Credit reporting company TransUnion (NYSE: TRU) reported Q3 CY2025 results exceeding the market’s revenue expectations, with sales up 7.8% year on year to $1.17 billion. Guidance for next quarter’s revenue was better than expected at $1.13 billion at the midpoint, 1.7% above analysts’ estimates. Its non-GAAP profit of $1.10 per share was 5.4% above analysts’ consensus estimates.

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“In the third quarter, TransUnion delivered strong results that again exceeded financial guidance,” said Chris Cartwright, President and CEO.

Company Overview

One of the three major credit bureaus in the United States alongside Equifax and Experian, TransUnion (NYSE: TRU) is a global information and insights company that provides credit reports, fraud prevention tools, and data analytics to help businesses make decisions and consumers manage their financial health.

Revenue Growth

A company’s long-term sales performance can indicate its overall quality. Any business can put up a good quarter or two, but the best consistently grow over the long haul.

With $4.44 billion in revenue over the past 12 months, TransUnion is a mid-sized business services company, which sometimes brings disadvantages compared to larger competitors benefiting from better economies of scale. On the bright side, it can still flex high growth rates because it’s working from a smaller revenue base.

As you can see below, TransUnion’s sales grew at an impressive 10.4% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years. This shows it had high demand, a useful starting point for our analysis.

Long-term growth is the most important, but within business services, a half-decade historical view may miss new innovations or demand cycles. TransUnion’s annualized revenue growth of 8.4% over the last two years is below its five-year trend, but we still think the results suggest healthy demand.

This quarter, TransUnion reported year-on-year revenue growth of 7.8%, and its $1.17 billion of revenue exceeded Wall Street’s estimates by 3.2%. Company management is currently guiding for a 8.9% year-on-year increase in sales next quarter.

Looking further ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 6.5% over the next 12 months, a slight deceleration versus the last two years. Still, this projection is above the sector average and implies the market sees some success for its newer products and services.

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Operating Margin

TransUnion has been an efficient company over the last five years. It was one of the more profitable businesses in the business services sector, boasting an average operating margin of 15.3%.

Analyzing the trend in its profitability, TransUnion’s operating margin decreased by 5.5 percentage points over the last five years. This raises questions about the company’s expense base because its revenue growth should have given it leverage on its fixed costs, resulting in better economies of scale and profitability.

This quarter, TransUnion generated an operating margin profit margin of 17.8%, up 3.3 percentage points year on year. This increase was a welcome development and shows it was more efficient.

Earnings Per Share

We track the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) for the same reason as long-term revenue growth. Compared to revenue, however, EPS highlights whether a company’s growth is profitable.

TransUnion’s EPS grew at an unimpressive 7.3% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years, lower than its 10.4% annualized revenue growth. This tells us the company became less profitable on a per-share basis as it expanded.

Diving into the nuances of TransUnion’s earnings can give us a better understanding of its performance. As we mentioned earlier, TransUnion’s operating margin expanded this quarter but declined by 5.5 percentage points over the last five years. Its share count also grew by 2.5%, meaning the company not only became less efficient with its operating expenses but also diluted its shareholders.

Like with revenue, we analyze EPS over a shorter period to see if we are missing a change in the business.

For TransUnion, its two-year annual EPS growth of 12% was higher than its five-year trend. Accelerating earnings growth is almost always an encouraging data point.

In Q3, TransUnion reported adjusted EPS of $1.10, up from $1.04 in the same quarter last year. This print beat analysts’ estimates by 5.4%. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects TransUnion’s full-year EPS of $4.20 to grow 9.4%.

Key Takeaways from TransUnion’s Q3 Results

It was great to see TransUnion’s revenue guidance for next quarter top analysts’ expectations. We were also glad its revenue outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. Overall, we think this was a solid quarter with some key areas of upside. The stock traded up 4.3% to $84.13 immediately after reporting.

TransUnion may have had a good quarter, but does that mean you should invest right now? When making that decision, it’s important to consider its valuation, business qualities, as well as what has happened in the latest quarter. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here, it’s free for active Edge members.