Equifax (EFX) news that moved the stock

What happened

Equifax posted Q3 adjusted EPS of $2.26 versus $2.20 expected, with revenue up 9.6% to $1.69 billion (in line). It raised the midpoint of full-year adjusted EPS guidance to $8.45–$8.55 from $8.39–$8.69 while cutting the revenue guide to $6.65–$6.68 billion from $6.71–$6.78 billion, citing the weaker U.S. mortgage market. Notably, U.S. mortgage revenue still grew 15% in the quarter. The real catalyst was commentary on the earnings call: CEO Mark Begor said Equifax is seeing rapid adoption of VantageScore from mortgage lenders since April, with more lenders moving to the paid VantageScore model. Shares rose 10% to $175.04, on pace for their best day in nearly two years and the top S&P 500 performance of the day.

What happened

Late Monday, FHFA Director Bill Pulte announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will scrap their two separate pricing matrices and move to a single unified mortgage pricing grid — with VantageScore joining the existing FICO Classic pricing grid for the first time. 'Fannie and Freddie are hereby moving to ONE PRICING GRID with VantageScore joining the existing FICO Classic pricing grid,' Pulte wrote on X, adding that the prior two-grid structure made 'zero sense.' VantageScore is a joint venture of the three credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion). Hours later, Rocket Mortgage announced it will become the first home lender to use VantageScore 4.0 as its preferred scoring model on all eligible loans, after four months of testing showed it helped more clients qualify while reducing credit-scoring costs. TransUnion separately locked in standalone VantageScore 4.0 mortgage pricing at $0.99 per score through December 2028. Fair Isaac shares plunged ~20% in premarket trading Tuesday and were the worst performer in the S&P 500 — the worst daily decline in more than six years.