TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) said third-quarter revenue, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted diluted earnings per share exceeded the high end of its guidance, supported by growth in U.S. financial services, insurance and international operations.
Revenue rose 12% on a reported basis and 8% on an organic constant-currency basis. Excluding FICO mortgage royalties, organic constant-currency revenue growth was approximately 5.5%. Adjusted EBITDA increased 9%, while adjusted diluted earnings per share rose 14% year over year to $1.25, exceeding the high end of the company’s guidance by $0.04.
“Our results reflect consistent execution despite the ongoing economic and geopolitical uncertainties,” President and Chief Executive Officer Chris Cartwright said during the company’s earnings call.
U.S. Growth Led by Financial Services and Insurance
U.S. markets revenue grew 7% organically on a constant-currency basis. Financial services revenue increased 11%, or 5% excluding mortgage revenue, while emerging verticals grew 6%.
Within non-mortgage financial services, auto revenue rose 13%, driven by pricing and new customer wins across TransUnion’s solutions. Credit card and banking revenue grew 3%, aided by recent Trusted Call Solutions wins, while consumer lending revenue increased 5%, reflecting fintech growth and consumer demand.
Mortgage revenue grew 21%, though growth was 5% excluding FICO royalties. Mortgage inquiries declined 16% during the quarter, and management said higher interest rates had slowed mortgage activity. The company cited pricing actions and revenue from products beyond traditional tri-merge reports as factors that helped it outperform underlying inquiry volumes.
Insurance recorded its ninth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth. TransUnion said demand remained strong across credit, marketing, driving-history and fraud solutions, supported by consumer shopping activity and new contract wins.
Cartwright said insurance is expected to generate more than $430 million of revenue in 2026, making it comparable in size to the company’s mortgage business excluding FICO royalties. The company serves more than 80% of insurance carriers, including all of the top 20 personal-lines insurers, according to management.
- TransUnion estimates core-credit contract wins represent approximately $225 million in annualized revenue, compared with roughly $190 million in its 2026 revenue base.
- Driving-history contract wins represent approximately $150 million in annualized revenue, compared with about $125 million in the 2026 revenue base.
- Management expects insurance to deliver at least high-single-digit growth over the medium term.
TransUnion also highlighted its telematics partnership with Cambridge Mobile Telematics, through which it is developing what it described as the industry’s first consumer-owned driving score.
International Revenue Reaccelerates
International revenue grew 10% organically on a constant-currency basis, led by 18% growth in both India and Latin America. India benefited from improving consumer and commercial lending volumes as well as new business converting to revenue.
Cartwright said the company expects India to be a mid-teens organic growth market over the next three years, citing economic growth, demographics, improved credit data, redesigned consumer and commercial scores, and expanding adoption of its TruIQ analytics platform.
Latin America’s 18% growth included double-digit increases in Brazil and Colombia. While management said some Brazil growth was tied to one-time revenue, it expects healthy double-digit growth from the region in the fourth quarter. The company also said its Mexico acquisition continued to perform ahead of its revenue and adjusted EBITDA acquisition case.
Elsewhere, Canada grew 7%, the United Kingdom grew 5%, Africa rose 6%, and Asia Pacific returned to growth with a 3% increase.
Guidance Raised as Mortgage Activity Slows
For the fourth quarter, TransUnion forecast revenue of $1.264 billion to $1.294 billion, representing reported growth of 8% to 10%. The company expects organic constant-currency growth of 3% to 6%, or 3% to 5% excluding FICO mortgage royalties.
The company forecast fourth-quarter adjusted EBITDA of $450 million to $468 million and adjusted diluted earnings per share of $1.15 to $1.22.
For the full year, TransUnion raised the low end of its outlook and now expects:
- Revenue of $5.131 billion to $5.162 billion, up 12% to 13%.
- Organic constant-currency revenue growth of 8% to 9%, or 5% to 6% excluding FICO mortgage royalties.
- Adjusted EBITDA of $1.808 billion to $1.827 billion, up 10% to 11%.
- Adjusted diluted earnings per share of $4.81 to $4.88, up 12% to 13%.
The company now expects full-year mortgage inquiries to decline roughly 10%, including a decline of more than 20% in the fourth quarter. Management said it expects stronger international performance and the company’s broader portfolio diversification to help offset softer U.S. mortgage activity.
Adjusted EBITDA margin was 35.4% in the third quarter, down 90 basis points from a year earlier. Chief Financial Officer Todd Cello said technology and solutions investments, along with higher legal and regulatory costs, offset revenue flow-through. TransUnion said it is reinvesting some savings into product development and an accelerated global rollout of its OneTru technology platform.
Capital Returns and Mortgage Policy Discussion
TransUnion ended the quarter with $5.5 billion of debt and $883 million of cash. Its leverage ratio fell to 2.5 times, within its long-term target range. Free cash flow through the first nine months totaled $687 million, representing approximately 97% conversion as a percentage of adjusted net income.
The company repurchased $126 million of shares during the quarter. Through the first three quarters, it repurchased 3.3 million shares for $243 million at an average price of about $74 per share. TransUnion expects to repurchase roughly $500 million of stock for the full year after its board increased the company’s repurchase authorization by $1 billion to $2 billion.
TransUnion also increased its quarterly dividend to 13.5 cents per share from 12.5 cents, payable in November.
Cartwright addressed the possibility that the Federal Housing Finance Agency could move government-sponsored enterprise-conforming mortgages from a tri-merge to a bi-merge credit-reporting standard. He said TransUnion estimates that only approximately $100 million of annual revenue is directly connected to the FHFA requirement.
If all FHFA-regulated loans moved to bi-merge and credit bureaus maintained equal market share, TransUnion estimates an annual impact of roughly $33 million in revenue excluding FICO royalties and $0.15 in adjusted diluted earnings per share. Cartwright said this would represent less than 1% of total revenue and less than 3% of adjusted diluted earnings per share.
The company also said VantageScore was used in roughly 35% of mortgage credit pulls during the third quarter and that it extended its 99-cent VantageScore mortgage pricing through 2028.
Finally, Cartwright said Cello will remain CFO through the end of the year and then serve as a full-time adviser through March 1. TransUnion has begun a search for its next CFO.
About TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)
TransUnion (NYSE: TRU) is a global information and insights company that helps businesses and consumers make more informed decisions. The company collects, analyzes and delivers data related to credit, identity, fraud and consumer behavior, serving customers across financial services, insurance, healthcare, retail, telecommunications and other industries.
Its products and services include consumer credit reports and scores, credit-risk assessment, marketing and audience insights, identity verification, fraud detection, investigative tools and decisioning software.
