Nasdaq Net Revenue Climbs 13% to $1.5 Billion as ARR Reaches a Record $3.4 Billion

Nasdaq, Inc. reported third-quarter 2026 results on Thursday, Oct. 22, with net revenue up 13% year over year to $1.481 billion, non-GAAP diluted earnings per share of $1.04 above the $1.02 consensus estimate, and annualized recurring revenue at a record $3.365 billion.

The headline needs its bases stated plainly, because Nasdaq reports this quarter on two of them at once. Net revenue — revenue less transaction-based expenses, as the company defines it — was $1.481 billion, up 13% on a reported basis and 14% on an organic basis. The profit lines split the same way: GAAP diluted earnings per share were $0.96, up 31% year over year, while non-GAAP diluted earnings per share were $1.04, up 18% reported and 19% organic. Against the pre-results consensus estimate of $1.02 per share for earnings, the non-GAAP result came in $0.02 ahead — TickerGrove's calculation from the reported and estimated figures. Net revenue also finished ahead of the $1.47 billion consensus estimate for revenues. Nasdaq, Inc. the company is the subject throughout; none of these figures describes the Nasdaq Composite index.

Solutions carried the growth, again

Solutions revenue was $1.172 billion, up 17% reported and 18% organic, and it remains the engine of the print. Capital Access Platforms revenue grew 20% year over year on both a reported and organic basis, and Financial Technology revenue was $529 million, up 16% on both bases, with double-digit revenue growth in each Financial Technology subdivision for the third consecutive quarter. Financial Technology annualized recurring revenue grew 18% on both a reported and organic basis — a record pace the company highlighted — while Capital Access Platforms annualized recurring revenue grew 8% on both bases. Market Services net revenue was $309 million, up 2% on both a reported and organic basis, a record third-quarter level for the division, which the company tied to higher industry volumes across U.S. options and European equities and near-record capture in U.S. cash equities.

Index inflows set the records

Index revenue was $286 million, up 39% on both a reported and organic basis, the fastest growth line in the release. Index drew a record $141 billion of net inflows over the trailing twelve months, including $49 billion in the third quarter alone, and end-of-period exchange-traded product assets under management reached a record $1.160 trillion, with average assets of $1.108 trillion in the quarter, also a record. Nasdaq launched 32 new Index products in the quarter, half of them outside the United States. Listings added the other headline: Nasdaq took 8 of the 10 largest operating company initial public offerings in the quarter and welcomed 15 new operating companies that raised $32 billion, a 79% win rate for new operating company listings; year to date, new operating company listings raised $144 billion, 89% of total proceeds raised.

Profit, cash and the return of capital

GAAP operating income was $732 million, up 25%, and non-GAAP operating income was $843 million, up 15% reported and 16% organic — the two bases kept distinct, as with earnings per share. Net income attributable to Nasdaq was $540 million. Cash flow from operations was $521 million in the quarter. The company returned $173 million to shareholders through dividends and $323 million through repurchases of common stock, with $2.2 billion remaining under the board-authorized repurchase program at Sept. 30, 2026. Chief Financial Officer Sarah Youngwood said the company is "returning more than $1.7 billion to shareholders year to date through share repurchases and dividends," and Chair and Chief Executive Adena Friedman said the quarter brought "new milestones achieved across all three divisions, including record Index net inflows, record FinTech ARR growth, and the establishment of Nasdaq Digital Liquidity Networks within Market Services."

What to watch: expenses and the always-on build

The cost line is the counterweight. GAAP operating expenses were $749 million, up 3%, while non-GAAP operating expenses were $638 million, up 9% reported and 12% organic, which the company attributed primarily to higher compensation and benefits costs and increased investment in technology. The company also updated its 2026 non-GAAP operating expense guidance to a range of $2.550 billion to $2.580 billion and maintained its 2026 non-GAAP tax rate guidance at 22.5% to 24.5% — forward-looking company guidance, not results. Strategically, the quarter's markers are the Dec. 6, 2026 start of 23/5 trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market, the new Digital Liquidity Networks unit and its completed acquisition of LeveL Markets, and whether annualized recurring revenue — $3.365 billion, up 12% reported and 14% organic, with annualized SaaS revenue at 38% of the total — keeps compounding at a double-digit pace. What to watch next is whether Index inflows hold anywhere near the record pace and whether expense growth stays below the Solutions growth that is funding it.