Nasdaq (NDAQ) Competitors

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

Is NDAQ or ICE more profitable?

Intercontinental Exchange has a net margin of 23.42% compared to Nasdaq's net margin of 15.10%. Nasdaq's return on equity of 14.82% beat Intercontinental Exchange's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nasdaq	15.10%	14.82%	5.37%
Intercontinental Exchange	23.42%	12.95%	2.57%

Do institutionals & insiders believe in NDAQ or ICE?

72.5% of Nasdaq shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.3% of Intercontinental Exchange shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of Nasdaq shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Intercontinental Exchange shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk and volatility, NDAQ or ICE?

Nasdaq has a beta of 0.96, indicating that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Intercontinental Exchange has a beta of 1.08, indicating that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is NDAQ or ICE a better dividend stock?

Nasdaq pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Intercontinental Exchange pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Nasdaq pays out 50.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Intercontinental Exchange pays out 40.2% 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. Nasdaq has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years. Nasdaq is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the media favor NDAQ or ICE?

In the previous week, Intercontinental Exchange had 41 more articles in the media than Nasdaq. MarketBeat recorded 70 mentions for Intercontinental Exchange and 29 mentions for Nasdaq. Nasdaq's average media sentiment score of 1.40 beat Intercontinental Exchange's score of 1.15 indicating that Nasdaq is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Nasdaq	23 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Intercontinental Exchange	54 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts rate NDAQ or ICE?

Nasdaq presently has a consensus target price of $87.94, indicating a potential upside of 19.17%. Intercontinental Exchange has a consensus target price of $182.47, indicating a potential upside of 9.01%. Given Nasdaq's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Nasdaq is more favorable than Intercontinental Exchange.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nasdaq	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	13 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.76
Intercontinental Exchange	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	13 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.87

Which has better earnings & valuation, NDAQ or ICE?

Intercontinental Exchange has higher revenue and earnings than Nasdaq. Intercontinental Exchange is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Nasdaq, 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
Nasdaq	$7.40B	5.74	$1.12B	$1.92	38.43
Intercontinental Exchange	$11.76B	8.18	$2.75B	$4.78	35.02

Does the MarketBeat Community favor NDAQ or ICE?

Nasdaq received 24 more outperform votes than Intercontinental Exchange when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 72.09% of users gave Intercontinental Exchange an outperform vote while only 69.57% of users gave Nasdaq an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Nasdaq	Outperform Votes 871 69.57%	Underperform Votes 381 30.43%
Intercontinental Exchange	Outperform Votes 847 72.09%	Underperform Votes 328 27.91%

Summary

Intercontinental Exchange beats Nasdaq on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.