Verisk Analytics, Inc. (VRSK)

How it makes money

Most revenue comes from subscriptions: insurers pay recurring fees for continuous access to Verisk's databases, risk scores, and the standardized policy forms and loss-cost filings that regulators and carriers use as a common starting point. Because the underlying data pool grows more valuable as more insurers contribute to it, and because switching away means rebuilding underwriting workflows around a different data source, renewal rates are very high and pricing tends to rise steadily rather than swing with the economy.

Revenue by segment

Verisk's forms, loss-cost filings and risk scores are embedded directly into how insurers price and write policies across nearly the whole US market, and much of that data reflects decades of pooled claims history that cannot be recreated by a new entrant. Replacing Verisk would mean rebuilding core underwriting infrastructure from scratch, which is why customer retention runs close to universal.

Insurers need underwriting data and claims tools regardless of the economic cycle, since they must keep pricing and writing policies whether the economy is expanding or not. Revenue is therefore driven more by insurance-industry premium growth, new product adoption and pricing increases than by broader economic swings, making Verisk's business one of the steadier revenue streams among analytics companies.

Key risks

• Regulatory scrutiny of pricing and data use — Insurance regulators periodically scrutinize how widely used rating and loss-cost data shapes pricing across an entire market, and any restriction on how that data can be used or shared would hit a core part of the business.
• Reliance on the health of the P&C insurance industry — Nearly all revenue depends on property-and-casualty insurers continuing to grow and to value third-party data services; consolidation among large carriers could also reduce the number of paying customers.
• Narrower revenue base after divestitures — Verisk sold several non-insurance businesses in recent years to focus on its core Insurance segment, leaving a narrower set of revenue streams than the company had a few years ago.
• Competition and in-house build risk — Large insurers with enough scale can build some of Verisk's analytics internally or turn to smaller specialized data vendors, limiting how much Verisk can raise prices without prompting customers to look elsewhere.