ICE Q2 Earnings Beat on Data Growth and Mortgage Strength

ICE Exchanges Growth Broadens Beyond Energy

Exchanges net revenues increased 3% year over year to $1.46 billion. Energy revenues fell 13% to $518 million, but the decline was countered by broad-based gains across agriculture and metals, financials, cash equities and equity options, and data and connectivity services.

Agriculture and metals revenues climbed 35% to $87 million, while financials advanced 21% to $192 million. Cash equities and equity options rose 15% to $140 million, and data and connectivity services increased 12% to $287 million. Adjusted segment operating income rose 1% to $1.09 billion.

Intercontinental's Data Business Extends Momentum

Fixed income and data services revenues grew 8% to $645 million. Fixed Income Data and Analytics rose 9% to $333 million, while Data and Network Technology advanced 11% to $198 million.

Recurring revenues in the segment increased 10% to $531 million. Adjusted operating income improved 13% to $295 million, and the adjusted operating margin expanded 200 basis points to 46%, reflecting stronger profit growth than revenue growth.

ICE Mortgage Technology Improves Profitability

Mortgage technology revenues increased 5% to $557 million. Closing Solutions led the segment with 14% growth to $65 million, while Origination Technology rose 5% to $197 million. Data and Analytics rose 6% to $69 million.

Transaction revenues advanced 11% to $151 million, outpacing 3% growth in recurring revenues. Adjusted operating income increased 8% to $239 million, and the adjusted operating margin improved 100 basis points to 43%.

Intercontinental Holds Adjusted Margin Steady

Consolidated adjusted operating expenses rose 5.6% to $1.04 billion. Higher costs limited adjusted operating income growth to 4.4%, taking the figure to $1.63 billion.

The adjusted operating margin remained unchanged at 61%. On a GAAP basis, operating income increased 7.2% to $1.39 billion, while the operating margin expanded to 52% from 51% a year earlier.

ICE’s Cash Flow Supports Capital Returns

Operating cash flow totaled $3.32 billion in the first half of 2026. Adjusted free cash flow increased 28.5% to $2.60 billion, supported by stronger operating cash generation.

ICE returned $1.79 billion to stockholders through June, including $1.20 billion in share repurchases and $591 million in dividends. The board raised the share repurchase authorization to $4 billion, effective July 1. Unrestricted cash was $1.1 billion, while outstanding debt was $19.8 billion.

Intercontinental Updates 2026 Cost Outlook

For 2026, ICE now expects GAAP operating expenses of $5.14-$5.18 billion and adjusted operating expenses of $4.19-$4.23 billion. Third-quarter adjusted operating expenses are projected to be $1.06-$1.07 billion.

The company expects third-quarter adjusted non-operating expense of $175-$180 million and weighted average shares outstanding of 560-566 million. ICE also maintained expectations for high-single-digit exchange recurring revenue growth and 7%-8% recurring revenue growth in fixed income and data services.

ICE Sets MarketAxess Deal Framework

ICE agreed to acquire MarketAxess for $167 per share in cash, implying an equity value of about $6.0 billion. The transaction is expected to be closed in the first half of 2027, subject to approvals and customary conditions.

Management expects about $100 million of run-rate cost synergies and adjusted earnings accretion in the first full year. ICE expects gross leverage of about 3.4 times at closing and targets 3 times or lower within 18-24 months.

Zacks Rank

ICE currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). 

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Performance of Other Industry Players

Nasdaq, Inc. NDAQ reported second-quarter 2026 non-GAAP earnings of $1.07 per share, up 25% year over year. The figure beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 98 cents by 9.18%.

Net revenues increased 15% to $1.5 billion and topped the consensus estimate of $1.4 billion by 3.87%. Growth was broad-based across all three divisions. Annualized recurring revenues rose 11% to $3.3 billion and organic ARR growth reached 12%.

Nasdaq updated its 2026 non-GAAP operating expense guidance to a range of $2.530 billion to $2.570 billion.

CME Group's CME second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings of $2.99 per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.91 by 2.7%. The bottom line increased 1% from the year-ago quarter. Revenues of $1.70 billion surpassed the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion by 1.2% and rose 1% year over year.

Average daily volume (ADV) totaled 29.8 million contracts, representing the company's third-highest quarterly ADV.

Management expects full-year adjusted operating expenses, excluding license fees, of approximately $1.695 billion and capital expenditures, net of leasehold improvement allowances, of roughly $85 million.

An Upcoming Release

Cboe Global Markets, Inc. CBOE is set to release second-quarter 2026 earnings on July 31. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for second-quarter earnings per share is pegged at $3.41, indicating an increase of 38.6% from the year-ago reported figure.

CBOE delivered an earnings surprise in each of the last four reported quarters.

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