CME vs VIRT vs ICE Stock Comparison

Cme, Virtu Financial and Intercontinental Exchange Prices as of Oct 26, 2026 Peers: Industry group
CME Cme Group Inc.
$308.06 +16.5% 1M +14.3% 1Y
Market cap
$105.62B
P/E
23.9x
Revenue (TTM)
$6.97B
Div. yield
–
Exchanges Financial Services
4 wins
VIRT Virtu Financial, Inc.
$55.92 +4.7% 1M +66.7% 1Y
Market cap
$4.86B
P/E
8.8x
Revenue (TTM)
$4.08B
Div. yield
–
Institutional Trading Financial Services
7 wins

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Virtu Financial leads on 7 of the 12 questions below (Virtu Financial 7, Cme 4). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionCMEVIRTICELeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $105.62B $4.86B $88.16B CME
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 23.9x 8.8x 21.8x VIRT
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 26.2x 8.1x 18.4x VIRT
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +9.0% +20.8% +6.9% VIRT
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 63.3% 13.5% 30.1% CME
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 11.7% 39.4% 8.5% VIRT
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 0.2x 0.6x 2.6x CME
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% 0.01% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +14.3% +66.7% +1.5% VIRT
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +7.3%/yr +16.7%/yr +3.8%/yr VIRT
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 25.0% 37.4% 25.7% CME
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 62/100 63/100 56/100 VIRT

Percentile Scorecard

CMEVIRTICE

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisCMEVIRTICE
Valuation 42 #57 of 97 91 #10 of 97 59 #40 of 97
Growth 27 #50 of 68 55 #31 of 68 52 #33 of 68
Profitability 92 #6 of 67 77 #16 of 67 83 #12 of 67
Financial Health 55 #44 of 97 32 #66 of 97 35 #63 of 97
Shareholder Returns 92 #4 of 40 59 #17 of 40 49 #21 of 40
Overall 62 63 56
  • CME ranked among 112 companies in Capital Markets
  • VIRT ranked among 112 companies in Capital Markets
  • ICE ranked among 112 companies in Capital Markets

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodCMEVIRTICESPY
1 month +16.5%+4.7%+3.7% -0.8%
3 months +20.6%-5.0%+7.7% +3.5%
6 months +9.3%+17.4%+2.0% +7.0%
Year to date +12.8%+67.8%-1.2% +12.2%
1 year +14.3%+66.7%+1.5% +13.0%
3 years +47.4%+205.7%+52.8% +86.3%
3 years, per year +13.8%+45.2%+15.2% +23.1%
5 years +41.9%+116.6%+20.4% +68.6%
5 years, per year +7.3%+16.7%+3.8% +11.0%
10 years +199.6%+317.3%+200.5% +258.0%
10 years, per year +11.6%+15.4%+11.6% +13.6%

Risk

MeasureCMEVIRTICESPY
Volatility, 1Y 25.0%37.4%25.7% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 26.8%35.8%27.3% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y -0.360.440.17 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.571.780.06 1.02
Max drawdown, 5Y -33.1%-57.5%-35.1% -25.4%
From 52-week high -5.6%-17.7%-8.6% -1.8%
52-week high $326.46$67.93$175.10 $779.14
52-week low $218.58$32.53$122.91 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleCMEVIRTICE
P/E now vs peer median 25.0xmedian 29.4x 8.9xmedian 29.4x 22.4xmedian 29.4x
P/S now vs peer median 15.8xmedian 2.9x 2.1xmedian 2.9x 6.7xmedian 2.9x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 22.9xmedian 13.7x 4.4xmedian 13.7x 15.3xmedian 13.7x
P/FCF now vs peer median 25.4xmedian 16.0x 16.6xmedian 16.0x 17.7xmedian 16.0x
P/B now vs peer median 4.1xmedian 2.3x 3.7xmedian 2.3x 3.0xmedian 2.3x
PEG now vs peer median 1.82median 0.52 0.15median 0.52 0.67median 0.52

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsCMEVIRTICE
Revenue $6.97B $4.08B $13.43B
Operating income $4.58B – $5.47B
Net income $4.42B $1.06B $4.10B
Free cash flow $4.33B $521.11M $5.08B
EPS (diluted) $12.31 $6.29 $7.13
Cash & equivalents $2.20B $1.07B $1.07B
Total debt $13.69B $2.38B $19.85B
Shares (diluted) 358.64M 87.60M 566.00M
Enterprise value $93.96B $1.05B $81.90B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricCMEVIRTICE
P/E 25.0x 8.9x 22.4x
P/FCF 25.4x 16.6x 17.7x
P/Operating cash flow 24.9x 15.6x 16.3x
P/S 15.8x 2.1x 6.7x
P/B 4.1x 3.7x 3.0x
P/Tangible book 4.6x 4.0x 6.1x
EV/EBITDA 22.9x 4.4x 15.3x
EV/EBIT 24.3x 4.6x 19.7x
EV/Revenue 15.9x 2.4x 8.0x
EV/FCF 25.7x 19.2x 21.2x
EV/Operating cash flow 25.1x 17.9x 19.5x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 1.82 0.15 0.67

Growth

14 metrics
MetricCMEVIRTICE
Revenue growth (1Y) 9.0% 20.8% 6.9%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 9.2% 23.1% 11.9%
Gross profit growth (1Y) – – –
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) – – –
Operating income growth (1Y) 10.1% – 16.4%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 12.2% – 13.9%
Net income growth (1Y) 17.3% 36.4% 34.1%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 13.1% 60.0% 33.1%
EPS growth (1Y) 19.4% 32.8% 36.6%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 13.7% 61.3% 33.3%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 6.4% -4.1% 13.1%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 9.3% -3.6% 14.9%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 6.1% -7.7% 13.9%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 9.4% -3.9% 14.1%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricCMEVIRTICE
Gross margin – – –
EBITDA margin 69.8% 55.7% 52.3%
Operating margin 65.7% – 40.7%
Pretax margin 82.8% 31.3% 39.7%
Net margin 63.3% 13.5% 30.1%
FCF margin 62.1% 12.8% 37.8%
Operating cash flow margin 63.5% 13.7% 41.1%
Return on equity 16.6% 46.9% 13.9%
Return on assets 2.3% 4.0% 2.3%
Return on invested capital 11.7% 39.4% 8.5%
Return on capital employed 12.3% – 9.7%
Asset turnover 0.0x 0.2x 0.1x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.0x 0.5x 1.3x
Stock comp / revenue 1.4% 3.0% 2.0%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricCMEVIRTICE
Debt / assets 1.8% 8.7% 11.4%
Debt / equity 0.1x 1.0x 0.7x
Net debt / EBITDA 0.2x 0.6x 2.6x
Debt / FCF 0.8x 4.6x 3.9x
Liabilities / assets 86.2% 91.5% 83.0%
Equity / assets 13.8% 8.5% 17.0%
Interest coverage 26.2x 2.5x 6.8x
Current ratio 1.0x – 1.0x
Quick ratio 0.0x – 0.0x
Cash ratio 0.0x – 0.0x
Altman Z-score 0.58 – 0.74

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricCMEVIRTICE
Dividend yield 3.2% 1.7% 1.3%
Net buyback yield – 1.0% 2.2%
Shareholder yield 3.2% 2.7% 3.5%
Payout ratio (earnings) – – 27.8%
Payout ratio (FCF) – – 22.5%
Dividend growth (1Y) – – 6.1%
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – – 8.3%

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusCMEVIRTICE
Forward P/E 26.2xFY2026 8.1xFY2026 18.4xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $11.74FY2026 $6.89FY2026 $8.69FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +4.8%FY2026 +20.2%FY2026 +25.0%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +19.0% +7.3% -3.2%
Revenue, next fiscal year $7.27BFY2026 $2.93BFY2026 $10.54BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +11.6%FY2026 +36.5%FY2026 +6.1%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +7.0% +4.0% +16.0%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersCMEVIRTICE
Held by institutions 88.9% 52.9% 92.5%
Institutions holding 1,691 472 1,651
Change in shares held, QoQ +0.4% +6.7% +1.4%
Institutions buying 822 282 734
Institutions selling 655 142 694
Buyers to sellers 1.25 1.99 1.06

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

CMEVIRTICE
CME 1.00 0.27 0.50
VIRT 0.27 1.00 0.29
ICE 0.50 0.29 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, CME, VIRT and ICE?

Cme (CME) is the largest by market capitalisation: Cme (CME) $105.62B, Virtu Financial (VIRT) $4.86B, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) $88.16B.

Which stock is cheaper, CME, VIRT and ICE?

Virtu Financial (VIRT) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Cme (CME) 23.9x, Virtu Financial (VIRT) 8.8x, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) 21.8x). On next year's consensus earnings, Virtu Financial (VIRT) is cheapest (Cme (CME) 26.2x, Virtu Financial (VIRT) 8.1x, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) 18.4x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Virtu Financial (VIRT) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Cme (CME) +9.0%, Virtu Financial (VIRT) +20.8%, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) +6.9%.

Which company is more profitable?

Cme (CME) has the highest net margin (Cme (CME) 63.3%, Virtu Financial (VIRT) 13.5%, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) 30.1%). On return on invested capital, Virtu Financial (VIRT) leads (Cme (CME) 11.7%, Virtu Financial (VIRT) 39.4%, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) 8.5%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Virtu Financial (VIRT) returned the most: Cme (CME) +14.3%, Virtu Financial (VIRT) +66.7%, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) +1.5%. Over five years, Virtu Financial (VIRT) compounded fastest (Cme (CME) +7.3%/yr, Virtu Financial (VIRT) +16.7%/yr, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) +3.8%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Only one of these companies pays a dividend: Cme (CME) 0.00%, Virtu Financial (VIRT) 0.00%, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) 0.01%. Cme (CME) and Virtu Financial (VIRT) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Cme (CME) has been the steadiest (Cme (CME) 25.0%, Virtu Financial (VIRT) 37.4%, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) 25.7%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, CME, VIRT and ICE?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Virtu Financial (VIRT) leads on 7. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.