Zacks Industry Outlook Intercontinental Exchange, CME Group, Nasdaq, Cboe Global and MarketAxess
In This Article:
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – September 18, 2024 – Today, Zacks Equity Research discusses Intercontinental Exchange ICE, CME Group CME, Nasdaq Inc. NDAQ, Cboe Global Markets CBOE and MarketAxess MKTX.
Industry: Securities and Exchanges
Link: https://www.zacks.com/commentary/2337271/5-securities-and-exchanges-stocks-to-watch-amid-market-volatility
Compelling and diversified product portfolios help drive revenues of Zacks Securities and Exchanges industry players. An increase in trading volumes, product expansion through prudent acquisitions and the increased adoption of a greater number of crypto assets are expected to benefit Intercontinental Exchange, CME Group, Nasdaq Inc., Cboe Global Markets and MarketAxess .
Increased focus on accelerating their non-trading revenue base, which comprises market technology, listing and information revenues, infuses dynamism in the business profile of the industry players. However, alterations in investment patterns and priorities, and compliance with regulations pose challenges. Also, the highly volatile crypto market experienced a downturn recently, affecting the performance of the companies.
About the Industry
The Zacks Securities and Exchanges industry comprises companies that operate electronic marketplaces, which facilitate the buying and selling of stocks, stock options, and bonds or commodity contracts. They facilitate trading across a diverse range of products in multiple asset classes and geographies.
The companies generate revenues from fees received from the listed companies on their exchanges. They also provide a range of data and listing services to global financial and commodity markets, including pricing and reference data, exchange data, analytics, feeds, index services, investments, risk management, desktops, and connectivity solutions, as well as corporate and ETF listing services, on the cash equity exchanges of the industry players. The industry is witnessing increased adoption of crypto assets. Yet, complying with a number of regulations result in challenges.
3 Trends Shaping the Future of the Securities and Exchanges Industry
Volatility Fueling Trading Volume: The players in the industry are largely dependent on product and service portfolios for revenues. Major services include trade execution, clearing, settlement services for securities and commodity contracts, listing services, plus trading and clearing systems services. Sustainable trading volume growth, driven by trading volatility, fuels transaction and clearing fees (a major component of the top line of industry players).
The maximization of transaction and clearing fees and the lowering of transaction-based expenses drive profits. Other revenue sources include data products and financial indexes, along with information and public company services. Increasing focus on accelerating the non-trading revenue base, which includes market technology, listing and information revenues, infuses dynamism in the business profiles of the industry participants.
Mergers and Acquisitions: The industry continues to witness mergers and acquisitions, with companies evaluating opportunities to supplement their internal growth story by forging strategic alliances or acquiring businesses or technologies. These enable them to penetrate untapped markets, offer new products or services and enhance the value of their platforms and existing trade-related operations.
Additionally, strategic buyouts lead to a diversified product portfolio (the primary growth catalyst) and help industry participants maintain their domestic market share, as well as fortify their global footprint. Also, exchanges are pursuing consolidations and mergers with technological, legal, and competitive changes, per Deloitte.
Continuous Investment in Technology: Industry players continue to invest heavily in technological development. Focus on building a strategic economic market model via technological advancements and upgrades of products and services, AI in particular, will help all exchanges stay afloat amid changing industry dynamics.
In recent years, the players have launched a number of innovative technologies that rely on machine learning, automation and algorithms designed to improve trading decisions while reducing trading inefficiencies, cyber threats and human errors, thus accelerating trading frequency. Players are also investing in automating non-trading operations that play an important part in revenue generation for the companies.
Zacks Industry Rank Indicates Bleak Prospects
The Zacks Securities and Exchanges industry is housed within the broader Zacks Finance sector. It carries a Zacks Industry Rank #158, which places it in the bottom 37% of the 251 Zacks industries.
The group’s Zacks Industry Rank, which is basically the average of the Zacks Rank of all the member stocks, reflects dull near-term prospects. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperforms the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.
The industry’s positioning in the bottom 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries is a result of a negative earnings outlook for the constituent companies in aggregate. Looking at the aggregate earnings estimate revisions, it appears that analysts have been losing confidence in this group’s earnings growth potential. Estimates for the current year have declined 0.5% in a year.
Before we present a few securities and exchanges stocks worth considering for your portfolio, let’s take a look at the industry’s recent stock-market performance and valuation picture.
Industry Underperforms Sector and S&P 500
The Zacks Securities and Exchanges industry has underperformed the broader Zacks Finance sector as well as the Zacks S&P 500 composite over the past year. The industry has gained 20.5% compared with the broader sector and the Zacks S&P 500 composite’s increase of 25.7% each in the said time frame.
Industry's Current Valuation
On the basis of trailing 12-month price-to-book (P/B), which is commonly used for valuing finance stocks, the industry is currently trading at 3.6X compared with the S&P 500’s 8.55X and the sector’s 3.75X.
Over the last five years, the industry has traded as high as 4.01X, as low as 2.38X and at the median of 3.27X.
5 Securities and Exchanges Stocks to Keep an Eye On
We are presenting five Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stocks from the Securities and Exchanges industry. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Nasdaq: Headquartered in New York, Nasdaq is a leading provider of trading, clearing, marketplace technology, regulatory, securities listing, information, and public and private company services. Its strategy of accelerating its non-trading revenue base, successfully maximizing opportunities as a technology and analytics provider, and growing core marketplace businesses, as well as intensifying its focus on Market Technology and Information Services businesses, should continue to drive growth.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 earnings per share indicates an increase of 12.8% year over year. NDAQ came up with a four-quarter average earnings surprise of 3.39%. The expected long-term earnings growth rate is pegged at 8.9%, better than the industry average of 8.5%. The consensus estimate for 2024 and 2025 earnings has moved 1.9% and 1.6% north, respectively, in the past 60 days.
Intercontinental Exchange: This Atlanta, GA-based company is a leading global operator of regulated exchanges, clearing houses and listings venues and a provider of data services for commodity, financial, fixed-income and equity markets. Its compelling portfolio, expansive risk-management services, strategic buyouts and a solid balance sheet bode well. It is the second-largest global fixed-income provider. ICE, with the largest mortgage network across the United States, remains well poised to benefit from accelerated digitization in the U.S. residential mortgage industry.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Intercontinental Exchange’s 2024 and 2025 EPS indicates a year-over-year rise of 7.5% and 10.5%, respectively. It came up with a four-quarter average earnings surprise of 2.35%. The expected long-term earnings growth is pegged at 9.4%, better than the industry’s average. The consensus mark for 2024 and 2025 has moved 0.8% and 0.5% north, respectively, in the past 60 days.
Cboe Global Markets: Based in Chicago, IL, Cboe Global is one of the largest stock exchange operators by volume in the United States and globally for ETP trading. The company is poised for growth, given an expanding product line across asset classes, broadening geographic reach and a diversifying business mix with recurring revenues and technology.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s 2024 and 2025 EPS indicates year-over-year increases of 10.5% and 5.5%, respectively. The expected long-term earnings growth is pegged at 13.8%, better than the industry’s average. It came up with a four-quarter average surprise of 5.01%. The consensus mark for 2024 and 2025 has moved 1.1% and 0.2% north, respectively, in the past 60 days.
CME Group: Headquartered in Chicago, IL, CME Group boasts the largest futures exchange in the world in terms of trading volume as well as notional value traded. Efforts to expand futures products in emerging markets, non-transaction-related opportunities, OTC offerings, cross-selling through alliances, strong global presence and solid liquidity should drive this company’s growth.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s 2024 EPS indicates a year-over-year increase of 6.4%. It came up with a four-quarter average earnings surprise of 3.55%. The expected long-term earnings growth rate is pegged at 2.5%. The consensus mark for 2024 and 2025 has moved 1.5% and 0.7% north, respectively, in the past 60 days.
MarketAxess: Based in New York, MarketAxess is a leading multi-dealer trading platform. Growing commissions, solid credit trading volume, the extensive reach of the Open Trading platform, acquisitions and a notable financial position continue to drive growth.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2024 and 2025 earnings per share indicates an increase of 3.1% and 12.8%, respectively, year over year. MarketAxess came up with a four-quarter average earnings surprise of 2.63%. The expected long-term earnings growth rate is pegged at 6%. The consensus mark for 2024 and 2025 has moved 2 cents north each in the past 60 days.
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Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (ICE) : Free Stock Analysis Report
CME Group Inc. (CME) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Nasdaq, Inc. (NDAQ) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (CBOE) : Free Stock Analysis Report
MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (MKTX) : Free Stock Analysis Report