The coronavirus pandemic has put a hard economic squeeze on many industries. Fortunately for shareholders of Intercontinental Exchange (ICE 1.79%), securities trading is not one of them. The company, whose prize asset is the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), saw growth in every meaningful metric in its Q2 of fiscal 2020.
For the quarter, Intercontinental Exchange booked net revenue of just under $1.40 billion, which was up by 8% year over year and edged past the average analyst estimate of $1.39 billion. Non-GAAP (adjusted) net income saw a similar gain, rising 9% to $584 million ($1.07 per share). Those prognosticators collectively anticipated earnings per share (EPS) of $1.04.
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Of the company's two segments -- trading and clearing, and data and listings -- the former showed the more robust revenue growth, advancing 12% to $710 million for the period, compared to 3% for the latter. This stands to reason --- securities trading was strong during the quarter, as it tends to be at times of economic uncertainty. With the closures it's engendered and the layoffs it has generated, the coronavirus pandemic falls under this category.
Intercontinental Exchange proffered somewhat scattershot guidance for its current Q3, its upcoming Q4, and full-year 2020. For the latter period, it believes it will incur $2.32 million to $2.37 billion in operating expenses, with capital expenditures coming in at $350 million to $370 million. It didn't provide any revenue or profitability forecasts for the year.
On Friday, Intercontinental Exchange's stock rose to close the day almost 2.6% higher, well eclipsing the gains of the wider stock market and numerous other finance sector titles.
