| Imagery Source: Flickr |
| Information Source: Nasdaq |
| Nasdaq, Inc. (Nasdaq: NDAQ) today reported financial results for the first quarter of 2025. |
- First quarter 2025 net revenue1 was $1.2 billion, an increase of 11% over the first quarter of 2024, or up 12.5% on an adjusted2 basis. This included Solutions3 revenue growing 9%, or up 11% on an adjusted basis.
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- Annualised Recurring Revenue (ARR)4 of $2.8 billion increased 8% over the first quarter of 2024, or up 9% on an organic basis. Annualised SaaS revenue increased 14% and represented 37% of ARR.
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- Financial Technology revenue of $432 million increased 10% over the first quarter of 2024, with Financial Crime Management Technology revenue up 21%.
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- Index revenue of $193 million grew 14%, or 26% on an adjusted basis, with $86 billion of net inflows over the trailing twelve months and $27 billion in the first quarter of 2025.
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- GAAP diluted earnings per share grew 69% in the first quarter of 2025. Non-GAAP5 diluted earnings per share grew 24% in the first quarter of 2025.
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- In the first quarter of 2025, the company returned $138 million to shareholders through dividends and $115 million through repurchases of common stock. The company also repurchased $279 million of senior unsecured notes in the quarter.
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| Adena Friedman, Chair and CEO said, “Nasdaq’s first quarter results underscore the resilience of our business model and our ability to deliver growth across our divisions in a rapidly shifting environment. |
| As a trusted partner and platform company, we are empowering our clients to address their most pressing risks and challenges and confidently navigate complex macroeconomic conditions. With our portfolio of complementary, mission-critical solutions, we are well-positioned to deliver sustainable growth through 2025 and the medium-term.” |
| Sarah Youngwood, Executive Vice President and CFO, said, “Nasdaq delivered one of its strongest quarters yet, with all three divisions achieving robust revenue growth and contributing to stellar EPS growth. We demonstrated strong operating leverage, and our high level of cash flow enabled us to make meaningful progress on our capital allocation strategy of investing in organic growth, reducing debt, and repurchasing shares. |
| We are grateful for our clients’ trust and remain focused on supporting them in these times of uncertainty, executing on our growth opportunities, and continuing to deliver while making focused strategic investments to capitalise on our compelling organic growth opportunity.” |
| FINANCIAL REVIEW |
- First quarter 2025 net revenue was $1,237 million, reflecting 11% growth versus the prior year period. Adjusted net revenue growth was 12.5%.
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- Solutions revenue was $947 million in the first quarter of 2025, up 9% versus the prior year period, or up 11% on an adjusted basis, reflecting strong growth from Index and Financial Technology.
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- ARR grew 8% year-over-year, or 9% on an organic basis, in the first quarter of 2025, with 11% ARR growth for Financial Technology, or 12% on an organic basis, and 5% ARR growth for Capital Access Platforms.
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- Market Services’ net revenue was $281 million in the first quarter of 2025, up 19% versus the prior year period.
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- First quarter 2025 GAAP operating expenses were $690 million, a decrease of 3% versus the prior year period. The decrease in the first quarter was primarily due to lower expenses related to general and administrative expenses, lower restructuring costs, and lower compensation and benefits, partially offset by an increase in merger and strategic initiative costs.
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- First quarter 2025 non-GAAP operating expenses were $555 million, reflecting 6% growth versus the prior year period, or 7% growth on an organic basis. The organic increase for the quarter reflected growth driven by increased investments in technology and people to drive innovation and long-term growth, partially offset by the benefit of synergies.
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- Cash flow from operations was $663 million for the first quarter enabling the company to make continued progress on its deleveraging plan. In the first quarter of 2025, the company returned $138 million to shareholders through dividends and $115 million through repurchases of common stock. As of March 31, 2025, there was $1.6 billion remaining under the board authorized share repurchase program. The company also repurchased $279 million of senior unsecured notes for a net purchase price of $257 million in the first quarter of 2025.
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| 2025 EXPENSE AND TAX GUIDANCE UPDATE7 |
- The company is updating its 2025 non-GAAP operating expense guidance to a range of $2,265 million to $2,325 million, and is maintaining its 2025 non-GAAP tax rate guidance in the range of 22.5% to 24.5%.
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| STRATEGIC AND BUSINESS UPDATES |
- Financial Technology delivered durable and broad-based ARR growth. The One Nasdaq go-to-market strategy is elevating client engagement and driving product adoption, resulting in robust ARR growth. FinTech ARR grew 12% on an organic basis in the first quarter with 40 new clients, 92 upsells, and 2 cross-sells. First quarter highlights included:
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- Financial Crime Management Technology revenue growth reflects momentum across both enterprise and small- and medium-sized bank (SMB) clients. Nasdaq Verafin secured several strategic first-quarter wins, including a cross-sell to a Tier 2 AxiomSL client and an upsell to a Tier 2 bank client, reflecting early progress on its land and expand enterprise client strategy. The business also added 35 new SMB clients in the first quarter, a 25% increase in new client signings over the prior year quarter. Nasdaq Verafin’s ongoing client growth is contributing to the growth and power of its data consortium, which now includes clients holding more than $10 trillion in total assets.
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- Regulatory Technology achieved solid ARR growth as our solutions helped clients navigate elevated market activity. AxiomSL signed a new large digital bank client and continued its momentum with existing clients, with 22 upsells in the first quarter, including a strategic deal with a large Tier 1 U.S. financial institution. The Tier 1 client expanded its suite of AxiomSL services by incorporating a broker-dealer solution alongside their existing U.S., European, and Asian reporting modules. Surveillance signed 4 new clients in the quarter, including a European regulator, a crypto marketplace, an energy trading firm, and a broker-dealer.
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- Capital Markets Technology signed multiple strategic deals amid the market modernisation megatrend. Strong execution and secular tailwinds are fueling new wins across the subdivision, with Calypso completing 25 upsells and Market Technology signing 17 upsells in the first quarter. Market Technology also had a cross-sell to Nuam, a consolidated market operator spanning Peru, Chile, and Colombia. In the first quarter, Nuam selected Nasdaq’s newly launched trade, clearing, and central securities depositories (CSD) intelligence solution after signing Nasdaq’s Trade Multi Matching Engine in late 2023 and its member countries standardising on Nasdaq’s CSD platform in December 2024.
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- Investments in index-powered alpha-driven revenue growth. Index had $27 billion in net inflows in the first quarter, with average ETP AUM reaching $662 billion, to achieve a sixth consecutive record quarter, despite a more volatile market backdrop. Index’s performance reflects the ongoing execution of its growth strategy of new product innovation, international diversification, and institutional client expansion. In the first quarter, Nasdaq launched 30 new Index products, including 10 international products, 7 in the institutional insurance annuity space, and 16 launched in partnership with new Index clients. New product launches have been a strong growth driver for Index, and products launched since 2020 have accounted for 33% of net inflows over the last 5 years.
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- Nasdaq maintained listing leadership and passed $3 trillion of market value in cumulative transfers. During the quarter, Nasdaq welcomed 45 operating company listings that raised nearly $5 billion of proceeds, contributing to an 82% win rate of eligible operating companies in the quarter. First quarter wins included 3 of the quarter’s top 5 offerings: CoreWeave, SailPoint, and Smithfield Foods. In the first quarter, the company exceeded $3 trillion in combined market value for total listing transfers since Nasdaq first launched its switch program in 2005. Nasdaq welcomed 7 high-profile transfers in the quarter, including Shopify, Thomson Reuters, and Domino’s Pizza, that added over $230 billion in market value.
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- Market Services delivered record net revenues with record cash equities and derivatives volumes in the U.S. Within the recent market volatility, Nasdaq achieved U.S. record volumes in cash equities and equity options, including index options, in the first quarter. Nasdaq also extended its leadership in on-exchange trading with U.S. cash equities market share increasing year-over-year and sequentially. During the first quarter, Nasdaq’s North American markets experienced extraordinary message traffic, which reached a record of more than 425 billion messages8 in a day.
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- Nasdaq aims to expand U.S. market access to 24/5 trading in the second half of 2026. The planned launch of 24-hour trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market will broaden investor access and wealth-building opportunities globally, including in Asia, where demand for Nasdaq-listed stocks is accelerating. Nasdaq’s timeline is subject to regulatory approval and alignment with the industry participants.
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- Nasdaq and Amazon Web Services signed an enhanced agreement to amplify their prior partnership. The partnership aims to benefit both the Market Services and Financial Technology divisions and advance Nasdaq’s vision to be the trusted fabric of the world’s financial system. Nasdaq plans to offer its financial services clients new cloud-based solutions in phases. The initial phase focuses on providing market operators with public and hybrid cloud infrastructure, software, and service offerings that mitigate transformation risk, retain data sovereignty, and optimise performance, latency, security, and resilience. Nasdaq’s Nordic markets will be among the first markets to leverage the infrastructure powered by the new partnership, subject to regulatory approval. Nasdaq has also expanded its modernisation partnerships with both the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and Mexico’s Grupo BMV.
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- Nasdaq is executing on its 2025 strategic priorities — Integrate, Innovate, Accelerate — positioning the company to capitalise on opportunities for sustainable, scalable, and resilient growth.
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- Integrate – Nasdaq is on track to action its $140 million expanded net expense efficiency program by year-end, with over $100 million actioned as of the end of the first quarter. Moody’s upgraded Nasdaq’s senior unsecured debt rating from Baa2 to Baa1 on March 31.
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- Innovate – Nasdaq continued to amplify innovation across the company as the team rolled out new AI-powered features to our solutions and product offerings and launched new Index products. Client usage of Nasdaq Verafin’s Co-Pilot tool grew 20% sequentially in the first quarter, highlighting the value and efficiency the offering provides to clients. Currently, more than 1,200 clients are leveraging the co-pilot to expedite their alert reviews.
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- Accelerate – The company continues to execute on its One Nasdaq strategy securing 19 cross-sell wins since the Adenza acquisition across key solutions including Surveillance, AxiomSL, and Verafin. Nasdaq remains on track to surpass $100 million in run-rate revenue from cross-sells by the end of 2027. At the end of the first quarter, cross-sells accounted for over 15% of Financial Technology’s sales pipeline.
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| Nasdaq, Inc. |
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