Verisk Analytics (VRSK) BofA Securities 2026 Information & Business Services Conference summary

Growth strategy and ecosystem expansion

• Focus on expanding open architecture and integrating third-party solutions, especially in property estimating and anti-fraud verticals, to drive new value for customers and revenue opportunities through partnerships and revenue sharing.

• Organic growth is prioritized, with selective M&A considered when it enhances proprietary data or expands into new insurance markets or risk types.

• International revenue is about 17%, with growth in catastrophe and risk modeling, especially in the UK and Germany, but no urgent need for global expansion due to structural differences in insurance markets.

• Product velocity has increased due to a streamlined insurance-only focus and targeted capital allocation, accelerating innovation and subscription revenue growth above 8% in recent years.

• Demonstrated ability to incentivize data contribution and adoption of new tools by proving value through benchmarking and fraud detection, quickly spinning up proof of concepts.

Technology, AI, and data defensibility

• AI-driven enhancements are being implemented in property estimating (e.g., GenAI for photo tagging and estimate generation) and anti-fraud (e.g., Digital Media Forensics to detect manipulated images).

• Anti-fraud solutions leverage a contributory database of over 600 million images, with network effects from major carriers contributing data.

• AI is seen as an opportunity to enhance both internal efficiency and customer value, with a strong focus on AI governance, ethical use, and auditability to meet regulatory and litigation requirements.

• 85% of revenue is derived from highly defensible sources: contributory data, proprietary data, and proprietary analytics, making the business resilient to AI disruption.

• Customers are modernizing but face long sales cycles due to regulation and risk aversion, which also serves as a competitive moat.

Financial performance and capital allocation

• Revenue growth has consistently outpaced insurance industry net written premium growth, maintaining a stable 6–8% band through market cycles.

• Pricing is based on value delivered, not cost, with solutions representing a small fraction of industry premiums but protecting significant claim payouts.

• Capital allocation prioritizes organic investment, selective M&A, and returning capital to shareholders, with recent large buyback authorizations reflecting confidence in the business and market conditions.

• No significant need for large-scale acquisitions; focus remains on insurance industry and enhancing data assets.

• Product innovation, AI, and workflow tools are described as accelerating, evolving, and presenting new opportunities.