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Initiation of Research Coverage: Verisk Analytics, Inc.

CHICAGO, November 19, 2009 - William Blair & Company initiated research coverage of Verisk Analytics, Inc. (VRSK $27.85), a leading provider of risk assessment solutions, with an Outperform rating and Core Growth company profile.

Analyst Robert Riggs estimated the company would generate adjusted earnings per share of $1.19 in 2009 and $1.32 in 2010.

“We believe Verisk has extensive long-term global growth opportunities stemming from both the increase in assets exposed to risk and the continued adoption of risk solutions to better understand, price, and prepare for risk,” Riggs said. “Verisk serves as the largest provider of statistical, actuarial, and underwriting data for the U.S. property and casualty industry and continues to expand its franchise by leveraging its extensive data and domain expertise to create fraud detection, loss prediction, and loss quantification solutions for the healthcare and mortgage industries. Additional areas for growth include the potential to expand existing solutions into international markets as well as continue to add new products and services through both internal initiatives and continued strategic acquisitions.”

Riggs continued, “We believe Verisk’s business model shares many of the characteristics we find attractive among other companies in our information services universe, which should provide the firm with some durable long-term competitive advantages. These characteristics include strong cash flow dynamics; subscription-based models that provide substantial revenue visibility; fragmented markets that benefit from a firm consolidating information in the space; initially low barriers to entry, but increasing competitive barriers and high switching costs as scale builds; and modest pricing power resulting from strong customer relationships and proprietary data. We believe this attractive business model has Verisk well-positioned to capitalize over the long term on a growing market opportunity for risk assessment and data analytics across multiple industry verticals.”

William Blair & Company, L.L.C. is a global investment firm offering investment banking, asset management, equity research, institutional and private brokerage, and private capital to individual, institutional, and issuing clients. Since 1935, we have been committed to helping clients achieve their financial objectives. As an independent, employee-owned firm, our philosophy is to serve our clients' interests first and foremost. We place a high value on the enduring nature of our client relationships, the quality of our products and services, and the continuity and integrity of our people. William Blair & Company is based in Chicago, with office locations including Boston, London, New York, San Francisco, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Zurich. For more information, please visit www.williamblair.com.

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Current Ratings Distribution (as of 10/31/09)

Coverage Universe
Outperform (Buy): 64%
Market Perform (Hold): 36%
Underperform (Sell): 0%

Inv. Banking Relationships*
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Market Perform (Hold): 0%
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