Shares of Intercontinental Exchange Inc. ICE closed at $175.59 on Thursday, near its 52-week high of $175.90. This proximity underscores investor confidence. It has the ingredients for further price appreciation. The stock is trading above the 50-day and 200-day simple moving averages (SMA) of $163.20 and $155.97, respectively, indicating solid upward momentum. SMA is a widely used technical analysis tool to predict future price trends by analyzing historical price data.

With a market capitalization of $100.88 billion, the average volume of shares traded in the last three months was 2.96 million. ICE has a solid track record of beating earnings estimates in two of the last four quarters while matching in the other two, the average being 1.01%.

ICE is an Outperformer

Shares of Intercontinental Exchange have gained 28.9% in the past year outperforming its industry, the Finance sector and the Zacks S&P 500 Composite’s growth of 25.6%, 16.4% and 8.9%, respectively.

ICE Outperformed Industry, Sector and S&P in One Year

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ICE’s Growth Projection Encourages

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Intercontinental Exchange’s 2025 earnings per share indicates a year-over-year increase of 10.8%. The consensus estimate for revenues is pegged at $9.80 billion, implying a year-over-year improvement of 5.5%.

The consensus estimate for 2026 earnings per share and revenues indicates an increase of 11.7% and 6.3%, respectively, from the corresponding 2025 estimates.

Optimistic Analyst Sentiment on ICE

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 earnings has moved up 0.2% in the past 30 days, while the same for 2026 has moved north 0.1% in the same time frame.

Key Points to Note for ICE

ICE’s top line is poised to improve on strength in global data services and index business, growth in pricing and reference data business, and strength in ICE Global Network offering, solid desktop, feeds and derivatives analytics. The company has been achieving expense synergies from strategic acquisitions, which have also strengthened its portfolio and expanded its presence.

ICE boasts the largest mortgage network across the United States and thus remains well poised to benefit from accelerated digitization in the residential mortgage industry.

ICE continuously engages in strategic investments supported by a healthy and minimal risk-based balance sheet, which also offers stability and buoyancy over the medium to long term.

However, operating expenses have been increasing over the last several years, weighing on margin expansion. With continuous growth initiatives like product launches and technology upgrades, we believe that expenses are likely to remain elevated in the near term.

Though the debt balance declined, its leverage as well as times interest earned compares unfavorably with the industry average.

ICE’s Return on Capital

Its return on invested capital (ROIC) has increased every year. This reflects ICE’s efficiency in utilizing funds to generate income. ROIC in the trailing 12 months was 6.3%, higher than the industry average of 5%.

Return on equity (ROE) reflects efficiency in utilizing shareholders’ funds. However, ICE's trailing 12-month ROE was 12.9%, which compared unfavorably with the industry average of 13.5%.

ICE Shares Are Expensive

ICE shares are trading at a premium to the Zacks Securities and Exchange industry. Its forward price-to-earnings of 25.44x is higher than the industry average of 24.66x.

The stock is also expensive compared with Nasdaq Inc. NDAQ and CME Group Inc. CME but cheaper than MarketAxess Holdings Inc. MKTX.

Final Take on ICE Stock

ICE is poised for growth, banking on the strength of its compelling portfolio and expansive risk-management services, which also ensure revenue flow, as well as strategic buyouts, a solid balance sheet and effective capital deployment. Its dividend history is impressive. It has more than doubled its dividends in the last six years.

Given unfavorable ROE and premium valuation, it is better to wait for some more time before deciding to buy this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (ICE) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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