Verisk Analytics, Inc. VRSK announced yesterday that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire FAST, a privately held software company based in Iselin, N.J. for $193.5 million.
FAST stands for “Flexible Architecture, Simplified Technology.” The company is a provider of flexible policy administration system that enables insurers to accelerate underwriting and claims. Its SaaS suite of out-of-the-box components helps life insurers upgrade their legacy policy administration systems.
Buyout Benefits
The acquisition is likely to expand Verisk’s offerings in the life insurance market, thus benefiting its Insurance segment. By using FAST’s software, Verisk will be in a position to deliver new innovative analytics that support straight-through underwriting.
“By working with FAST technology and its customers, we’ll be able to improve our predictive models and offer integrated data analytics to life insurers through an end-to-end workflow solution,” said Mark Anquillare,Verisk’s chief operating officer.
Notably, Verisk’s Insurance segment revenues totaled $466.8 million in the last reported quarter, up 9.2% year over year on a reported basis and 7.7% on an organic constant-currency basis.
Verisk Analytics, Inc. Revenue (TTM)
The company’s shares have gained 33.4% year to date, outperforming the 22.2% rally of the Zacks S&P 500 composite.
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Zacks Rank and Stocks to Consider
Verisk currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Some better-ranked stocks in the broader Zacks Business Services sector are Global Payments GPN, Mastercard MA and Cardtronics CATM. While Global Payments and Cardtronics sport a Zacks Rank #1, Mastercard carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Long-term expected EPS (three to five years) growth rate for Global Payments, Mastercard and Cardtronics is 17%, 16% and 4%, respectively.
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