NDAQ Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates on Index and FinTech Growth

NDAQ Solutions Revenues Gain Momentum

Solutions revenues advanced 17% year over year to $1.16 billion, representing 77% of net revenues. The increase reflected strength across Capital Access Platforms and Financial Technology, with adjusted and organic growth also coming in at 17%.

Annualized SaaS revenues reached $1.23 billion, up 12% on a reported basis and 15% organically. SaaS represented 38% of annualized recurring revenues, underscoring the rising contribution from subscription-based offerings. The recurring mix also provided a steadier complement to transaction-sensitive market revenues.

Nasdaq Capital Access Benefits From Index Strength

Capital Access Platforms revenues climbed 19% to $621 million or 18% on an adjusted basis. Index revenues surged 38% to $271 million, or 35% after excluding a one-time contract modification benefit. Data and Listing Services revenues increased 10% to $217 million, while Workflow and Insights revenues rose 5% to $133 million.

Index exchange-traded product assets under management ended the quarter at $1.11 trillion. Net inflows totaled $51 billion in the quarter and $109 billion over the trailing 12 months. Nasdaq also launched 34 new index products and welcomed seven of the 10 largest operating-company IPOs during the period.

NDAQ Financial Technology Posts Broad-Based Growth

Financial Technology revenues rose 16% to $539 million and increased 15% organically. Financial Crime Management Technology revenues grew 22%, Regulatory Technology gained 15%, and Capital Markets Technology advanced 15% on a reported basis. Financial Technology ARR increased 16% to $1.870 billion.

The division signed 58 new clients, seven cross-sells and 107 upsells. Nasdaq Verafin added 47 small- and medium-sized bank clients and six enterprise deals, while its Agentic AI Workforce expanded to 750 clients. Calypso also broadened its reach to more than 70 countries through new client activity.

Nasdaq Market Services Sets Revenue Record

Market Services net revenues increased 11% to a record $340 million. U.S. equity derivatives trading revenues were $123 million, while U.S. cash equity trading revenues reached $128 million. European cash equity trading contributed $32 million, and U.S. tape plan revenues were $33 million.

Nasdaq held a 29.1% matched share in U.S. multi-listed options and a 14.7% matched share in U.S.-listed cash equities. Its share in Nordic and Baltic cash equities was 74.5%. The Closing Cross also handled record notional values during the Russell reconstitution and June Triple Witch events.

NDAQ Margins Expand as Cash Flow Supports Returns

Non-GAAP operating income rose 19% to $859 million. The non-GAAP operating margin expanded 200 basis points to 57%, as revenue growth outpaced the 10% increase in non-GAAP operating expenses to $641 million. Higher compensation, marketing and technology investments drove the expense increase.

Cash flow from operations totaled $711 million. Nasdaq returned $174 million through dividends and $356 million through share repurchases, while repaying $162 million of debt. Cash and cash equivalents were $520 million at quarter-end, and long-term debt was $8.5 billion.

Nasdaq Raises Expense Outlook for 2026

Nasdaq updated its 2026 non-GAAP operating expense guidance to a range of $2.530 billion to $2.570 billion. The revised outlook reflects higher compensation tied to revenue execution, increased marketing costs amid a stronger IPO environment and continued technology investments.

The company maintained its non-GAAP tax rate guidance in the range of 22.5% to 24.5%. Strategic activity included agreements to sell Nasdaq Fund Secondaries and acquire Dasseti, an AI-powered due diligence platform that will be integrated into eVestment. Nasdaq also advanced tokenized collateral capabilities through Calypso on the Canton Network.

Zacks Rank

NDAQ currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Performance of an Industry Player

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.

Upcoming Releases

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.

Intercontinental Exchange Inc. ICE is set to release second-quarter 2026 earnings on July 30. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for second-quarter earnings is pegged at $1.84 per share, indicating an increase of 1.7% from the year-ago reported figure.

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

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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