CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows:
We decrease our 12-month target price by $2 to $61, applying a forward P/E of 20.5x our 2024 EPS estimate, slightly below NDAQ’s five-year average forward P/E of 21.4x. We increase our 2023 EPS estimate by $0.02 to $2.85 and reduce 2024’s by $0.08 to $2.98. NDAQ posted adjusted Q3 EPS of $0.71 vs. $0.68 a year ago, $0.03 above consensus. Continued momentum was seen in Anti-Financial Crime (+21%Y/Y) with an exciting 47 new small and medium customers getting signed by Verafin in the quarter. Although the segment’s third quarter operating margin of 33% sits well below NDAQ’s firm wide margin of 52%, we remain optimistic as economies of scale should lead to outsized improvement. More modest growth was seen in Capital Access Platforms (+8%) as strong growth in the AUM of products linked to the Nasdaq-100 was partially offset by lower initial listings fees. Separately, NDAQ announced that it has completed its antitrust review process and expects to close the Adenza acquisition in the fourth quarter.