Equifax 10-Q Details Q3 Beat, $750M Mexico Acquisition and Legal Accruals
EFX sits 29% above its 52-week low of $137.01 on elevated volume (2.5× avg).
Summary
Equifax's Q3 10-Q backs up this morning's 10% revenue growth and 21% operating margin with full statements, and discloses a $750M deal to acquire Círculo de Crédito plus $130M of legal settlement accruals.
Key Events · Earnings and Guidance · EFX
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Q3 Revenue Up 10% to $1.69B
Operating income rose to $355.3M from $264.3M, expanding operating margin to 21.0% from 17.1%; GAAP diluted EPS was $1.79.
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$750M Círculo de Crédito Acquisition Signed
Definitive agreement signed July 2026 at $750M enterprise value ($825M purchase price net of ~$75M cash acquired), subject to regulatory approval and expected to close in Q4 2026.
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Legal Settlements Quantified at $130M
A $100M FCRA coding-issue accrual (a $40M net charge after a $60M insurance receivable) has a January 2027 final approval hearing; a $30M inquiry-disputes settlement has a December 2026 hearing.
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Debt Rises to $5.23B After $1B Notes
July 2026 issuance of $500M 5.00% 2029 notes and $500M 5.65% 2033 notes repaid commercial paper; $1.8B revolver availability remains and all covenants are met.
Analysis · EFX · Trade & Services
The 10-Q fills in the numbers behind this morning's earnings release: Q3 revenue of $1.69B (+10%) and operating income of $355.3M lifted the operating margin to 21.0% from 17.1% a year ago, with GAAP diluted EPS of $1.79. Two items buried in the footnotes matter for the thesis. First, Equifax signed a definitive agreement in July 2026 to buy Círculo de Crédito for $750M enterprise value, expected to close in Q4 2026 — a real use of the $1B of notes issued in July and a step deeper into Mexican credit data. Second, litigation is now quantified: a $100M FCRA coding-issue settlement (a $40M net charge after $60M of insurance) awaiting a January 2027 final approval hearing, plus a $30M inquiry-disputes settlement up for approval in December 2026. Balance sheet leverage rose with total debt at $5.23B versus $5.11B at year-end, but $1.8B of revolver capacity and full covenant compliance leave ample room. The trimmed full-year revenue guidance was already the headline this morning; the 10-Q's contribution is the detail and the newly disclosed acquisition commitment.
How filings like this one have moved
In the 30 days to Oct 20, 2026, 29.2% of the 1466 measured filings Wiseek scored 7 moved their stock by 5% or more by the next session's close. The median move was -0.57%. These are measured outcomes after filings of this importance, not a forecast for this one.
Measured one observation per ticker per day, after exclusions. Current figures: Filing Impact Tracker · open dataset
At the time of this filing, EFX was trading at $176.87 on NYSE in the Trade & Services sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $20.7B. The 52-week trading range was $137.01 to $238.94. This filing was assessed with neutral market sentiment and an importance score of 7 out of 10.