ICE Stock Trades Near 52-Week High: Time to Add it for Better Returns?

Shares of Intercontinental Exchange Inc. ICE traded near its 52-week high of $179.44 on May 22. This proximity underscores investor confidence. It has the ingredients for further price appreciation. Shares closed at $174.00 after gaining 16.8% year to date, outperforming the industry, the sector and the Zacks S&P 500 composite in the same time frame.

Intercontinental Exchange has outperformed its peer, Nasdaq, Inc. NDAQ, while it underperformed other peers, Cboe Global Markets, Inc. CBOE and CME Group Inc. CME, which have gained 5%, 16.9% and 21.4%, respectively, year to date.

With a capitalization of $99.81 billion, the average number of shares traded in the last three months was 3.52 million.

ICE Outperforms Industry, Sector & S&P 500 YTD

The stock is trading above the 50-day and 200-day simple moving averages (SMA) of $168.67 and $161.68, respectively, indicating a bullish trend. SMA is a widely used technical analysis tool to predict future price trends by analyzing historical price data.

ICE Price Movement vs. 50-Day, 200-Day Moving Average

ICE Shares are Affordable

ICE shares are trading at a discount to the Zacks Securities and Exchange industry. Its forward price-to-earnings of 24.16x is higher than the industry average of 24.52x.

ICE’s Growth Projection Encourages

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Intercontinental Exchange’s 2025 earnings per share indicates a year-over-year increase of 13.8%. The consensus estimate for revenues is pegged at $9.94 billion, implying a year-over-year improvement of 7%. 

The consensus estimate for 2026 earnings per share and revenues indicates an increase of 10.6% and 5.7%, respectively, from the corresponding 2024 estimates. 

The expected long-term earnings growth rate is 13.3%, outperforming the industry average of 9.8%. 

Optimistic Analyst Sentiment on ICE

Seven out of the 10 analysts covering the stock have raised estimates for 2025 and 2026 over the past 30 days. Thus, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 and 2026 moved 1.3% and 1.2% north, respectively, in the last 30 days. 

Earnings Surprise History

Intercontinental surpassed earnings estimates in three of the last four quarters and matched in one, the average being 1.30%.

Key Drivers of ICE Stock

ICE’s top line is poised to improve on strength in global data services and index business, growth in pricing and reference data business, and strength in ICE Global Network offering, solid desktop, feeds and derivatives analytics. The company has been achieving expense synergies from strategic acquisitions, which have also strengthened its portfolio and expanded its presence.

ICE boasts the largest mortgage network across the United States and thus remains well-poised to benefit from accelerated digitization in the residential mortgage industry.

ICE continuously engages in strategic investments supported by a healthy and minimal risk-based balance sheet, which also offers stability and buoyancy over the medium to long term.

However, operating expenses have been increasing over the last several years, weighing on margin expansion. With continuous growth initiatives like product launches and technology upgrades, we believe that expenses are likely to remain elevated in the near term.

Though the debt balance declined, its leverage as well as times interest earned compares unfavorably with the industry average.

End Note

ICE is poised for growth, banking on the strength of its compelling portfolio and expansive risk-management services, which also ensure revenue flow, as well as strategic buyouts, a solid balance sheet and effective capital deployment. Its dividend history is impressive. It has more than doubled its dividends in the last six years.

Its solid growth projections, optimistic analyst sentiment, as well as attractive valuations, are other positives. Despite higher expenses, the tailwinds make this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock worth adding to one’s portfolio. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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

Zacks Investment Research