The US Stock Exchange operator, Nasdaq (Nasdaq: NDAQ), published its financial results for the first quarter of 2021 on Wednesday, reporting an excellent 21 percent year-over-year increase in its net business revenue.
In absolute terms, the quarterly net revenue came in at $851 million, jumping from $701 million in the prior-year period.
The company further highlighted that 17 percent of the revenue jump came from organic growth in the core business while it gained $18 million from the impact of favorable changes in FX rates and another $14 million gain from revenue of accusations. In February, Nasdaq completed the acquisition of an anti-financial crime management solutions provider, Verafin.
Apart from its stock market business, Nasdaq is also a major provider of financial data. The company’s revenue from the solutions segment upped by 22 percent while market services revenue increased by 20 percent. Additionally, it generated $1,760 million in the quarter from annualized recurring revenue.
Beating the Street Estimates
Additionally, the strong revenue growth pushed the quarterly earnings 46.7 percent higher to $298 million or $1.78 per share. The reported adjusted earnings for the period stood at $327 million or $1.96 per share, much higher than the street expectations.
Commenting on the results, Adena Friedman, President and Chief Executive at Nasdaq, said: “I am pleased with how our team delivered for clients against an incredibly dynamic capital markets backdrop, reflecting record trading and listing results as well as strong growth across our solutions segments.”
“We continue to execute against key secular growth opportunities, as illustrated by strong momentum in our institutional investor Analytics solutions, as well as by the broad-based growth in total company ARR compared to the prior-year period. We are also making fundamental progress in Nasdaq's strategic repositioning this year, with the close of the Verafin acquisition, and the consequent expansion of our addressable market and long-term performance potential.”
