NDAQ vs ICE Stock Comparison

Nasdaq and Intercontinental Exchange Prices as of Oct 23, 2026 Peers: Industry group
NDAQ Nasdaq, Inc.
$102.56 +7.5% 1M +15.5% 1Y
Market cap
$58.54B
P/E
28.1x
Revenue (TTM)
$9.15B
Div. yield
–
Exchanges Financial Services
5 wins

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Intercontinental Exchange leads on 6 of the 12 questions below (Intercontinental Exchange 6, Nasdaq 5). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionNDAQICELeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $58.54B $90.16B ICE
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 28.1x 22.3x ICE
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 25.6x 18.7x ICE
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +11.5% +6.9% NDAQ
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 22.8% 30.1% ICE
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 10.5% 8.5% NDAQ
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 2.4x 2.6x NDAQ
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.01% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +15.5% +3.3% NDAQ
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +8.8%/yr +4.3%/yr NDAQ
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 28.4% 25.6% ICE
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 56/100 57/100 ICE

Percentile Scorecard

NDAQICE

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

AxisNDAQICE
Valuation 43 #56 of 97 64 #36 of 97
Growth 46 #38 of 69 53 #33 of 69
Profitability 80 #15 of 70 84 #12 of 70
Financial Health 48 #53 of 101 37 #64 of 101
Shareholder Returns 62 #16 of 40 49 #21 of 40
Overall 56 57
  • NDAQ 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

PeriodNDAQICESPY
1 month +7.5%+4.0% -1.0%
3 months +11.4%+11.6% +2.9%
6 months +14.1%+2.7% +6.4%
Year to date +5.6%+0.4% +11.4%
1 year +15.5%+3.3% +13.1%
3 years +107.4%+52.1% +79.4%
3 years, per year +27.5%+15.0% +21.5%
5 years +52.5%+23.6% +67.7%
5 years, per year +8.8%+4.3% +10.9%
10 years +364.9%+205.4% +255.2%
10 years, per year +16.6%+11.8% +13.5%

Risk

MeasureNDAQICESPY
Volatility, 1Y 28.4%25.6% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 29.9%27.3% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.560.18 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.540.13 1.03
Max drawdown, 5Y -33.4%-35.1% -25.4%
From 52-week high -0.7%-7.1% -2.5%
52-week high $103.30$175.10 $779.14
52-week low $76.85$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.

MultipleNDAQICE
P/E now vs peer median 27.5xmedian 29.4x 22.7xmedian 29.4x
P/S now vs peer median 6.3xmedian 2.8x 6.8xmedian 2.8x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 19.3xmedian 12.8x 15.6xmedian 12.8x
P/FCF now vs peer median 25.4xmedian 15.9x 18.0xmedian 15.9x
P/B now vs peer median 4.8xmedian 2.5x 3.1xmedian 2.5x
PEG now vs peer median 1.50median 0.51 0.68median 0.51

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 monthsNDAQICE
Revenue $9.15B $13.43B
Gross profit $5.78B –
Operating income $2.73B $5.47B
Net income $2.08B $4.10B
Free cash flow $2.26B $5.08B
EPS (diluted) $3.70 $7.13
Cash & equivalents $365.00M $1.07B
Total debt $8.74B $78.89B
Shares (diluted) 563.31M 566.00M
Enterprise value $55.98B $83.90B

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
MetricNDAQICE
P/E 27.5x 22.7x
P/FCF 25.4x 18.0x
P/Operating cash flow 22.5x 16.6x
P/S 6.3x 6.8x
P/B 4.8x 3.1x
P/Tangible book 9.7x 6.2x
EV/EBITDA 19.3x 15.6x
EV/EBIT 24.0x 20.0x
EV/Revenue 7.2x 8.1x
EV/FCF 29.0x 21.5x
EV/Operating cash flow 25.7x 19.8x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 1.50 0.68

Growth

14 metrics
MetricNDAQICE
Revenue growth (1Y) 11.5% 6.9%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 15.1% 11.9%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 13.7% –
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 16.2% –
Operating income growth (1Y) 23.1% 16.4%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 20.1% 13.9%
Net income growth (1Y) 28.2% 34.1%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 23.6% 33.1%
EPS growth (1Y) 31.8% 36.6%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 18.3% 33.3%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 9.0% 13.1%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 12.8% 14.9%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 7.6% 13.9%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 11.6% 14.1%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricNDAQICE
Gross margin 63.2% –
EBITDA margin 37.0% 52.3%
Operating margin 29.8% 40.7%
Pretax margin 28.5% 39.7%
Net margin 22.8% 30.1%
FCF margin 24.7% 37.8%
Operating cash flow margin 27.8% 41.1%
Return on equity 17.4% 13.9%
Return on assets 7.6% 2.3%
Return on invested capital 10.5% 8.5%
Return on capital employed 12.0% 9.7%
Asset turnover 0.3x 0.1x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.2x 1.3x
Stock comp / revenue 1.9% 2.0%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricNDAQICE
Debt / assets 31.9% 11.4%
Debt / equity 0.7x 0.7x
Net debt / EBITDA 2.4x 2.6x
Debt / FCF 3.9x 3.9x
Liabilities / assets 56.2% 83.0%
Equity / assets 43.8% 17.0%
Interest coverage 7.9x 6.8x
Current ratio 1.0x 1.0x
Quick ratio 0.4x 0.0x
Cash ratio 0.1x 0.0x
Altman Z-score 3.44 0.75

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricNDAQICE
Dividend yield 1.1% 1.3%
Net buyback yield 2.6% 2.2%
Shareholder yield 3.7% 3.4%
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.

ConsensusNDAQICE
Forward P/E 25.6xFY2026 18.7xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $4.01FY2026 $8.68FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +15.2%FY2026 +24.9%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +10.7% -3.0%
Revenue, next fiscal year $6.07BFY2026 $10.53BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +15.7%FY2026 +6.0%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +13.2% +16.1%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersNDAQICE
Held by institutions 83.8% 92.5%
Institutions holding 1,082 1,651
Change in shares held, QoQ +1.0% +1.4%
Institutions buying 538 734
Institutions selling 397 694
Buyers to sellers 1.36 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.

NDAQICE
NDAQ 1.00 0.65
ICE 0.65 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, NDAQ and ICE?

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) is the largest by market capitalisation: Nasdaq (NDAQ) $58.54B, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) $90.16B.

Which stock is cheaper, NDAQ and ICE?

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Nasdaq (NDAQ) 28.1x, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) 22.3x). On next year's consensus earnings, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) is cheapest (Nasdaq (NDAQ) 25.6x, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) 18.7x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Nasdaq (NDAQ) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Nasdaq (NDAQ) +11.5%, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) +6.9%.

Which company is more profitable?

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has the highest net margin (Nasdaq (NDAQ) 22.8%, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) 30.1%). On return on invested capital, Nasdaq (NDAQ) leads (Nasdaq (NDAQ) 10.5%, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) 8.5%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Nasdaq (NDAQ) returned the most: Nasdaq (NDAQ) +15.5%, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) +3.3%. Over five years, Nasdaq (NDAQ) compounded fastest (Nasdaq (NDAQ) +8.8%/yr, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) +4.3%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Only one of these companies pays a dividend: Nasdaq (NDAQ) 0.00%, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) 0.01%. Nasdaq (NDAQ) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has been the steadiest (Nasdaq (NDAQ) 28.4%, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) 25.6%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Do NDAQ and ICE move together?

Their daily returns over the past year have a correlation of 0.65, a moderate positive relationship. Holding both diversifies more than two closely linked stocks would.

Which is the better stock, NDAQ 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, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) leads on 6. 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.