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NDAQ Beats Q2 Earnings & Revenue Estimates, Tweaks Expense View

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Key Takeaways

  • NDAQ posted Q2 EPS of $0.85, up 24% year over year and above the consensus estimate by 6.3%.
  • Net revenues rose 13% to $1.3B, driven by growth across divisions and 12% organic revenue expansion.
  • NDAQ raised its 2025 non-GAAP expense guidance to $2.295-$2.335B from the prior range of $2.265-$2.325B.

Nasdaq (NDAQ - Free Report) reported second-quarter 2025 adjusted earnings per share of 85 cents, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 6.3%. The bottom line improved 24% year over year.

Shares gained 1% in the pre-market trading session to reflect the outperformance. 

The improvement was mainly driven by higher revenues across three divisions and organic growth, partially offset by higher expenses.

Performance in Detail

Nasdaq’s net revenues of $1.3 billion increased 13% year over year. Organic net revenue growth was 12%. The top line beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.4%.

Nasdaq, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Nasdaq, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Nasdaq, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Nasdaq, Inc. Quote

Annualized Recurring Revenue (ARR) increased 10% year over year to $2.9 billion. Organic growth was 9%.

Annualized SaaS revenues increased 13% and represented 37% of ARR. 

Capital Access Platforms' revenues, adjusted, were $527 million, up 9% year over year. The increase was primarily driven by higher revenues from all business lines. Our estimate was $517.6 million,

Financial Technology revenues, adjusted, were $464 million, up 10%, also driven by higher revenues from all business lines. Our estimate was $457.5 million.

Revenues at the Solutions business increased 10% year over year to $991 million, reflecting strong growth from Index and Financial Technology.
Market Services' net revenues increased 21% year over year to $306 million. Our estimate was $271.9 million.

Adjusted operating expenses were $585 million, up 8% from the year-ago period or 7% growth on an organic basis. The organic increase for the quarter reflected increased investments in technology and people to drive innovation and long-term growth, partially offset by the benefit of synergies.  Our estimate for operating expenses was $579.2 million.

Adjusted operating income of $721 million was up 16% year over year. Our estimate was $675.8 million.

The company’s operating margin of 55% expanded 200 basis points year over year.

The Nasdaq stock market welcomed 194 new company listings, including 79 initial public offerings. The number of listed companies was 4,238 at the end of the quarter.

Financial Update

Nasdaq had cash and cash equivalents of $927 million as of June 30, 2025, which increased 49% from the end of 2024.

Long-term debt was $8.7 billion as of June 30, 2025, a decrease of 4.4% from the end of 2024.

Nasdaq generated $746 million in cash flow from operations in the reported quarter.

Capital Deployment

Nasdaq returned $155 million to shareholders in the second quarter of 2025 through dividends and $100 million through repurchases of common stock. Nasdaq also repurchased $400 million of senior unsecured notes in the quarter.

The board of directors approved a dividend of 27 cents per share. The dividend will be paid out on Sept. 26, 2025, to shareholders of record at the close of business on Sept. 12, 2025.

As of June 30, 2025, $1.5 billion remained under the board-authorized share repurchase program.

2025 Guidance

Nasdaq expects 2025 non-GAAP operating expenses to be in the range of $2,295-$2,335 million compared with $2,265-$2,325 million guided earlier. 

Nasdaq forecasts 2025 non-GAAP tax rate to be in the range of 22.5-24.5%.

Zacks Rank

NDAQ currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Peer Release

CME Group (CME - Free Report) reported second-quarter 2025 operating income of $2.96 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.7%. The bottom line improved 15.6% year over year. CME Group’s revenues of $1.7 billion increased 10.4% year over year. The year-over-year increase was primarily due to higher clearing and transaction fees (up 11% year over year) and market data and information services (up 13.2% year over year). The top line beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.5%.

Operating income increased 12.9% from the prior-year quarter to $1.1 billion. Our estimate was $1.1 billion. Given heightened economic uncertainty, average daily volume (“ADV”) was a record 30.2 million contracts, up 16% year over year. ADV increased across all product lines. The total average rate per contract was 69 cents.

Upcoming Releases

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE - Free Report) will report second-quarter 2025 results on July 31, before market open. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for second-quarter earnings per share is pegged at $1.76, suggesting an increase of 17.8% from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.

ICE’s earnings beat estimates in each of the last four quarters.

Cboe Global Markets (CBOE - Free Report) will report second-quarter 2025 results on Aug. 1 before market open. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for second-quarter earnings per share is pegged at $2.43, suggesting an increase of 13% from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.

CBOE’s earnings beat estimates in three of the last four quarters and missed in one.

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