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Bull Of The Day: Nasdaq (NDAQ)

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Nasdaq (NDAQ - Free Report) is a Zacks  Rank #2 (Strong Buy) and is the home to numerous technology and biotechnology stocks.  This exchanges is the place where millions of shares are traded on a daily basis.  The company itself is public and listed on the NASDAQ exchange and estimates are moving higher.  Let’s take a deeper look at this stock in this Bull of the Day article.

Description

Founded in 1971 and headquartered in New York, Nasdaq Inc. is a leading provider of trading, clearing, marketplace technology, regulatory, securities listing, information and public and private company services.

Earnings History

When I look at a stock, the first thing I do is look to see if the company is beating the number.  This tells me right away where the market’s expectations have been for the company and how management has communicated to the market.  A stock that consistently beats has management communicating expectations to Wall Street that can be achieved.  That is what you want to see.

For NDAQ, I see a great history of beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate.  There are four beats over the last four quarters. 

The average positive earnings surprise over the last fours quarters works out to be 9.2%, which means that they are posting results that are above expectations. 

Earnings Estimates Revisions

The Zacks Rank tells us which stocks are seeing earnings estimates move higher.  For NDAQ, I see estimates moving higher.

Over the last 60 days, I see a few increases.

This quarter has moved from $1.64 to $1.74.

Next quarter has moved from $1.68 to $1.75.

The full-year number has increased from $6.90 to $7.34 over the last 60 days.

Next year is at $7.49 and that is up from $7.16 over the same time horizon.

Positive movement in earnings estimates like that is why this stock is a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Valuation

The valuation for NDAQ is very reasonable.  I see an 25x forward earnings multiple and sales growth in the most recent quarter coming in just over 1%.  The price to book multiple of 4.7x is a little above the industry average.  Price to sales comes in at 5.4x and that is also a little above the industry average. 

I see operating margins increasing in each of the last three quarters and when you see that along with revenue growth it is easy to see that earnings estimates will continue to increase.

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