Intercontinental Exchange, Inc.

Second quarter adjusted earnings per share were $1.90, a second-quarter record and the second best quarter in company history. Net revenues were $2.7 billion, up 5%, adjusted operating income was $1.6 billion, and recurring revenues were a record $1.4 billion, up 8%. Adjusted operating expenses were $1.038 billion. In the segments, Exchange net revenue was $1.5 billion, Fixed Income and Data Services net revenue was $645 million, and Mortgage Technology net revenue was $557 million. Looking ahead, ICE guided third-quarter adjusted operating expenses to $1.063 billion to $1.073 billion and full-year adjusted operating expenses to $4.190 billion to $4.230 billion; full-year CapEx is now expected to be approximately $850 million. For the acquisition, ICE said it will pay $167 per share for MarketAxess, representing an enterprise value of $5.7 billion, a 33% premium to the July 29 close, and expects about $100 million of annualized expense synergies, with 1/3 realized in year 1, 2/3 by year 2, and the full run rate by year 3. Gross leverage is expected to peak around 3.4x pro forma EBITDA, with a return to 3x or below within 18 to 24 months. ICE also increased baseline share repurchases from $350 million to $400 million per quarter.

Jeff Sprecher framed the quarter as ICE’s best second quarter ever and used the call to argue that the MarketAxess deal fits ICE’s long-running strategy of connecting fragmented markets with technology, data, and clearing. He emphasized building a “global fixed income network” that links retail, wealth, and institutional liquidity, and said the acquisition extends that network into one of the world’s largest addressable markets. His tone was confident and strategic, with repeated references to compounding growth, workflow integration, and the ICE flywheel.

Warren Gardiner highlighted strong financial performance and kept the message focused on durability, capital spending, and capital returns. He said second-quarter adjusted EPS was $1.90, net revenue was $2.7 billion, recurring revenue was a record $1.4 billion, and adjusted operating expenses were $1.038 billion; he also noted second-quarter CapEx of $262 million and full-year CapEx of about $850 million after pulling some planned 2027 spending into 2026. On capital allocation, he pointed to $651 million of share repurchases in Q2, $945 million returned including dividends, and first-half shareholder returns of $1.8 billion, while saying leverage ended the quarter at 2.8x within target range. He also raised full-year adjusted operating expense guidance to $4.190 billion to $4.230 billion and said FIDS recurring revenue growth guidance was increased to 7% to 8%.

Analysts focused heavily on why ICE is the right owner for MarketAxess, how ICE can improve MarketAxess’ share and fee trends, and whether the deal creates revenue synergies beyond cost savings. Management said the opportunity is to reduce friction across fixed-income execution, data, clearing, and distribution, and that the existing ICE-BondPoint/MarketAxess relationship plus the Apollo/private credit initiative and treasury-clearing capabilities create a broader platform for growth. They also said the accretion analysis uses consensus EPS and that the goal is to accelerate MarketAxess revenue over time, not just cut costs. Questions also covered AI in mortgage tech, perpetual futures, tokenization, and the fixed-income rates franchise; management stressed governance, auditability, and that AI is being monetized as customers adopt it, while noting perps are more like leveraged ETFs and tokenization won’t replace high-throughput exchange matching.