Published: July 19, 2023 at 5:13 pm ET
Called by Equifax Inc. a weak mortgage market on Wednesday while cutting its outlook for the full year.
The credit reporting company now expects $5.27 billion to $5.33 billion in full-year revenue, while its prior forecast was for $5.275 billion to $5.375 billion. Equifax EFX now calls for $6.85 a share to $7.10 a share in adjusted earnings, down from previous guidance of $7.05 a share to $7.35 a share.
“We…
Called by Equifax Inc. a weak mortgage market on Wednesday while cutting its outlook for the full year.
The credit reporting company now expects $5.27 billion to $5.33 billion in full-year revenue, while its prior forecast was for $5.275 billion to $5.375 billion. Equifax
FX
now calls for $6.85 a share to $7.10 a share in adjusted earnings, up from previous guidance of $7.05 a share to $7.35 a share.
“We expect the weaker-than-expected US debt market we saw in June to continue,” Chief Executive Mark Begor said in a release Wednesday afternoon. The new outlook accounts for “the more negative impact of a weaker mortgage market and loss of high mortgage income.”
Shares were down 5% in after-hours trading.
read: The party is over for America’s housing market, but this real-estate CEO believes it will recover
In addition, Equifax expects the hiring slowdown to continue throughout the year, although it projects that stronger growth in its government business will help offset the negative impact on the company’s non-mortgage business.
don’t forget: Only 1.4% of homes in the country changed hands this year, the lowest level in a decade, says Redfin
For the second quarter, Equifax delivered net income of $138.3 million, or $1.12 a share, while the company posted net income of $200.6 million, or $1.63 a share, last year.
Adjusted earnings per share fell to $1.71 from $2.09, while analysts were modeling $1.68 a share.
Begor said in the earnings release that Equifax showed “very good execution” against its plan to cut cloud spending this year. “We are taking actions to determine further reductions in cloud spending of $10 million in the second half,” he said.
Revenue for the second quarter came in roughly flat at $1.32 billion, while analysts were calling for $1.33 billion.
See also: Only a tenth of mortgages have interest rates above 6% — that’s a big problem in the US housing market