headline revenue growth suggests: organic constant-currency revenue accelerated to 7.4% from 5.8% in the second quarter, led by 8.2% subscription growth, which is the most important proof point for Verisk’s recurring-revenue strategy. 〔0〕
| Q3 2026 | Q3 2025 | Consensus | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue (Financial Highlights) | $809M (+5.3%) | $768.3M | $805.9M |
| Diluted adjusted EPS (Financial Highlights) | $1.96 (+14.0%) | $1.72 | $1.92 |
| Net income (Financial Highlights) | $219.2M (-2.8%) | $225.5M | |
| Operating cash flow (Cash Flow statement) | $267.2M (-33.8%) | $403.5M | |
| Free cash flow (Financial Highlights) | $200M (-40.5%) |
The quality of the beat is mixed because cash conversion weakened materially. Net income fell and operating cash flow dropped by one-third, with management attributing the decline to collection timing, higher interest payments, and a nonrecurring prior-year tax refund. 〔1〕 That does not appear to be an operating-growth failure, but it matters because Verisk is simultaneously funding high capital spending, servicing more debt, and returning substantial capital through repurchases.
Buybacks amplified EPS growth while increasing the balance-sheet tradeoff. The company repurchased $100 million of stock in the quarter and had $700 million left under its authorization; year-to-date repurchases reached $1.9 billion. 〔2〕 That helped adjusted EPS grow 14%, but cash fell to $556.8 million while long-term debt rose to $4.23 billion from $3.23 billion at year-end (Balance Sheet). The capital-return program is therefore supportive of per-share results, but less cleanly funded by current-quarter cash generation than the headline EPS growth implies.
Guidance was maintained, not raised. Verisk kept its full-year 2026 outlook at $3.19–$3.24 billion of revenue and $7.45–$7.75 of adjusted EPS, consistent with the prior quarter’s framework. That makes the quarter an execution confirmation with a small upside surprise, rather than evidence that the company’s growth trajectory has materially reset higher.
Bottom line: Verisk is back to healthier organic growth and narrowly cleared expectations, but the result is only modestly better than anticipated. The business story improves slightly; the sharp cash-flow decline and heavier leverage keep this from being a clean, high-conviction beat.
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