FDS

Factset reported EPS this morning and the numbers looked pretty good. They beat by a few pennies and maintained guidance for Q1 of fy2008 but the key for me was free cash flow. FY 2007 had EPS of 2.14 but FCF of about 2.28 -- about 5%+ MORE than EPS. It is rare for companies to have higher free cash flow than earnings. Wish I had some spare cash when the stock hit $52 -- that was a steal now that it hit $66 today.

Many worries about turmoil in money managers but FDS just kept right on going. They got 30% of revenues from overseas clients -- that is pretty cool.

Given the subscription nature of the business it is highly unlikely any issues with blowing up hedge funds or private equity or investment banking, etc. would show up so quickly. The subscription number they gave of over $500 mill suggests no issues yet. Factset is still fairly small compared to other service providers like bloomberg which has about 8X as many users as Factset. The stock is not cheap but it is one incredible business -- consistent sequential growth, high free cash flow, high margins, high return on capital, etc.

I'm up about 30%+ in the year or so that I have owned the stock. not bad -- here's hoping the next year is just as good.