By Jaiveer Shekhawat
(Reuters) -Nasdaq beat first-quarter profit expectations on Thursday as the exchange operator benefited from higher market volatility and strong demand for its fintech and solutions products, sending its shares up 1% before the bell.
Total U.S. equity options volumes jumped to 935 million contracts in the quarter, compared to 773 million contracts in the same quarter last year.
To diversify its revenue streams, the company has been expanding outside its market-sensitive core activities of trading and listing to products that help financial institutions navigate compliance requirements and safeguard against financial crimes.
With markets remaining volatile in the first quarter amid economic uncertainty and the trade dispute between the United States and China, companies have been spending on products that help safeguard them from market volatility.
Revenue from Nasdaq’s financial technology business climbed 10% from a year ago to $432 million, while revenue at the company’s solutions business rose nearly 9% to $947 million.
“The current macro environment, recent policy shifts and ongoing talks about potential tariffs have created significant short-term volatility, and that uncertainty is at this point weighing on global GDP growth expectations,” Nasdaq Chair and CEO Adena Friedman said in an analyst call.
“Entering the second quarter, this is creating modest impact on the timing of corporate decision-making, although without a meaningful change in overall demand across all economic cycles,” she said.
Net revenue in the quarter came in at $1.24 billion, above analysts’ expectation of $1.23 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Net profit attributable to the company on an adjusted basis was $456 million, or 79 cents per share, in the first quarter ended March 31, compared with $367 million, or 63 cents per share, a year earlier.
Analysts on average had expected a profit of 77 cents.
(Reporting by Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)