What Happened?
Shares of insurance data analytics provider Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ: VRSK) fell 11.4% in the afternoon session after the company reported third-quarter results that missed revenue expectations and lowered its full-year sales forecast.
The data analytics firm now expects full-year revenue of $3.07 billion at the midpoint, down from its previous forecast of $3.11 billion and below analysts' average estimate. The company also guided for full-year EBITDA of $1.71 billion, missing Wall Street's expectation of $1.74 billion. While Verisk's adjusted earnings per share of $1.72 for the quarter did beat expectations by 1%, its revenue of $768.3 million fell short of forecasts, compounding investor concerns about the company's growth outlook.
The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks. Is now the time to buy Verisk? Access our full analysis report here.
What Is The Market Telling Us
Verisk’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 3 moves greater than 5% over the last year. Moves this big are rare for Verisk and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 13 days ago when the stock dropped 4.4% on the news that analyst Russell Quelch from Rothschild & Co downgraded the stock from 'Neutral' to 'Sell' and sharply lowered its price target. The price target for Verisk was cut by 21.43% from $280 to $220. This action was part of a recent trend, as Evercore ISI Group had also lowered its price target on the stock just two days prior.
Verisk is down 24.7% since the beginning of the year, and at $204.90 per share, it is trading 36.2% below its 52-week high of $321.33 from June 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Verisk’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $1,149.
Today’s young investors won’t have read the timeless lessons in Gorilla Game: Picking Winners In High Technology because it was written more than 20 years ago when Microsoft and Apple were first establishing their supremacy. But if we apply the same principles, then enterprise software stocks leveraging their own generative AI capabilities may well be the Gorillas of the future. So, in that spirit, we are excited to present our Special Free Report on a profitable, fast-growing enterprise software stock that is already riding the automation wave and looking to catch the generative AI next.
