Nasdaq’s (NDAQ) Q3 earnings report reflected strong execution across all its businesses, advancing the outstanding momentum the company has delivered in the first two earnings reports of the year. As capital markets undergo one of their most significant transformations in decades with the shift toward always-on trading, Nasdaq continues to invest in the infrastructure of tomorrow through industry leadership, innovation, and strategic acquisitions.
At a high level, the company achieved $1.5 billion in quarterly net revenue, an increase of 13% on a reported basis, or 14% on an organic basis. Solutions revenue grew 17% on a reported basis, or 18% on an organic basis.
During the earnings call, Nasdaq Chair and CEO Adena Friedman said, “Nasdaq is positioned to lead some of the most significant and enduring trends reshaping the financial system, many of which are still in the early stages of their impact.”
Key highlights include:
- Net revenue increased 14% year-over-year on an organic basis to $1.5 billion.
- Annualized Recurring Revenue (ARR) increased 12% to $3.4 billion over the third quarter of 2025, or 14%% on an organic basis.
- Solutions revenue was $1.2 billion in the third quarter of 2026.
- Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share was $1.04, or an increase of 18% for the quarter on a reported basis, or 19% on an organic basis. The company is updating its 2026 non-GAAP operating expense guidance to a range of $2.550 billion to $2.580 billion.
- The company returned $173 million to shareholders through dividends and $323 million through repurchases of common stock.
- Nasdaq completed the acquisition of LeveL Markets, the third largest Alternative Trading System (ATS) by trading volume, as part of its broader strategy to advance always-on markets infrastructure (more on that below).
“We’ve had eight of the top ten wins for the quarter, seven of the top ten IPOs for the year,” Friedman said during an interview on CNBC, adding that she is proud that “marquee companies have chosen to come to Nasdaq, including actually, Hilton, [which] just announced they’re switching to Nasdaq yesterday.”
Sarah Youngwood, Executive Vice President and CFO said, “Nasdaq delivered excellent third quarter results, headlined by outstanding Solutions revenue growth, continued operating leverage, and strong EPS growth.
Here are some additional highlights from the earnings report:
In the third quarter, Nasdaq listed 8 of the 10 largest operating company IPOs, achieving a win rate of 79%% for new operating company listings. Capital Access Platforms’ revenue growth was 20% year-over-year on both a reported and organic basis.
Overall, FinTech revenue growth was 16% compared to the prior year on both a reported and organic basis. FinTech signed 54 new clients and 135 upsells in the quarter, with cloud-based solutions accounting for 85% of ACV (Annual Contract Value) bookings.
Market Services net revenue was up 2% year-over-year on both a reported and organic basis. The division achieved a new record in third quarter net revenue at $309 million, benefitting from higher industry volumes across U.S. Options and European Equities, and higher share and near record capture in U.S. cash equities. The Market Services team is on track to support the launch of 23/5 trading on December 6.
Other notable achievements include:
- Nasdaq formed Digital Liquidity Networks (DLN), which brings together its longstanding investments and expertise in digital assets and tokenization to architect the next era of capital markets infrastructure.
- As part of DLN’s strategy, the company deepened its relationship with Payward, the parent company of Kraken, with a $100 million investment.
- Nasdaq achieved its highest-ever ranking at #2 in the Chartis RiskTech100, reflecting the deliberate transformation of a set of independently built and acquired businesses into one connected platform approach with solutions spanning risk management, financial crime prevention, regulatory reporting, trade surveillance, and corporate governance.
“Our third quarter results, in combination with our performance in the first half of the year, demonstrate the strength of our business model and strategy, our position as a trusted transformation partner to our clients, and our leadership in helping shape the next generation of financial markets,” said Youngwood.
For the complete third quarter 2026 earnings press release, including reconciliations of U.S. GAAP to non-GAAP metrics, read Nasdaq’s full Q3 2026 earnings release here.
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Information set forth in this communication contains forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Nasdaq cautions readers that any forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and that actual results could differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to (i) projections relating to our future financial results, growth, dividend program, trading volumes, products and services, ability to transition to new business models, taxes and achievement of synergy targets, (ii) statements about the closing or implementation dates and benefits of certain acquisitions, divestitures and other strategic, restructuring, technology, de-leveraging and capital allocation initiatives, (iii) statements about our integrations of our recent acquisitions, (iv) statements relating to any litigation or regulatory or government investigation or action to which we are or could become a party, and (v) other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties or other factors beyond Nasdaq’s control. These factors include, but are not limited to, Nasdaq’s ability to implement its strategic initiatives, economic, political and market conditions and fluctuations, geopolitical instability, government and industry regulation, interest rate risk and U.S. and global competition. Further information on these and other factors are detailed in Nasdaq’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual reports on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, which are available on Nasdaq’s investor relations website at http://ir.nasdaq.com and the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Nasdaq undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.