What Happened?

A number of stocks fell in the morning session after disappointing fourth-quarter results from industry bellwether Gartner sparked widespread concerns about a slowdown in the sector. 

The research and advisory firm reported that revenue in its Consulting segment fell 12.8%. This weak performance from a major industry player appeared to validate broader market fears about the health of the IT services and consulting industry. The negative sentiment spread quickly, with shares of other major companies like Accenture and Intuit also falling sharply. The market now seems concerned about a potential slowdown in the sector's growth rate, compounded by uncertainty over the long-term impact of artificial intelligence on existing business models.

The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.

Among others, the following stocks were impacted:

• Hardware & Infrastructure company Xerox (NASDAQ: XRX) fell 8.2%. Is now the time to buy Xerox? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• IT Services & Consulting company Accenture (NYSE: ACN) fell 8.7%. Is now the time to buy Accenture? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• IT Services & Consulting company IBM (NYSE: IBM) fell 8.1%. Is now the time to buy IBM? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• IT Services & Consulting company Kyndryl (NYSE: KD) fell 8.6%. Is now the time to buy Kyndryl? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Data & Business Process Services company Equifax (NYSE: EFX) fell 10.8%. Is now the time to buy Equifax? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.

Zooming In On Equifax (EFX)

Equifax’s shares are somewhat volatile and have had 11 moves greater than 5% over the last year. But moves this big are rare even for Equifax and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.

The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 10 months ago when the stock gained 14.6% on the news that 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.

Equifax is down 17.6% since the beginning of the year, and at $176.29 per share, it is trading 37.2% below its 52-week high of $280.54 from May 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Equifax’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $986.01.

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