Nasdaq (NDAQ) Competitors

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

Is ICE or NDAQ a better dividend stock?

Intercontinental Exchange pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Nasdaq pays an annual dividend of $1.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Intercontinental Exchange pays out 39.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Nasdaq pays out 49.1% 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. Intercontinental Exchange has raised its dividend for 9 consecutive years and Nasdaq has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Nasdaq is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do analysts prefer ICE or NDAQ?

Intercontinental Exchange presently has a consensus target price of $188.46, indicating a potential upside of 7.91%. Nasdaq has a consensus target price of $86.50, indicating a potential upside of 7.27%. Given Intercontinental Exchange's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Intercontinental Exchange is more favorable than Nasdaq.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Intercontinental Exchange	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	11 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.85
Nasdaq	1 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	13 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.71

Is ICE or NDAQ 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
Intercontinental Exchange	23.42%	12.95%	2.57%
Nasdaq	15.10%	14.82%	5.37%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor ICE or NDAQ?

Nasdaq received 30 more outperform votes than Intercontinental Exchange when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 72.07% of users gave Intercontinental Exchange an outperform vote while only 69.43% of users gave Nasdaq an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Intercontinental Exchange	Outperform Votes 849 72.07%	Underperform Votes 329 27.93%
Nasdaq	Outperform Votes 879 69.43%	Underperform Votes 387 30.57%

Do institutionals and insiders believe in ICE or NDAQ?

89.3% of Intercontinental Exchange shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 72.5% of Nasdaq shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Intercontinental Exchange shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Nasdaq shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has higher valuation & earnings, ICE or NDAQ?

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
Intercontinental Exchange	$12.19B	8.22	$2.75B	$4.83	36.16
Nasdaq	$7.82B	5.92	$1.12B	$2.20	36.65

Does the media favor ICE or NDAQ?

In the previous week, Nasdaq had 5 more articles in the media than Intercontinental Exchange. MarketBeat recorded 43 mentions for Nasdaq and 38 mentions for Intercontinental Exchange. Intercontinental Exchange's average media sentiment score of 1.39 beat Nasdaq's score of 1.06 indicating that Intercontinental Exchange is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Intercontinental Exchange	35 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Nasdaq	27 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk & volatility, ICE or NDAQ?

Intercontinental Exchange has a beta of 1.12, suggesting that its share price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nasdaq has a beta of 1, suggesting that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.

Summary

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