Verisk (VRSK) Q2 2025: Strong Core Growth & AccuLynx Acquisition

Verisk Analytics (VRSK), a key player providing data analytics to the global insurance industry, just released its financial results for the second quarter of 2025. When a company whose business is data releases its own data, it's always worth a look. We're going to dive into their latest 10-Q filing to see how the company is performing, what's driving its results, and what strategic moves it's making.

Strong Core Growth Powers the Top Line

Verisk reported solid revenue growth for the quarter, with total revenues reaching $772.6 million, a 7.8% increase from the same period last year. For the first six months of 2025, revenues are up 7.4% to $1.53 billion.

This growth appears healthy and broad-based, coming from both of its insurance-focused revenue streams:

• Underwriting: Revenue grew 8.3% to $549.6 million, driven by price increases tied to enhanced solutions and new sales for its extreme event models.
• Claims: Revenue increased 6.6% to $223.0 million, thanks to growth in anti-fraud and property estimating solutions.

Importantly, this growth was almost entirely organic. After accounting for the net effect of recent small acquisitions and dispositions, the company's underlying revenue grew an impressive 8.4%.

To get a better sense of how Verisk's revenue is generated and where the money goes, this flow diagram illustrates the journey from revenue to net income for the quarter.

A Tale of Two Profitability Stories

At first glance, Verisk's profitability presents a mixed picture. Operating income, a key measure of core business profitability, rose a healthy 11.2% to $354.3 million. This shows that the company's main operations are not only growing but also becoming more efficient, with profitability expanding faster than revenue.

However, net income (the bottom-line profit) fell to $253.3 million from $307.8 million a year ago. So what gives?

The answer lies in a one-time event from last year. In Q2 2024, Verisk recorded a massive $99.8 million investment gain from settling interests related to businesses it had previously sold. The comparable gain this quarter was only $9.1 million. This skews the year-over-year comparison significantly. When we look past this non-recurring item, the underlying health of the business, as reflected in the strong operating income growth, is clear.

Aggressive Acquisitions and Shareholder Returns

Perhaps the most exciting part of the report is the company's recent strategic activity. Verisk is clearly using its financial strength to expand its footprint:

• Simplitium and SuranceBay were acquired in recent months to bolster risk modeling and life insurance solutions.
• The headline news is the definitive agreement announced in July 2025 to acquire AccuLynx for $2.35 billion in cash. AccuLynx is a leading software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform for residential property contractors, particularly those in roofing. This is a major strategic move to deepen Verisk's integration into the entire insurance claims and restoration ecosystem.

Even with these large investments, Verisk continues to return capital to shareholders. The company repurchased $100 million of its stock during the quarter and increased its quarterly dividend by over 15% to $0.45 per share compared to the prior year.

The Bottom Line

Verisk's second-quarter results showcase a company with a strong, growing core business. While the headline net income figure was down, this was due to a one-off gain in the prior year, masking solid improvement in operational profitability.

The company is not sitting still. With the blockbuster acquisition of AccuLynx, Verisk is making an aggressive push to own a larger piece of the property claims value chain. While it navigates ongoing legal matters related to telematics and data privacy, Verisk's strategy of using its robust cash flow to fund major growth initiatives while also rewarding shareholders makes it a compelling company to watch in the dynamic insurance technology landscape.