Nasdaq third-quarter net revenue rises 13% to $1.48 billion as Solutions revenue climbs 17%

Nasdaq, Inc. (NDAQ) reported third-quarter 2026 net revenue of $1.48 billion, up 13% from a year earlier, a regulatory filing showed on Thursday. GAAP diluted earnings per share rose 31% to $0.96.

The figures were in a press release attached to the company's 8-K. The filing also included earnings slides and a separate dividend announcement.

Here's how the company did:

• Net revenue: $1,481 million vs. $1,315 million a year earlier
• GAAP diluted earnings per share: $0.96 vs. $0.73 a year earlier
• Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share: $1.04 vs. $0.88 a year earlier
• GAAP operating income: $732 million vs. $586 million a year earlier
• Non-GAAP operating income: $843 million vs. $732 million a year earlier

Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share rose 18% on a reported basis and 19% on an organic basis. Organic growth strips out currency moves, acquisitions and divestitures.

Solutions revenue, which combines Capital Access Platforms and Financial Technology with certain other revenue, rose 17% to $1,172 million from $1,003 million a year earlier. On an organic basis the increase was 18%.

Market Services net revenue was $309 million, up 2% from $303 million on both a reported and organic basis. The company said the segment set a new record for third-quarter net revenue, helped by higher industry volumes in U.S. options and European equities.

Annualized recurring revenue, or ARR, is the current annualized value of subscription contracts with a defined contract value. Nasdaq reported ARR of $3,365 million, up 12% on a reported basis and 14% on an organic basis.

The filing says the gap between reported and organic ARR growth reflects divestitures that were excluded from the prior-year figure.

Financial Technology revenue rose 16% to $529 million from $457 million a year earlier, on both reported and organic bases. The company said the unit delivered record organic ARR growth of 18%.

Capital Access Platforms revenue rose 20% to $641 million from $534 million. Index revenue reached $286 million, up 39% from $206 million. The company said Index had a record $141 billion of net inflows over the trailing twelve months, including $49 billion in the third quarter.

Period-end exchange-traded product assets under management tracking Nasdaq indexes were $1.160 trillion, against $829 billion a year earlier. The filing calls that a record. Average assets over the quarter were $1.108 trillion, up from $777 billion.

GAAP operating expenses were $749 million, up 3% from a year earlier. Non-GAAP operating expenses rose 9% to $638 million from $583 million, or 12% on an organic basis.

The company said the increase was driven mainly by higher compensation and benefits costs tied to revenue execution, along with technology investment. Restructuring charges were zero in the quarter, against $12 million a year earlier.

The company returned $173 million to shareholders through dividends and $323 million through share repurchases in the quarter. It generated $521 million of cash flow from operations. Its board-authorized repurchase program had $2.2 billion remaining as of Sept. 30, 2026.

The company said it has returned more than $1.7 billion to shareholders so far this year through repurchases and dividends.

Nasdaq updated its 2026 non-GAAP operating expense guidance to a range of $2.550 billion to $2.580 billion. The filing does not give the previous range. It maintained its 2026 non-GAAP tax rate guidance of 22.5% to 24.5%.

The company does not provide GAAP operating expense or tax rate guidance, citing the difficulty of forecasting currency movements and future charges outside the normal course of business.

Executive Vice President and CFO Sarah Youngwood said Nasdaq “delivered excellent third quarter results,” pointing to “outstanding Solutions revenue growth, continued operating leverage, and strong EPS growth.”

Chair and CEO Adena Friedman said the quarter “demonstrates the strength and momentum of our business,” and that Nasdaq “is shaping the next generation of market infrastructure.”

Nasdaq Verafin signed 45 new small-and-medium bank clients and three enterprise deals in the quarter. The company said more than 850 clients now use its Agentic AI Workforce.

Nasdaq completed its acquisition of LeveL Markets, which the filing calls the third-largest Alternative Trading System in the U.S. by trading volume. The deal closed early in the fourth quarter and sits in a new Digital Liquidity Networks unit within Market Services.

The filing does not disclose the purchase price.

Nasdaq welcomed 15 new operating companies that raised $32 billion in the quarter, a 79% win rate for new operating company listings. The company said it had eight of the 10 largest operating company IPOs in the quarter.

In the quarter Nasdaq sold its Nasdaq Metrio platform and related customer contracts, along with its Nasdaq Fund Secondaries business. The sales produced a net loss on divestitures of $4 million.

Nasdaq partnered with HSBC to co-develop exchange-traded derivatives clearing in Calypso, a platform HSBC has selected for clearing across OTC, ETD and repos. A separate partnership with Juniper Square embeds eVestment's private markets data in its client workflows.

The Nasdaq Stock Market remains on track to start 23/5 trading on Dec. 6, 2026, the company said.

A separate announcement on the same day declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.31 per share, payable Dec. 18, 2026 to holders of record at the close of business on Dec. 4, 2026. Cash dividends declared per share were $0.27 in the third quarter of 2025.

For the first nine months, net income attributable to Nasdaq was $1,566 million, up from $1,270 million a year earlier.