** Shares of Fair Isaac FICO.N, better known as FICO, slide as much as 15.1%, hitting their lowest since November 2023
** Stock of the credit-scoring giant last down 12.8% at $935.17
** Clear Street analyst Owen Lau points towards a report that the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is set to increase competition regarding credit scores by making VantageScore operational in housing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
** "There could also be increased competition among credit bureaus (i.e. potentially single file credit report)" - Lau
** Mortgage Bankers Association last year urged FHFA to remove the tri-merge credit report mandate for every loan purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
** The housing giants require lenders to use reports from all three major credit bureaus to assess borrower's creditworthiness
** VantageScore, a credit score modeling and analytics company, was founded in 2006 by Equifax, Experian and TransUnion as a competitor to FICO score
** 15 of 22 brokerages rate the stock "buy" or higher, 6 "hold" and 1 "sell"; median PT $1,975 - data compiled by LSEG
** As of last close, FICO stock down 36.6% YTD
(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru)
((ArasuKannagi.Basil@thomsonreuters.com;))
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