ICE vs VIRT vs CME Stock Comparison

Intercontinental Exchange, Virtu Financial and Cme Prices as of Oct 26, 2026 Peers: Industry group
VIRT Virtu Financial, Inc.
$55.92 +4.7% 1M +66.7% 1Y
Market cap
$4.82B
P/E
8.8x
Revenue (TTM)
$4.08B
Div. yield
–
Institutional Trading Financial Services
7 wins
CME Cme Group Inc.
$308.06 +16.5% 1M +14.3% 1Y
Market cap
$104.98B
P/E
23.8x
Revenue (TTM)
$6.97B
Div. yield
–
Exchanges Financial Services
4 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.

QuestionICEVIRTCMELeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $87.70B $4.82B $104.98B CME
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 21.7x 8.8x 23.8x VIRT
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 18.4x 8.1x 26.2x VIRT
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +6.9% +20.8% +9.0% VIRT
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 30.1% 13.5% 63.3% CME
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 8.5% 39.4% 11.7% VIRT
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 2.6x 0.6x 0.2x CME
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.01% 0.00% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +1.5% +66.7% +14.3% VIRT
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +3.8%/yr +16.7%/yr +7.3%/yr VIRT
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 25.7% 37.4% 25.0% CME
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 56/100 63/100 62/100 VIRT

Percentile Scorecard

ICEVIRTCME

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

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

Price Performance

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

Returns

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

Risk

MeasureICEVIRTCMESPY
Volatility, 1Y 25.7%37.4%25.0% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 27.3%35.8%26.8% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.170.44-0.36 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.061.780.57 1.02
Max drawdown, 5Y -35.1%-57.5%-33.1% -25.4%
From 52-week high -8.6%-17.7%-5.6% -1.8%
52-week high $175.10$67.93$326.46 $779.14
52-week low $122.91$32.53$218.58 $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.

MultipleICEVIRTCME
P/E now vs peer median 22.4xmedian 29.4x 8.9xmedian 29.4x 25.0xmedian 29.4x
P/S now vs peer median 6.7xmedian 2.9x 2.1xmedian 2.9x 15.8xmedian 2.9x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 15.3xmedian 13.7x 4.4xmedian 13.7x 22.9xmedian 13.7x
P/FCF now vs peer median 17.7xmedian 16.0x 16.6xmedian 16.0x 25.4xmedian 16.0x
P/B now vs peer median 3.0xmedian 2.3x 3.7xmedian 2.3x 4.1xmedian 2.3x
PEG now vs peer median 0.67median 0.52 0.15median 0.52 1.82median 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 monthsICEVIRTCME
Revenue $13.43B $4.08B $6.97B
Operating income $5.47B – $4.58B
Net income $4.10B $1.06B $4.42B
Free cash flow $5.08B $521.11M $4.33B
EPS (diluted) $7.13 $6.29 $12.31
Cash & equivalents $1.07B $1.07B $2.20B
Total debt $19.85B $2.38B $13.69B
Shares (diluted) 566.00M 87.60M 358.64M
Enterprise value $81.43B $1.01B $93.32B

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

Growth

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

Profitability

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

Financial Health

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

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricICEVIRTCME
Dividend yield 1.3% 1.7% 3.2%
Net buyback yield 2.2% 1.0% –
Shareholder yield 3.5% 2.7% 3.2%
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.

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

Institutional Ownership

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

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.

ICEVIRTCME
ICE 1.00 0.29 0.50
VIRT 0.29 1.00 0.27
CME 0.50 0.27 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, ICE, VIRT and CME?

Cme (CME) is the largest by market capitalisation: Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) $87.70B, Virtu Financial (VIRT) $4.82B, Cme (CME) $104.98B.

Which stock is cheaper, ICE, VIRT and CME?

Virtu Financial (VIRT) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) 21.7x, Virtu Financial (VIRT) 8.8x, Cme (CME) 23.8x). On next year's consensus earnings, Virtu Financial (VIRT) is cheapest (Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) 18.4x, Virtu Financial (VIRT) 8.1x, Cme (CME) 26.2x). 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: Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) +6.9%, Virtu Financial (VIRT) +20.8%, Cme (CME) +9.0%.

Which company is more profitable?

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

Which stock has performed better?

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

Which pays a higher dividend?

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

Which stock is riskier?

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

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

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.