CME Group (CME) Competitors

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) and Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, institutional ownership, media sentiment, profitability, dividends, community ranking, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Do analysts rate CME or ICE?

CME Group presently has a consensus target price of $224.47, suggesting a potential downside of 0.02%. Intercontinental Exchange has a consensus target price of $174.13, suggesting a potential upside of 10.98%. Given Intercontinental Exchange's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Intercontinental Exchange is more favorable than CME Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CME Group	4 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Intercontinental Exchange	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	13 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.87

Does the media prefer CME or ICE?

In the previous week, Intercontinental Exchange had 3 more articles in the media than CME Group. MarketBeat recorded 28 mentions for Intercontinental Exchange and 25 mentions for CME Group. Intercontinental Exchange's average media sentiment score of 1.29 beat CME Group's score of 0.88 indicating that Intercontinental Exchange is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
CME Group	14 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Intercontinental Exchange	20 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has better earnings & valuation, CME or ICE?

CME Group has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Intercontinental Exchange. CME Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Intercontinental Exchange, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CME Group	$5.58B	14.49	$3.23B	$9.51	23.61
Intercontinental Exchange	$9.90B	9.10	$2.37B	$4.22	37.18

Is CME or ICE more profitable?

CME Group has a net margin of 57.34% compared to Intercontinental Exchange's net margin of 21.31%. CME Group's return on equity of 13.39% beat Intercontinental Exchange's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CME Group	57.34%	13.39%	2.81%
Intercontinental Exchange	21.31%	12.75%	2.50%

Do institutionals and insiders believe in CME or ICE?

87.8% of CME Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.3% of Intercontinental Exchange shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of CME Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Intercontinental Exchange shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is CME or ICE a better dividend stock?

CME Group pays an annual dividend of $4.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Intercontinental Exchange pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. CME Group pays out 48.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Intercontinental Exchange pays out 42.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. CME Group has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years. CME Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has more risk & volatility, CME or ICE?

CME Group has a beta of 0.55, suggesting that its share price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Intercontinental Exchange has a beta of 1.08, suggesting that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor CME or ICE?

Intercontinental Exchange received 175 more outperform votes than CME Group when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 72.12% of users gave Intercontinental Exchange an outperform vote while only 59.09% of users gave CME Group an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
CME Group	Outperform Votes 663 59.09%	Underperform Votes 459 40.91%
Intercontinental Exchange	Outperform Votes 838 72.12%	Underperform Votes 324 27.88%

Summary

Intercontinental Exchange beats CME Group on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.