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NDAQ
FY2026 Q1
Improving
Nasdaq, Inc. earnings call
Buzzberg read
Q1 ACV bookings grow over 50% year-over-year in FinTech
Nasdaq reported a strong Q1 2026 with 13% net revenue growth, record fintech revenue (+18%), and raised expense guidance due to outperformance. Management highlighted robust demand across all divisions, particularly in financial crime management and capital markets tech, and pointed to tailwinds from always-on markets, tokenization, and AI adoption. Cross-company signals include new partnerships with BlackRock, State Street, FIS, and Databricks, and accelerating cloud migration among bank clients. Net revenue $1.4B (+13% YoY), diluted EPS $0.96 (+21%).
Buzzberg read Q1 ACV bookings grow over 50% year-over-year in FinTech Nasdaq reported a strong Q1 2026 with 13% net revenue growth, record fintech revenue (+18%), and raised expense guidance due to outperformance. Management highlighted robust demand across all divisions, particularly in financial crime management and capital markets tech, and pointed to tailwinds from always-on markets, tokenization, and AI adoption. Cross-company signals include new partnerships with BlackRock, State Street, FIS, and Databricks, and accelerating cloud migration among bank clients. Net revenue $1.4B (+13% YoY), diluted EPS $0.96 (+21%). Read full analysisCollapse analysis
Nasdaq reported a strong Q1 2026 with 13% net revenue growth, record fintech revenue (+18%), and raised expense guidance due to outperformance. Management highlighted robust demand across all divisions, particularly in financial crime management and capital markets tech, and pointed to tailwinds from always-on markets, tokenization, and AI adoption. Cross-company signals include new partnerships with BlackRock, State Street, FIS, and Databricks, and accelerating cloud migration among bank clients. Net revenue $1.4B (+13% YoY), diluted EPS $0.96 (+21%).
- Fintech revenue record, ACV bookings >50% growth, 80% cloud-based.
- Verifin revenue +21%, signed 58 new SMB clients; enterprise pipeline strong.
- Index ETP AUM record $877B, early Q2 inflows $15B after a muted Q1.
Revenue$2.137B+3% QoQ
EPS$0.96+0% QoQ
Gross margin65.84%Reported
Operating margin30.74%Reported
6 grounded callouts
What matters now
The highest-signal changes from the call.
AI
Agentic AI workforce deployed by 500+ clients
Flows
Nasdaq 100 inflows accelerated to $15 billion in early April
Show 3 more callouts
Product
Expanded Nasdaq 100 licensing partnerships with BlackRock and State Street
Regulatory
23.5 trading launch set for December 6, 2026
Capital Return
Share repurchases accelerated to $548 million in Q1
Reported period
Actuals
| Metric | Reported | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $2.137B | +3% QoQ |
| EPS | $0.96 | +0% QoQ |
| Gross margin | 65.84% | Reported |
| Operating margin | 30.74% | Reported |
| Free cash flow | $0.629B | +17% QoQ |
| Capex | $0.06B | Reported |
AI, capex & demand read
Management read
Confident
Management highlighted record revenue growth, strong bookings, and positive forward momentum across divisions, expressing confidence in long-term strategic positioning.
Management AI read
Management emphasized strong AI-driven demand across products, with AI-ready data adopted by asset managers representing over $9 trillion in AUM and 74% of IR Insight users and 51% of BoardVantage users leveraging AI solutions. They also highlighted the agentic AI workforce deployed by 500+ clients and internal AI-driven efficiency targets of $100 million by 2027.
Investment and capacity
Nasdaq expanded its data center footprint two years ago and is investing in liquid cooling and other innovations to support clients' trading strategies. No explicit capex guidance was provided, but the tone suggests continued infrastructure investment to support growth areas like 23.5 trading and tokenization.
all 8 named companies below
Companiesreturns since call
Partners
Partners
Adena Friedman
FIS integrates Nasdaq's Verifin anti-fraud tools into its client base, enhancing FIS's compliance offering.
Evidence
“Our recently announced partnership with FIS expands our ability to deliver leading AML and fraud solutions to FIS's banking and payments clients.”
Partners
Sarah Youngwood
Nasdaq's index revenue is affected by mix shift from CME's e-mini to micro e-mini contracts, relevant to CME's volume composition.
Evidence
“the volume in futures was actually good, and then there is a second, but it's a smaller driver, which is a little bit of a continuous mixed shift”
DATABRICKS
Partners
Adena Friedman
Databricks gains distribution to Nasdaq's institutional investor data, strengthening its position as a data analytics platform for asset managers.
Evidence
“we integrated our data with Databricks to broaden entitled access to investments, comprehensive institutional investor data.”
Partners
Adena Friedman
Early Q2 ETP inflows for Nasdaq 100 ETFs reached $15 billion as of April 20, rebounding from a weak Q1, driven by institutional and international adoption. — Robust ETF issuance for Nasdaq 100 boosts AUM and fee revenue for BlackRock, State Street, and Invesco as they launch new products.
Evidence
“we continue to work closely with our longstanding partner, Invesco.”
Partners
Adena Friedman
Early Q2 ETP inflows for Nasdaq 100 ETFs reached $15 billion as of April 20, rebounding from a weak Q1, driven by institutional and international adoption. — Robust ETF issuance for Nasdaq 100 boosts AUM and fee revenue for BlackRock, State Street, and Invesco as they launch new products.
Evidence
“we will expand access to the NASDAQ 100 later in the spring with two new carefully selected partners, BlackRock and State Street”
Partners
Adena Friedman
Nasdaq's fintech ACV bookings grew >50% YoY, with 80% cloud-based, signaling accelerating client migration to cloud infrastructure for mission-critical solutions. — Cloud hyperscalers (AWS, Azure) benefit as Nasdaq's clients adopt cloud platforms, while Nasdaq's own pricing power and cross-sell momentum strengthen.
Evidence
“We do leverage Bedrock, which is AWS's AI platform infrastructure, to support a lot of our AI infrastructure here at NASDAQ”
Partners
Adena Friedman
Nasdaq's fintech ACV bookings grew >50% YoY, with 80% cloud-based, signaling accelerating client migration to cloud infrastructure for mission-critical solutions. — Cloud hyperscalers (AWS, Azure) benefit as Nasdaq's clients adopt cloud platforms, while Nasdaq's own pricing power and cross-sell momentum strengthen.
Evidence
“we work with Microsoft and Microsoft Azure”
External signals
Supply-chain alpha · 2returns since call
Nasdaq's fintech ACV bookings grew >50% YoY, with 80% cloud-based, signaling accelerating client migration to cloud infrastructure for mission-critical solutions.
Early Q2 ETP inflows for Nasdaq 100 ETFs reached $15 billion as of April 20, rebounding from a weak Q1, driven by institutional and international adoption.
Methodology & coverage
Management-only analysis. All 8 validated company mentions are shown. Reported actuals and forward guidance are kept separate. Public evidence is limited to eight short attributed quotes. AI-generated analysis can be incomplete or wrong; verify important claims against the original source.