Why Is It Wise To Hold Nasdaq (NDAQ) In Your Portfolio?

Shares of Nasdaq Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) have outperformed the industry quarter to date. The company also witnessed estimate revisions over the past 30 days. This Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) securities exchange remains promising, banking on a number of growth drivers.

An Outperformer: Nasdaq shares have increased 6.7% quarter to date, outperforming the industry’s growth of 1.58%. The shares have also outperformed the S&P 500, increasing 1.81% over the same time frame.

Positive Earnings Surprise History: Nasdaq has surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the last three quarters. The company’s average four-quarter surprise is 3.02%.

Positive Growth Projections: The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is $4.15 for 2017, reflecting year-over-year growth of 12.73%. For 2018, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at $4.53, representing year-over-year growth of 9.23%.

Nasdaq has long-term expected earnings per share growth of 8.70%.

Growth Drivers in Place: Nasdaq remains focused on growth through acquisitions as well as organic initiatives, enabling entry and cross-selling opportunities into new markets at a low-cost and highly-flexible platform.

In its latest endeavor, Nasdaq announced to acquire Sybenetix. With respect to generating cost synergies, Nasdaq achieved $60 million in cost synergies for the acquisitions in 2016 in second-quarter 2017 and estimates $10-$20 million from additional synergies to be realized, once platform transitions culminate.

Pertaining to organic initiatives, Nasdaq expects implementation of the ISE main market by third-quarter 2017. The company is also intensifying focus on Nasdaq Private Market Alternatives and the Nasdaq Ventures to ramp up growth over a longer term.

Management estimates non-transaction revenue to increase in mid-single digit over the next 3–5 years.

Nasdaq effectively deploys capital. The company returned almost $272 million in capital to shareholders in the first half of 2017 and has $273 million outstanding under the company’s authorized share repurchase program as of Jun 30, 2017.

Nasdaq remains committed to effective capital deployment by de-leveraging over the next four quarters besides investing in organic growth initiatives, pursuing strategic acquisitions, increasing dividends as well as engaging in buybacks.

Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks from the finance sector are American Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:AFG) , CNO Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CNO) and Argo Group International Holdings, Ltd. (NASDAQ:AGII) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

American Financial provides property and casualty insurance products in the United States. The company delivered positive surprises in three of the last four quarters with an average beat of 17.03%.

CNO Financial develops, markets and administers health insurance, annuity, individual life insurance and other insurance products for senior and middle-income markets in the United States. The company delivered positive surprises in three of the last four quarters with an average beat of 6.69%.

Argo Group underwrites specialty insurance and reinsurance products in the property and casualty market worldwide. The company delivered positive surprises in all the trailing four quarters with the average beat being 26.51%.

4 Surprising Tech Stocks to Keep an Eye on

Tech stocks have been a major force behind the market’s record highs, but picking the best ones to buy can be tough. There’s a simple way to invest in the success of the entire sector. Zacks has just released a Special Report revealing one thing tech companies literally cannot function without. More importantly, it reveals 4 top stocks set to skyrocket on increasing demand for these devices. I encourage you to get the report now – before the next wave of innovations really takes off.

See Stocks Now>>