Intercontinental Exchange vs Nasdaq
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The short version
- Intercontinental Exchange is the larger business, with $12.6B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $8.3B for Nasdaq, about 1.5 times as much.
- Nasdaq grew revenue faster (11.7%, against 7.5%).
- Intercontinental Exchange kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (39.0% operating margin, against 28.2%).
- Intercontinental Exchange turned more of its sales into free cash flow (33.9% FCF margin, against 24.1%).
- Nasdaq earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (9.5%, against 7.7%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Nasdaq’s earnings: a P/E of 28.0x against 23.0x for Intercontinental Exchange.
| Latest fiscal year | ICE · FY25 | NDAQ · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $92.1B | $57.8B |
| Revenue | $12.6B | $8.3B |
| Free cash flow | $4.3B | $2.0B |
| Net income | $3.3B | $1.8B |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 7.5% | 11.7% |
| 5-year growth | 8.9% | 8.0% |
| Share count change | −0.2% | −0.1% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | — | 63.5% |
| Operating margin | 39.0% | 28.2% |
| Net margin | 26.2% | 21.6% |
| FCF margin | 33.9% | 24.1% |
| Return on capital | 7.7% | 9.5% |
| Return on equity | 11.7% | 15.3% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $19.8B | $8.4B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 3.1x | 3.4x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $2.4B | $1.2B |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 23.0x | 28.0x |
| Piotroski F-score | 8 | 9 |
Revenue
FY16
ICE $6.0B
NDAQ $3.7B
FY17
ICE $5.8B
NDAQ $3.9B
FY18
ICE $6.3B
NDAQ $4.3B
FY19
ICE $6.5B
NDAQ $4.3B
FY20
ICE $8.2B
NDAQ $5.6B
FY21
ICE $9.2B
NDAQ $5.9B
FY22
ICE $9.6B
NDAQ $6.2B
FY23
ICE $9.9B
NDAQ $6.1B
FY24
ICE $11.8B
NDAQ $7.4B
FY25
ICE $12.6B
NDAQ $8.3B
ICE
NDAQ
Operating margin
FY16
ICE 36.4%
NDAQ 22.6%
FY17
ICE 40.7%
NDAQ 25.1%
FY18
ICE 41.2%
NDAQ 24.0%
FY19
ICE 40.8%
NDAQ 23.9%
FY20
ICE 36.8%
NDAQ 21.9%
FY21
ICE 37.6%
NDAQ 24.5%
FY22
ICE 37.8%
NDAQ 25.1%
FY23
ICE 37.3%
NDAQ 26.0%
FY24
ICE 36.6%
NDAQ 24.3%
FY25
ICE 39.0%
NDAQ 28.2%
ICE
NDAQ
Free cash flow
FY16
ICE $1.9B
NDAQ $642M
FY17
ICE $1.9B
NDAQ $765M
FY18
ICE $2.4B
NDAQ $917M
FY19
ICE $2.5B
NDAQ $836M
FY20
ICE $2.7B
NDAQ $1.1B
FY21
ICE $2.9B
NDAQ $920M
FY22
ICE $3.3B
NDAQ $1.6B
FY23
ICE $3.4B
NDAQ $1.5B
FY24
ICE $4.2B
NDAQ $1.7B
FY25
ICE $4.3B
NDAQ $2.0B
ICE
NDAQ
Return on capital
FY16
ICE 6.7%
NDAQ 8.4%
FY17
ICE 10.2%
NDAQ 9.3%
FY18
ICE —
NDAQ 5.7%
FY19
ICE —
NDAQ 9.2%
FY20
ICE —
NDAQ —
FY21
ICE —
NDAQ —
FY22
ICE —
NDAQ 10.4%
FY23
ICE 7.0%
NDAQ 7.5%
FY24
ICE 6.7%
NDAQ 6.8%
FY25
ICE 7.7%
NDAQ 9.5%
ICE
NDAQ
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.