CME Group Q3 Earnings Surpass Estimates, Revenues Decline Y/Y

CME Group Inc. CME reported third-quarter 2025 adjusted earnings per share of $2.68, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.9%. The bottom line remains unchanged year over year. 

Quarterly results reflected declining revenues due to lower clearing and transaction fees and other, as well as lower trading volumes.

Performance in Detail

CME Group’s revenues of $1.5 billion decreased 2.9% year over year. The year-over-year decrease was primarily due to lower clearing and transaction fees and other factors. The top line matched the Zacks Consensus Estimate.

Total expenses rose 0.8% year over year to $565 million, attributable to higher compensation and benefits, technology, professional fees, and outside services. It exceeded our estimate of $505.6 million.

Operating income decreased 5% from the prior-year quarter to $972.6 million. Our estimate was $1 billion.

Average daily volume (ADV) was a record 25.3 million contracts, down 10.4% year over year. ADV decreased across Energy, Foreign exchange, Equity indexes, and Interest rates product lines. The total average rate per contract was 70.2 cents.

Financial Update

As of Sept. 30, 2025, CME Group had $3.6 billion of cash and marketable securities, down 8.5% from the 2024-end level. As of Sept. 30, 2025, long-term debt was $3.4 billion, up 27.7% from 2024-end. As of Sept. 30, 2025, CME had shareholders' equity worth $28.2 billion, up 6.4% from the end of 2024.

Capital Deployment

CME Group paid out $3.5 billion in dividends during the first nine months of 2025, taking the payout to $29.5 billion since the implementation of the variable dividend policy in early 2012.

Zacks Rank

CME Group currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). 

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Another Peer Release

Nasdaq, Inc. NDAQ reported third-quarter 2025 adjusted earnings per share of 88 cents, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4.8%. The bottom line improved 18.9% year over year. The improvement was mainly driven by higher revenues across three divisions and organic growth, partially offset by higher expenses. Nasdaq’s net revenues of $1.3 billion increased 15% year over year.

Organic net revenue growth was 11%. The top line beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.7%. Annualized Recurring Revenue (ARR) increased 10% year over year to $3 billion. Organic growth was 9%. Annualized SaaS revenues increased 12% and represented 38% of ARR.

Upcoming Releases

Intercontinental Exchange Inc. ICE is set to report third-quarter 2025 results on Oct. 30, before market open. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for third-quarter earnings per share is pegged at $1.61, suggesting an increase of 3.8% from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.

ICE’s earnings beat estimates in three of the last four quarters and met in one.

Cboe Global Markets, Inc. CBOE is set to report third-quarter 2025 results on Oct. 31, before market open. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for third-quarter earnings per share is pegged at $2.44, suggesting an increase of 9.9% from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.

CBOE’s earnings beat estimates in three of the last four quarters and missed in one.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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