MarketAxess Holdings Inc. MKTX recently announced that it is enhancing its AI-powered pricing engine, CP+, by expanding coverage to include municipal bonds. CP+ will use proprietary data from its trading platform, TraX market data, and public sources like TRACE and deliver real-time, unbiased reference pricing for approximately 930,000 municipal bonds. Increased transparency and efficiency enhance the company’s offerings to its clients. MKTX also reported trading volume numbers for November 2024.

This move comes at an opportune time when there was a need for algorithmic pricing for a long-standing fragmented market of municipal bonds. E-trading growth in municipal bonds has been rising in recent years; hence, innovations like these should accelerate the adoption of e-trading. Accurate pricing for municipal bonds will likely attract new clients and lead to higher trading volumes for MKTX, benefiting its top line.

MKTX’s total credit average daily trading volume (ADV) reached nearly $14.3 billion, flat year over year. The U.S. high-grade ADV remained flat year over year, while emerging markets and Eurobonds ADV rose 15% and 1%, year over year, respectively. Municipal bond ADV rose 5% year over year in November. Despite declining U.S. high-yield activity due to lower credit spread volatility, MarketAxess continued to expand its market presence with innovations such as block trading solutions and enhanced portfolio trading functionality. Total ADV remained flat year over year in November.

The company’s use of X-Pro for 76% of portfolio trading volume highlights MarketAxess's focus on workflow efficiency and client engagement. These developments have solidified the platform’s reputation as a leader in electronic fixed-income trading.

MKTX’s Zacks Rank & Price Performance

MarketAxess currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

MarketAxess shares have gained 22.8% in the past six months, matching the industry’s growth.

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Other Stocks to Consider

Some other top-ranked stocks in the Finance space are BrightSphere Investment Group Inc. BSIG, First Savings Financial Group, Inc. FSFG and Jackson Financial Inc. JXN. Each stock presently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

BrightSphere Investment’s earnings surpassed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 20.07%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for BSIG’s 2024 earnings indicates a rise of 45.5%, while the consensus mark for revenues implies growth of 16.6% from the corresponding year-ago figures. The consensus mark for BSIG’s 2024 earnings has moved 12.1% north in the past 60 days.

The bottom line of First Savings Financial beat estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and missed the mark once, the average surprise being 11.60%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for FSFG’s 2024 earnings implies an improvement of 55.9%, while the consensus mark for revenues indicates growth of 8.5% from the corresponding year-ago figures. The consensus mark for FSFG’s 2024 earnings has moved 20.5% north in the past 60 days.

Jackson Financial’s earnings outpaced estimates in two of the last four quarters and missed the mark twice, the average surprise being 2.2%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for JXN’s 2024 earnings indicates an improvement of 46.4%, while the consensus mark for revenues implies growth of 120.4% from the corresponding year-ago figures.  The consensus mark for JXN’s 2024 earnings has moved 1.7% north in the past 60 days.

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MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (MKTX) : Free Stock Analysis Report

First Savings Financial Group, Inc. (FSFG) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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$Jackson Financial Inc(JXN-A)$. (JXN) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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