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 $5 to $130, reflecting a P/E of 21.4x our 2024 EPS estimate, in line with ICE’s 10-year average of 21.3x. We lower our 2023 EPS estimate by $0.06 to $5.66 and reduce 2024’s by $0.10 to $6.09. ICE posted Q3 adjusted EPS of $1.46 vs. $1.31, beating consensus by $0.07. It was an exciting quarter as ICE finally closed Black Knight (originally announced May 2022), a deal which we believe will pay substantial dividends once mortgage rates begin to fall. Unfortunately, this may take some time and we note adjusted revenues in Mortgage Technology fell 7% Y/Y given the highest mortgage rates in decades. Still, ICE is far from a one trick pony and its countercyclical Exchange segment saw revenues surge 11% given elevated activity in ICE’s energy products. Moderate growth came from Fixed Income & Data Services (+5%) given strength in fixed income execution. We maintain Buy given ICE’s ability to execute at a high level in both improving and deteriorating economic environments.