SS&C TECHNOLOGIES HOLDINGS, INC. (SSNC): what the price requires
At today's price, SS&C TECHNOLOGIES HOLDINGS, INC. (SSNC) is priced for +2.0% growth. boothcheck doesn't publish a fair value or a price target; it shows what the price assumes, so you can judge whether that bar is too high.
Generated: 2026-07-14 · Exported: 2026-07-16 · Source: https://boothcheck.com/report/SSNC
Headline
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Ticker | SSNC |
| Company | SS&C TECHNOLOGIES HOLDINGS, INC. |
| Sector / Industry | Technology |
| Current price | $67.97/sh |
| Composition | Software-enabled services 83% / License, maintenance and related 17% |
What The Price Requires (Inversion)
The assumption today's price embeds, recovered by inverting the valuation.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Inversion basis | whole-company |
| Operating margin needed | 4.5% |
| Operating margin today | 23.4% |
| Margin compression implied | -18.9pp |
| Implied growth | 2.0% |
| Multiple paid | 16x operating income |
The operating-margin requirement is derived from the framework's value band at year 12, a separately labeled basis from the headline growth/duration solve.
Solve inputs: computed at a 8.1% cost of capital with 4% terminal growth over a 5-year stage; each 1pp of cost of capital moves the implied operating-profit growth ~6.6pp.
Reconcile: at the x-ray's 9.3% required return this reads ~9.3%/yr; the models below use their own rates.
How unusual the bet is: within-range
| Reference | Value |
|---|---|
| vs own history | -0.99σ |
| cohort percentile (of 177 peers) | 23 |
| implied end-window share | 0% |
Valuation X-Ray
The price is justified by relative-multiple and growth-DCF; asset-based/earnings-power land below the price.
How the valuation models price the stock relative to the market price. Price/FV above 1.0 means the market pays more than that lens defends (expensive); at or below 1.0 the lens can defend the price.
| Family | Median price/FV | Models | Reads |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asset | 1.71x | 5 | expensive |
| Earnings | 1.95x | 5 | expensive |
| Relative | 0.51x | 5 | justifies |
| Growth | 0.84x | 3 | justifies |
Families that justify the price: Relative, Growth Families that call it expensive: Asset, Earnings
The models below discount at their own flat-beta convention rates (cost of equity 9.3%, WACC 6.7%); the inversion above states its own rate.
Per-Model Detail (n=18)
| Model | Family | FV | Price/FV | Applicable | Methodology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DCF Perpetual Growth | Growth | $214.02 | 0.32x | yes | FCF base $1.8B, growth 7% (input: historical growth), terminal g 4.0%, WACC 6.7%, 6yr projection |
| DCF Exit Multiple | Growth | $80.52 | 0.84x | yes | Exit EV/EBITDA: 9.0x / 11.0x / 13.0x (bear / base = today's held flat / bull), 6yr |
| Relative Valuation | Relative | $132.65 | 0.51x | yes | P/E 35x (static sector reference · 2026-04), scenarios: 29.1x / 35.0x / 40.9x (bear / base = reference held flat / bull), EV/EBITDA 19.39x |
| Simple DDM | Growth | — | — | no | — |
| Two-Stage DDM | Growth | — | — | no | — |
| Simple Excess Return | Asset | $35.37 | 1.92x | yes | BV/sh $27.64, ROE (TTM) 11.8%, ke 9.3% |
| Two-Stage Excess Return | Asset | $39.79 | 1.71x | yes | 5yr excess ROE then converge to ke=9.3% |
| Discounted Future Market Cap | Growth | $44.13 | 1.54x | yes | Rev $6.4B, growth 7% (input: historical growth; tapered), Terminal P/S: 2.2x / 2.6x / 3.1x (bear / base = today's held flat / bull, cap 8x) |
| Peter Lynch Fair Value | Relative | $38.64 | 1.76x | yes | EPS $3.22, growth 2% (input: historical EPS growth), PEG=8.68 (Overvalued) |
| Margin Trajectory | Growth | — | — | no | — |
| Earnings Power Value | Earnings | $23.37 | 2.91x | yes | Normalized EBIT (5y avg op income, one-time charges added back) $1.30B × (1−25%) / WACC 6.7% → EPV (no growth) |
| Residual Income | Asset | $40.68 | 1.67x | yes | BV $27.64 + 5yr PV of (ROE (TTM) 11.8% − Kₑ 9.3%) × BV; BV grows 7.7%/yr |
| Graham Number | Asset | $44.75 | 1.52x | yes | √(22.5 × EPS $3.22 × BVPS $27.64) — Graham's conservative floor |
| EV/EBITDA Relative | Relative | $192.09 | 0.35x | yes | EBITDA $2.19B × sector EV/EBITDA 25.0x |
| FCF Yield | Earnings | $45.02 | 1.51x | yes | FCF $1698.2M / Kₑ 9.3% — zero-growth perpetuity |
| SBC-Adj FCF Yield | Earnings | $33.37 | 2.04x | yes | SBC-adj FCF $1.43B (FCF $1.70B − SBC $0.27B) capitalized at Kₑ |
| Ben Graham Formula | Earnings | $35.86 | 1.90x | yes | EPS $3.22 × (8.5 + 2×2.4%) × (4.4 / 5.3%) |
| ROIC-Justified P/B | Asset | $8.74 | 7.78x | yes | BV $27.64 × (ROIC 2.1% / WACC 6.7%) |
| P/Sales Sector | Relative | $206.96 | 0.33x | yes | Revenue $6.41B × sector P/S 8.0x |
| PEG Fair Value | Relative | $16.10 | 4.22x | yes | EPS $3.22 × (PEG 1.5 × growth 2.4% (input: historical EPS growth)) → PE 3.6x |
| Earnings Yield | Earnings | $34.81 | 1.95x | yes | EPS $3.22 / required return 9.3% (Rf 4.3% + ERP 5.0%) |
| Funds From Operations Multiple | Relative | — | — | no | — |
| Clinical Phase NPV | Growth | — | — | no | — |
| Merton | Asset | — | — | no | — |
| V5 Mechanical | — | — | — | no | — |
Solvency
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Net debt | $7.0b |
| Net debt / NOPAT (after-tax) | 6.40x |
| Net debt / operating income (pre-tax) | 4.78x |
| Interest coverage | 3.5x |
| Share count CAGR (buyback) | -1.9% |
| Burning cash | no |
Bullet Takeaways
- SS&C is a deeply embedded outsourcer of fund accounting, administration, and back-office software for financial firms, running "on-demand software applications that are managed and hosted at our facilities", with about $1.7 billion of free cash flow servicing roughly $7.0 billion of net debt.
- The biggest risk is that the price already credits reaccelerated growth: only peer-multiple and forward-growth methods reach it, while the earnings-power methods land near $24 to $45, so a reversion toward its low-single-digit trailing EPS history would pressure the multiple.
- Watch whether the 9% first-quarter revenue growth and raised 2026 guidance hold through the year, the margin lift from the Blue Prism automation rollout, and the pace of debt reduction against the $7 billion net-debt load.
Bull Case
The balance sheet tells you what kind of company this is: SS&C carries about $7.0 billion of net debt against roughly $1.5 billion of trailing operating income, leverage a fragile business could not hold but a subscription-like one can, because the cash flows underneath are recurring and sticky. The 10-K describes the core: "on-demand software applications that are managed and hosted at our facilities", sold as software-enabled services where SS&C runs the fund accounting, administration, and back office for financial firms that would rather outsource it. Once a fund administrator holds a client's books, the switching cost is enormous, which is why free cash flow of about $1.7 billion services the debt comfortably at interest coverage near 3.4 times and still funds buybacks that shrank the share count about 1.9% a year over four years.
Growth reaccelerated and management raised guidance. First-quarter 2026 adjusted revenue rose about 9% year over year to roughly $1.65 billion, adjusted EPS climbed about 14%, and the company lifted full-year revenue guidance to a range around $6.66 billion to $6.82 billion. For a business often dismissed as a mature roll-up, high-single-digit organic growth plus double-digit EPS growth is a meaningful signal that the recurring base is expanding, not just being repriced.
The AI and automation layer is the optionality on top. SS&C is folding its Blue Prism robotic-process-automation platform and internal digital workers into its operations, launching Blue Prism WorkHQ as an orchestration platform in April 2026. Because SS&C both runs the back offices and owns the automation tools, every process it automates drops straight to margin while making the service harder to leave. The 10-K frames the client breadth plainly: capabilities that "enable us to address the needs of a diverse payer client base across all major market segments". A deeply embedded outsourcer, growing high-single-digits, using automation to widen margins and lower its own cost to serve, is a quietly powerful compounder.
Bear Case
The narrative-dependency the price leans on is that SS&C keeps growing and de-levering at once, and the asset and earnings-power methods say the market has already paid for a lot of that. At about $66.61 (July 10, 2026), the earnings-power methods, capitalizing free cash flow and normalized operating earnings, land near $23 to $45, well below the price, and the asset-based excess-return and book-value methods land near $35 to $45. Only the relative-multiple and growth-DCF families reach the price. In other words, on what SS&C has actually earned, the stock looks expensive; the price is defended by a peer multiple and a forward-growth assumption. If growth slows toward the low-single-digit pace of its trailing EPS history, the multiple has room to compress.
The leverage is the amplifier on any stumble. Net debt of about $7.0 billion is real, and the 10-K details a capital structure built on layered term loans and senior notes, including "$3,935.0 million in aggregate principal amount of incremental term B-8 loans". At interest coverage near 3.4 times the debt is serviceable while cash flow holds, but it also means a chunk of operating cash goes to lenders before owners, and it limits flexibility if a large client leaves or an acquisition disappoints. A subscription-like business can carry this leverage; a business whose organic growth disappoints cannot carry it as comfortably.
Competition and technology risk sit underneath. The 10-K concedes the market is "competitive, rapidly evolving and highly sensitive to new product and service introductions", and the same AI wave SS&C is riding could cut against it: if automation lets asset managers bring administration back in-house or lets nimbler competitors undercut on price, the switching-cost moat erodes from the edges. The trailing EPS growth history is low-single-digit, which is why the growth-adjusted methods flag the stock as expensive on a PEG basis. The bet the price makes is that SS&C sustains high-single-digit growth and margin expansion long enough to grow into a multiple the trailing numbers do not yet support, while carrying $7 billion of net debt through whatever the next cycle brings.
Valuation
SS&C is a business the peer-multiple and forward-growth lenses justify while the asset and earnings-power lenses call expensive. At $66.61 (July 10, 2026), a sector software price-to-earnings multiple around 35 times reaches well above the price, and a discounted future-value approach on high-single-digit growth also clears it, which is why those two families support the current level. Against them, capitalizing free cash flow of about $1.7 billion at the required return lands near $45, a normalized earnings-power value reaches only about $24, and the excess-return methods land near $35 to $40. The gap between the roughly $66 price and the roughly $24 to $45 earnings-power reads is the durability-and-growth premium the market is paying for the recurring base.
The most concrete anchor is what the price requires operationally. SS&C runs a trailing operating margin near 23% and trailing EPS of about $3.22, so at $66.61 the stock trades near 20 times trailing earnings, undemanding for durable software but full for a business whose trailing EPS growth has been low-single-digit. Management's raised 2026 guidance implies revenue near $6.66 billion to $6.82 billion and adjusted EPS growth around 12% at the midpoint; the price works if that reaccelerated pace holds and the automation layer keeps lifting margins, and it does not if growth reverts to the trailing trend.
Solvency is the constraint that shapes the downside. Net debt of about $7.0 billion runs roughly 4.75 times pre-tax operating income, interest coverage is near 3.4 times, and the debt is a layered stack of term loans and senior notes per the 10-K, including a "6.5% Senior Notes" tranche among the financing. The company is not burning cash, and the falling share count shows buybacks are real deployment, but the leverage means free cash flow is split with lenders before it reaches owners. A buyer at today's price is underwriting continued high-single-digit growth and steady margin gains from a deeply embedded but heavily levered outsourcer, with the earnings-power methods sitting well below as the measure of how much is riding on the forward story.
Catalysts
The first-quarter 2026 report in April was the key recent catalyst: adjusted revenue of about $1.65 billion, up 9% year over year, adjusted EPS up about 14% to roughly $1.69, and a raised full-year 2026 outlook of roughly $6.66 billion to $6.82 billion in revenue with adjusted EPS growth around 12% at the midpoint. Shares had underperformed the market into the print despite a Buy consensus, which analysts framed as a possible value setup. The next quarterly report is the test of whether the reacceleration is durable.
The product catalyst is the automation rollout. SS&C launched Blue Prism WorkHQ, its AI orchestration platform, on April 28, 2026, and is embedding Blue Prism and internal digital workers across its operations to drive efficiency and revenue. Because SS&C both operates the back offices and owns the tooling, the milestones to watch are margin expansion and any disclosed win rates from the automation push. Sentiment is constructive with a Buy consensus; the variables that matter are organic growth durability and the trajectory of the net-debt balance.
Peer Cohorts (Per Segment, With Filing Citations)
SS&C Technologies (consolidated) (reported)
- CWAN (Clearwater Analytics Holdings, Inc.)
- (no filing in the citation store)
- JKHY (JACK HENRY & ASSOCIATES, INC.)
- (no filing in the citation store)
- FDS (FACTSET RESEARCH SYSTEMS INC.)
- (no filing in the citation store)
- ACIW (ACI WORLDWIDE, INC.)
- (no filing in the citation store)
- NCNO (nCino, Inc.)
- (no filing in the citation store)
- GWRE (Guidewire Software, Inc.)
- (no filing in the citation store)
Methodology Note
- Priced-in inversion: the valuation is inverted on the current price to recover the operating-income growth, duration, and steady-state margin the price embeds (ROE for financials, FFO growth for REITs).
- Valuation x-ray: the valuation models, grouped into four families (asset, earnings, relative, growth). Each model is expressed as a price/FV ratio (distance from price), not a point fair-value estimate. The spread across families is the disagreement.
- Solvency: net cash/debt, net-debt-to-NOPAT, interest coverage, and share-count CAGR from EDGAR financials (net debt / FFO and fixed-charge coverage for REITs; regulatory-capital framing for financials).
- Peer cohorts: per-segment comparables with deep-linkable SEC filing citations.
Fundamentals sourced from SEC EDGAR filings. Current price from Databento. The priced-in inversion and valuation x-ray are computed by the boothcheck engine; narrative composed by AI from the structured data.
Sources
Q1 2026 earnings release, April 2026 · SS&C Q1 2026 earnings call, April 2026 · Q1 2026 earnings release · Seeking Alpha, 2026 · Q1 2026 earnings call, April 2026 · analyst consensus, 2026