NEW YORK – Nasdaq, Inc. (Nasdaq: NDAQ) today, April 23, 2026, reported a significant increase in its first-quarter net income and revenue, exceeding Wall Street expectations. The financial technology and stock exchange company attributed this growth to strong demand for its market technology and security offerings.
For the first quarter of 2026, Nasdaq posted earnings of $519 million, or $0.91 per share, marking a substantial rise from $395 million, or $0.68 per share, in the same period last year. Excluding certain one-off items, adjusted earnings per share reached $0.96, surpassing the mean analyst estimate of $0.93 per share, according to analysts polled by FactSet.
Total first-quarter revenue increased by 2% to $2.14 billion. Revenue, after accounting for transaction-based expenses, rose 14% to $1.41 billion, also exceeding the mean analyst estimate of $1.37 billion. Solutions revenue, a key growth driver, increased by 14% to $1.08 billion. Market services revenue also saw a rise of 13% to $317 million.
Nasdaq's Annualized Recurring Revenue (ARR) reached $3.2 billion, an increase of 13% over the first quarter of 2025. Annualized SaaS revenue grew by 13%, representing 38% of ARR. Financial Technology revenue increased by 20% to $517 million, and Index revenue grew by 14% to $220 million.
In the first quarter, Nasdaq returned $153 million to shareholders through dividends and $548 million through share repurchases. The company's board also approved an increase in the quarterly dividend to $0.31 per share. Nasdaq updated its 2026 non-GAAP operating expense guidance to a range of $2.485 billion to $2.545 billion.