Nasdaq vs S&P Global
Add, change or remove companies; up to four.
The short version
- S&P Global is the larger business, with $15.3B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $8.3B for Nasdaq, about 1.9 times as much.
- Nasdaq grew revenue faster (11.7%, against 7.9%).
- S&P Global kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (42.2% operating margin, against 28.2%).
- S&P Global turned more of its sales into free cash flow (35.6% FCF margin, against 24.1%).
- S&P Global earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (11.7%, against 9.5%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of S&P Global’s earnings: a P/E of 28.5x against 28.0x for Nasdaq.
| Latest fiscal year | NDAQ · FY25 | SPGI · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $57.8B | $134.0B |
| Revenue | $8.3B | $15.3B |
| Free cash flow | $2.0B | $5.5B |
| Net income | $1.8B | $4.5B |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 11.7% | 7.9% |
| 5-year growth | 8.0% | 15.6% |
| Share count change | −0.1% | −2.2% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 63.5% | 70.3% |
| Operating margin | 28.2% | 42.2% |
| Net margin | 21.6% | 29.2% |
| FCF margin | 24.1% | 35.6% |
| Return on capital | 9.5% | 11.7% |
| Return on equity | 15.3% | 13.9% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $8.4B | $11.3B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 3.4x | 1.5x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $1.2B | $6.2B |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 28.0x | 28.5x |
| Piotroski F-score | 9 | 7 |
Revenue
FY16
NDAQ $3.7B
SPGI $5.7B
FY17
NDAQ $3.9B
SPGI $6.1B
FY18
NDAQ $4.3B
SPGI $6.3B
FY19
NDAQ $4.3B
SPGI $6.7B
FY20
NDAQ $5.6B
SPGI $7.4B
FY21
NDAQ $5.9B
SPGI $8.3B
FY22
NDAQ $6.2B
SPGI $11.2B
FY23
NDAQ $6.1B
SPGI $12.5B
FY24
NDAQ $7.4B
SPGI $14.2B
FY25
NDAQ $8.3B
SPGI $15.3B
NDAQ
SPGI
Operating margin
FY16
NDAQ 22.6%
SPGI 59.0%
FY17
NDAQ 25.1%
SPGI 42.6%
FY18
NDAQ 24.0%
SPGI 44.6%
FY19
NDAQ 23.9%
SPGI 48.2%
FY20
NDAQ 21.9%
SPGI 48.6%
FY21
NDAQ 24.5%
SPGI 50.9%
FY22
NDAQ 25.1%
SPGI 44.2%
FY23
NDAQ 26.0%
SPGI 32.2%
FY24
NDAQ 24.3%
SPGI 39.3%
FY25
NDAQ 28.2%
SPGI 42.2%
NDAQ
SPGI
Free cash flow
FY16
NDAQ $642M
SPGI $1.4B
FY17
NDAQ $765M
SPGI $1.9B
FY18
NDAQ $917M
SPGI $2.0B
FY19
NDAQ $836M
SPGI $2.7B
FY20
NDAQ $1.1B
SPGI $3.5B
FY21
NDAQ $920M
SPGI $3.6B
FY22
NDAQ $1.6B
SPGI $2.5B
FY23
NDAQ $1.5B
SPGI $3.6B
FY24
NDAQ $1.7B
SPGI $5.6B
FY25
NDAQ $2.0B
SPGI $5.5B
NDAQ
SPGI
Return on capital
FY16
NDAQ 8.4%
SPGI 114.2%
FY17
NDAQ 9.3%
SPGI 114.2%
FY18
NDAQ 5.7%
SPGI 124.1%
FY19
NDAQ 9.2%
SPGI 126.8%
FY20
NDAQ —
SPGI —
FY21
NDAQ —
SPGI —
FY22
NDAQ 10.4%
SPGI 16.2%
FY23
NDAQ 7.5%
SPGI 7.0%
FY24
NDAQ 6.8%
SPGI 10.0%
FY25
NDAQ 9.5%
SPGI 11.7%
NDAQ
SPGI
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.