What Happened?

Shares of credit reporting giant Equifax (NYSE:EFX) jumped 14.6% in the afternoon session after the company reported impressive first-quarter 2025 results, with earnings and sales both topping Wall Street expectations, despite the shaky mortgage market. 

The real story was a jump in US mortgage revenue, which climbed 7%, showing the company's tools are gaining traction. Sales growth also reflected improvements across all regions and a push into new cloud-based services. Margins held steady, and in some places even got better, like in the US business where operating margin rose due to tighter cost controls and better pricing. That helped push earnings up slightly. 

Looking ahead, the company projected revenue to grow by 6.5% next quarter, ahead of consensus estimates. Backing that confidence, the board announced a new buyback and raised the dividend by more than a quarter. All told, the quarter showed strength across the board.

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What The Market Is Telling Us

Equifax’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 9 moves greater than 5% over the last year. Moves this big are rare for Equifax and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.

Equifax is down 3.1% since the beginning of the year, and at $243.43 per share, it is trading 20.7% below its 52-week high of $307.13 from August 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Equifax’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $1,836.

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