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CME Group (CME) Q3 Earnings Beat Estimates, Revenues Miss

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CME Group Inc. (CME - Free Report) reported third-quarter 2018 adjusted earnings per share of $1.45, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.42 by 2.1%. Moreover, the bottom line improved 21.8% year over year.

CME Group Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

 

CME Group Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | CME Group Inc. Quote

This year-over-year improvement was mainly owing to higher trading volumes across interest rate, equities and metals product lines. Notably, the company’s solid expense discipline contributed to more than 20% bottom-line growth in the reported quarter.

Moreover, CME Group has experienced an impressive start to the fourth quarter, reflecting growth across all six product lines with total volume exceeding 40% in comparison with the prior-year quarter.

Net income came in at $1.21 per share, which surged nearly 33% year over year.

Performance in Detail

CME Group’s revenues of $904.2 million inched up 1.5% year over year. However, the top line missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.7%. Increase in revenues can be attributable to higher market data and information services (up 14.2% year over year), access and communication fees (up 1.9% from the year-ago quarter) as well as other (up 23.3% from the prior-year period).

Total expenses increased 9.6% year over year to $354.3 million during the reported quarter, backed by higher compensation and benefits, communications, occupancy and building operations, professional fees and outside services, depreciation and amortization as well as other.

Operating income declined 3.1% to $549.9 million from the prior-year quarter.

Average daily volume (ADV) dipped 0.8% year over year to 15.6 million contracts due to lower volumes across three of the six product lines. Average rate per contract rose in five of the six product lines.

Financial Update

As of Sep 30, 2018, CME Group had $1.5 billion of cash and marketable securities, which plunged 25.3% from the tally at 2017 end. As of Sep 30, 2018, long-term debt of $3.4 billion increased 53.1% from the level at year-end 2017.

As of Sep 30, 2018, the company had total assets worth $70.4 billion, down 7.2% from $75.8 billion from the level at 2017 end.

Dividend Update

During the third quarter, the company paid dividends worth $237.7 million.

Zacks Rank

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

Performance of Other Companies in Securities Exchange Industry

The bottom line of Nasdaq, Inc. (NDAQ - Free Report) and MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (MKTX - Free Report) beat the respective Zacks Consensus Estimate in the quarter under review.

Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (ICE - Free Report) will report third-quarter results on Oct 31, before the market opens. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s quarterly earnings is pegged at 80 cents, up 11.1% year over year.

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