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MarketAxess Holdings Inc. MKTX reported fourth-quarter 2025 adjusted earnings per share of $1.68, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.2%. However, the bottom line slipped 2.9% year over year.
Total revenues amounted to $209 million, which grew 3.5% year over year. Yet, the top line missed the consensus mark by 1.6%.
The quarterly results benefited on the back of solid growth in total revenues as a result of rising high-grade, high-yield, emerging markets and Eurobonds trading volumes. Commission revenues and gains in technology and post-trade services revenues also contributed to the upside. However, the upside was partly offset by rising expenses due to higher compensation and benefits, and general and administrative (G&A) costs.
MarketAxess Holdings Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | MarketAxess Holdings Inc. Quote
Commission revenues improved 4% year over year to $181.3 million. However, the metric fell short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $183 million and our estimate of $186.8 million. Information services revenues of $13.4 million grew 2% year over year. The metric missed the consensus mark of $14 million but surpassed our estimate of $13.2 million. Post-trade services revenues inched up 1% year over year to $11 million, while technology services revenues increased 2% year over year to $3.6 million.
Total expenses came in at $133.4 million, which escalated 9% year over year in the quarter under review due to higher employee compensation and benefits, technology and communication, professional and consulting fees, and G&A expenses. The metric was lower than our estimate of $137 million.
MarketAxess’ net income climbed 42% year over year to $92.4 million, higher than our estimate of $61 million. The net income margin of 44.1% improved 1,190 basis points year over year.
The high-grade trading volume of MarketAxess was $424.6 billion in the fourth quarter, which advanced 6% year over year but lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $430.3 billion. The ADV of the same product category totaled $6.8 million, which rose 6% year over year and marginally missed the consensus mark.
High-yield trading volume of $95.7 billion climbed 15% year over year, while ADV also rose 15% year over year to $1.5 billion. Other credit trading volume tumbled 4% year over year to $37.1 billion, whereas ADV for the same product category also declined 4% year over year to $597 million.
Trading volume and ADV of emerging markets rose 15% each on a year-over-year basis to $247.1 billion and $4 billion, respectively. The Eurobonds’ trading volume and ADV improved 20% each on a year-over-year basis.
The total credit trading volume of $958.5 billion advanced 11% year over year. Total credit ADV rose 11% to $15.4 billion and marginally beat the consensus mark. Total rates’ trading volume and ADV of this product category declined 17% each, respectively, on a year-over-year basis.
MarketAxess exited the fourth quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $519.7 million, which fell 4.5% from the 2024-end level. Total assets of $1.8 billion inched up 1.1% from the figure at 2024-end.
The company had $220 million in outstanding borrowings under its credit facility at the fourth-quarter end. Total stockholders’ equity of $1.1 billion tumbled 17.5% from the 2024-end level.
MarketAxess generated $158.6 million of net cash from operations in the fourth quarter, which slipped 10% year over year. Free cash flow plunged 33.8% year over year to $75.1 million.
MarketAxess bought back shares worth $360 million in 2025. In December 2025, management sanctioned the repurchase of up to $400 million in additional common shares. The company subsequently entered into an accelerated share repurchase (ASR) agreement for $300 million, receiving 1,386,001 shares initially—representing 80% of the total expected based on the stock’s market price at execution. A leftover capacity of $205 million remained under the company’s authorized repurchase program as of Jan. 31, 2025.
MKTX also approved a 2.6% hike in the quarterly cash dividend. The increased dividend, amounting to 78 cents per share, will be paid out on March 4, 2026, to shareholder of record as of Feb.18.
MarketAxess’ revenues of $846.3 million rose 4% from the 2024 figure. Adjusted earnings per share advanced 2% year over year to $7.39. Operating income of $341.8 inched up marginally year over year.
Service revenues, which comprise Information Services, Post-Trade Services and Technology Services, are estimated to witness mid-single-digit percentage growth. Total expenses are anticipated to be between $530 million and $545 million for 2026. Capital expenditure is projected to be between $65 million and $75 million, while the adjusted effective tax rate is expected to lie between 24% and 26%.
In the medium term, MarketAxess is targeting average annual total revenue growth within 8-9%, along with an average annual improvement in operating margin of 75-125 basis points.
The projections are also predicated on anticipated minimum average annual growth of approximately 6% in composite credit market ADV and around 5% in U.S. government bond TRACE market ADV.
MarketAxess currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Of the other Finance sector players that have reported fourth-quarter results so far, the bottom-line results of Synchrony Financial SYF, Virtu Financial, Inc. VIRT and Truist Financial Corporation TFC beat the respective Zacks Consensus Estimate.
Synchrony Financial reported fourth-quarter 2025 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $2.18, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 8.1%. The bottom line increased from $1.91 per share a year ago. Net interest income was $4.8 billion, which grew 3.7% year over year. However, it missed the consensus mark by 0.6%. Retailer share arrangements of Synchrony advanced 19% year over year to $1.1 billion in the quarter under review. Total loan receivables of $103.8 billion slipped 0.9% year over year.
Total deposits dipped 1.1% year over year to $81.1 billion. Synchrony’s purchase volume rose 3.2% year over year to $49.5 billion. Interest and fees on loans totaled $5.5 billion, which increased 1% year over year. Net interest margin improved 82 basis points (bps) year over year to 15.8% in the fourth quarter. Home & Auto period-end loan receivables decreased 5.4% year over year in the fourth quarter. Purchase volume tumbled 1.6% year over year. Digital period-end loan receivables rose 2.4% year over year. Purchase volume increased 5.8% year over year. Interest and fees on loans rose 5.1% year over year. Diversified & Value period-end loan receivables increased 1.8% year over year in the quarter under review.
Virtu Financial’s fourth-quarter adjusted EPS of $1.85 beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 44.8%. The bottom line increased 62.3% year over year. Adjusted Net Trading Income rose 34% year over year to $613.4 million, exceeding the consensus estimate by 18.2%. Revenues from commissions, net, and technology services rose 12.1% year over year to $157.4 million. Interest and dividend income of $143.9 million increased 16.3% year over year. Adjusted EBITDA increased 55.9% year over year to $442 million.
Adjusted EBITDA margin improved year over year to 72.1% from 61.9%. In the Market Making segment, adjusted net trading income totaled $488.67 million in the fourth quarter, climbing 40.5% year over year. The unit’s revenues increased 13.7% year over year to $803.4 million. The Execution Services unit recorded adjusted net trading income of $124.8 million in the quarter under review. The unit’s total revenues rose 15.8% year over year to $158.2 million.
Truist Financial reported fourth-quarter 2025 adjusted earnings of $1.12 per share, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.09. In the prior-year quarter, the company posted earnings of 91 cents. Total revenues in the quarter were $5.25 billion, up 3.7% year over year. The top line missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5.27 billion. Quarterly tax-equivalent NII increased 3% year over year to $3.75 billion. The net interest margin (NIM) remained unchanged from the prior-year quarter at 3.07%.
Non-interest income was $1.55 billion, up 5.2% year over year. Non-interest expenses were $3.17 billion, up 4.4% year over year. The adjusted efficiency ratio was 54.9%, down from 57.7% in the prior-year quarter. As of Dec. 31, 2025, total average deposits were $396 billion, down marginally on a sequential basis. Average loans and leases held for investment of $324.8 billion rose 1.3% from the previous quarter. As of Dec. 31, 2025, total non-performing assets (NPAs) were $1.63 billion, up 10.6% from a year ago. However, net charge-offs were 0.57% of average loans and leases, down two bps from the prior-year quarter.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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