By Katherine Hamilton
FactSet Research Systems said its increasing use of artificial intelligence is bringing in more sales and allowing the company to cut 10% of its technology workforce.
The financial-data platform said on an analyst call Wednesday that it has started making the job cuts because AI coding agents now author more than a quarter of committed code on FactSet's engineering teams using these tools. Meanwhile, more clients are using FactSet's new AI services, and those that use AI services are spending more on subscriptions, executives said.
Revenue rose 6% to $622.9 million in the fiscal third quarter, which ended May 31. Analysts surveyed by FactSet forecast revenue of $617.9 million.
Annual subscription value, which represents revenue from all subscription services over the next 12 months, was $2.48 billion at the end of May. That was an increase from $2.34 billion at the same time the year before.
Shares rose 7% to $245.19 on Wednesday. The stock is still down 17% this year.
During the quarter, more than 10% of the annual subscription-value growth came directly from AI SKUs, executives said on the call. Subscription-value growth was also 50% higher among clients using AI compared with those who weren't, they added.
More than 90% of FactSet's top 50 clients are now using four or more AI services through the platform, executives said. Customers that use AI have better rates of retention and contract expansion, as well, and FactSet's average contract term extended by roughly 30%, they said.
FactSet's third-quarter profit fell to $126.7 million, or $3.50 a share, from $148.5 million, or $3.87 a share, a year earlier.
Stripping out certain one-time items, adjusted per-share earnings were $4.53, ahead of the $4.45 anticipated by analysts, according to FactSet.
FactSet reaffirmed its outlook for the full year, which it provided in March.
Write to Katherine Hamilton at katherine.hamilton@wsj.com