TickerTalks
Browse all tickers →
TickerTalks›$MKTX
MKMKTX

MarketAxess Holdings Inc.

$MKTX·$5.7B·Financial - Capital Markets·Financial Services
$163.34+0.3%YTD-10.0%1Y-9.6%
Mentions · last 7 days
2026-08-27: 2 posts2026-08-28: 0 posts2026-08-29: 0 posts2026-08-30: 0 posts2026-08-31: 1 posts2026-09-01: 1 posts2026-09-02: 1 posts5
Price updated 1h ago·X counts updated 1d ago
MKMKTX
$MKTXMarketAxess Holdings Inc.
$163.34+0.31%5 posts
AI analysisFundamentalsVoices on X
Loading…

AI verdict & sentimentAI analysisGenerated by AI from underlying data

Today's AI verdict on what's driving $MKTX, plus how loud the X conversation is and which way it's leaning.

AI analysis

TickerTalks’ read on the fundamentals and what’s driving the move.

Hinges on a big eventEvent coming upAI verdict · as of 2026-08-21

A known event soon (earnings, a ruling, etc.) will likely decide the next move.

MarketAxess being taken out by ICE at $167 — the tape trades at ~3% arb spread, close expected 1H27.

MarketAxess Holdings runs the largest electronic trading platform for corporate bonds — a network-effect business that has been the picks-and-shovels leader for fixed-income electronification. On Jul 29 Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) agreed to acquire MKTX at $167/share all-cash, and the equity is now essentially a merger-arb ticker.

  • ICE offered $167 in cash per share (~44% premium at announcement, ~$6B and ~20x NTM MKTX earnings) with close expected 1H27 — the tape at $161.90 reflects a ~3% gross spread pricing in the ~10 month close timeline.
  • Q1 revenue grew 12.8% year-on-year to $233M and Q1 EPS came in at $2.25 vs $2.15 consensus (5% beat) — the underlying business is fine, but that's now secondary; the deal is the price ceiling.
  • Trades at ~13x trailing earnings but the deal price implies ~20x NTM — cheap on the trailing math because the market had been paying for growth deceleration; the take-out multiple validates the value case.
  • The residual 3% spread over ~10 months annualizes to roughly 3.5% — a reasonable merger-arb return given the counterparty (ICE has clean regulatory capacity) and the deal structure (all-cash, board-approved).

The path if it works is standard: the deal closes at $167 in 1H27, and the ~3% spread is the arb return. What breaks it is a regulatory objection (SEC/CFTC could take an interest given the exchange-adjacent nature), a specific bondholder objection from either side, or a competing bid — the last of which would be a positive rather than a negative for MKTX holders.

Agrees with X sentimentThe bullish X read on the ICE takeout at $167 (44% premium, ~$6B EV, ~20x NTM earnings, close 1H27) matches the deal terms exactly. The 'take-under given weak 5-year performance' framing from the minority is a fair criticism of the historical trajectory; the merger-arb math is what matters now.

What to watch: Regulatory approvals — SEC, CFTC, potentially DOJ Antitrust and EU merger clearance. Watch for any competing-bid speculation or 8-K on financing.

On the calendar: 2026-11-06 — Q3 earnings (pre-close reporting cycle)

X sentiment

What the X crowd is saying right now — descriptive, summarised from the day’s posts.

Bullish sentiment17 posts analyzed · as of 2026-08-06

MarketAxess chatter is dominated by the ICE takeover: $167 all-cash per share, ~$6B / ~20x NTM MKTX earnings, ~44% premium and close expected 1H27. Bulls take-out cash and note the deal validates prior speculation. A few holders complain about selling too early or trapped in a sold Sep call spread. One caution frames it as a "take-under" given weak five-year performance, but the aggregate voice is upbeat for MKTX shareholders.

Read the AI verdict + X sentiment for $MKTX

  • One-line verdict on what's driving the move — fundamentals, momentum, both, or an event
  • Next dated catalyst when there is one (earnings, deal closing, activist clock)
  • X crowd read with bullish/bearish call + post volume
Free, forever. No credit card.

What it does

Plain-English summary of the business — what they sell and how they make money.

Electronic trading platform for institutional bond trading in corporate credit and US Treasuries.

Industry overviewAI analysisGenerated by AI from underlying data

Where Financial - Capital Markets sits in its cycle right now — and what that implies for $MKTX.

Financial - Capital Markets · Financial Services

IPO and M&A activity — the primary revenue driver for capital markets firms — is recovering as equity market strength rebuilds corporate confidence and sponsor exit windows open. Retail trading volume (HOOD's record signups) confirms the infrastructure layer captures incremental activity.

What this means for $MKTX

Partial — software subscription economics provide some insulation from macro cycles; AI integration is the growth catalyst for this segment; MarketAxess Holdings Inc.

Top industry ETF

$IAIiShares U.S. Broker-Dealers & Securities Exchanges ETF
+5.0%YTD
+11.0%1Y

Fundamentals & catalyst

Profitability, valuation, and the next earnings event — at a glance, with rule-of-thumb signals.

Key ratios

P/E
13.3How much investors are paying per dollar of profit the company actually earned in the last 12 months. Lower means the stock looks cheaper relative to earnings.~15–25 is typical for the S&P 500; high-growth names trade 30+; hyper-growth or speculative can be 100+ or negative.
ROIC
12.9%What percentage return the business earns on every dollar of capital (equity + debt) deployed in operations. The cleanest measure of business quality.Above ~15% is high-quality; consistently above 25% suggests a real moat. Below the company's cost of capital is value-destroying.
Op margin
41.1%Operating profit (after sales, marketing, R&D, and overhead but before interest and taxes) as a percentage of revenue. The clearest view of how well the underlying business is run.Mature business above 20% is healthy; software businesses can run 30%+; commodity / retail businesses operate in single digits.
FCF yield
5.7%Free cash flow (operating cash flow minus capex) divided by the company's market cap. The cash-on-cash return you'd get owning the whole business at today's price.Above ~5% is attractive; below ~2% means you're paying up for growth. Capital-light businesses (software) run higher than capital-heavy ones (utilities).
P/S
4.7Same idea as P/E but per dollar of revenue. Useful for companies that aren't profitable yet, where P/E is meaningless.Under ~2 is cheap; software / SaaS often runs 8–15; well above 20 implies the market is pricing in very high future growth.
ROE
24.3%Net income as a percentage of shareholders' equity. Similar to ROIC but counts only the equity side.Above 20% is strong, but can be inflated by leverage — a heavily indebted company can show high ROE with weak underlying ROIC.
Gross margin
70.5%Revenue minus the direct cost of producing what was sold, as a percentage of revenue. The first read on whether the product is structurally profitable.Software / SaaS is typically 70%+; consumer goods 30–50%; commodity / hardware businesses can be under 20%.
D/E
0.2Total debt divided by shareholders' equity. Measures how much the business runs on borrowed money versus owner capital.Under 1 is conservative; 1–2 is typical for mature businesses; over 2 is leveraged and more sensitive to interest rates.

Past earnings

QuarterReportedActualEstimateSurprise
Q2 2026Jul 30, 2026$1.95$1.85+5.4%
Q1 2026May 7, 2026$2.25$2.15+4.7%
Q4 2025Feb 6, 2026$1.68$1.65+1.8%
Q3 2025Nov 7, 2025$1.84$1.70+8.2%
Next earningsFri, Nov 6·consensus EPS $1.95

Quarterly trend

QuarterRevenueYoYGrossOpEPSFCF
Q1 FY26$233.4M+12.8%72.9%43.2%$2.21$-75.6M
Q4 FY25$207.4M+2.8%68.1%37.1%$2.51$143.6M
Q3 FY25$210.6M+1.3%69.1%40.2%$1.84$77.2M
Q2 FY25$224.3M+13.7%71.4%43.4%$1.91$91.0M

Forward consensus

5-year forecast · up to 10 analysts
FYRevenueRangeEPSRangeAnalysts
FY26$890.9M$869.5M – $905.1M$7.85$7.63 – $8.1010
FY27$951.8M$906.2M – $972.1M$8.56$7.35 – $9.1210
FY28$1.0B$948.6M – $1.1B$9.40$7.74 – $10.578
FY29$1.1B$1.0B – $1.1B$9.72$9.23 – $10.067
FY30$1.2B$1.1B – $1.2B$12.90$12.25 – $13.357

Setup & momentum

Volume, range, and moving-average position — the technical setup driving short-term moves.

Right now

Vol vs 30dToday's traded share volume divided by the average over the prior 30 trading days. ≥3× signals unusual interest; below 1× is quiet.0.7×Today's traded share volume divided by the average over the prior 30 trading days. ≥3× signals unusual interest; below 1× is quiet.
52w rangeWhere the latest close sits between the 52-week low (0%) and high (100%). Above 80% is extended; below 30% is basing or in a downtrend.62%Where the latest close sits between the 52-week low (0%) and high (100%). Above 80% is extended; below 30% is basing or in a downtrend.
vs 50d MALatest close vs the 50-day simple moving average. Positive = short-term trend is up.+17.3%Latest close vs the 50-day simple moving average. Positive = short-term trend is up.
vs 200d MALatest close vs the 200-day simple moving average. Positive = long-term trend is up.+3.6%Latest close vs the 200-day simple moving average. Positive = long-term trend is up.

Float & profile

FloatLow float · 34.9M shFree-float shares — the slice of issued stock actually available to trade. Lower buckets squeeze harder on a catalyst.Traded today2.9% of floatToday's volume as a percent of the free float. Above 5% on a single day is unusually high turnover for the available share count.β0.825-year weekly beta vs the S&P 500. Above 1.5 means the stock typically moves more than the index; below 0.8 moves less.

Insider activity

Recent open-market buys and sells by officers and directors — flagged when multiple insiders cluster.

Recent transactions

SellAug 10Scott PintoffGeneral Counsel and Secretary100 sh$16KSellJul 10Scott PintoffGeneral Counsel and Secretary100 sh$12KSellJun 10Scott PintoffGeneral Counsel and Secretary100 sh$12KSellMay 11Scott PintoffGeneral Counsel and Secretary100 sh$15KSellApr 10Scott PintoffGeneral Counsel and Secretary100 sh$17KSellMar 10Scott PintoffGeneral Counsel and Secretary100 sh$18K
+ 16 other (12 awards · 3 gifts · 1 inkind) in window

See when $MKTX insiders are putting their own money in

  • Real-time open-market buys and sells from Form 4 filings
  • Cluster-buy detection when multiple insiders pile in at once
  • 30 / 60 / 180-day windows so you can spot building conviction
Free, forever. No credit card.

SEC filings

Material 8-K, 13D, S-3, and 424B5 events from the last 180 days — the filings that actually move the price.

Recent material filings

8-KMaterial agreementJul 308-K — Item 1.01: Material agreement · Item 5.02: Officer or director change · Item 7.01: Press release / Reg FD
AI summary

MKTX (MKTX) entered into a material merger agreement valued at $167.00 on 2026-07-30. On July 29, 2026, MarketAxess Holdings Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “ Company ”), entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “ Merger Agreement ”), by and among the Company, Intercontinental Exchange, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“ Parent ”), and Igloo Merger Sub II, Inc., a Delaware corporation and a wholly owned subsidiary of Parent. Additional items: 5.02, 7.01. This is a material event requiring 8-K disclosure.

8-KShareholder voteJun 108-K — Item 5.07: Shareholder vote
AI summary

MarketAxess Holdings held its 2026 Annual Meeting on June 10, 2026, with 31,926,796 shares present (90.75% of outstanding). All twelve director nominees were elected with strong majorities (lowest support: William Cruger at ~95% for), PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP was ratified as independent auditor for fiscal year ending December 31, 2026, and a say-on-pay vote was also conducted (details truncated). The meeting results reflect strong shareholder support across the board for management and governance. Routine annual governance with no material financial or strategic impact.

8-K/AOfficer or director change (amended)Apr 178-K/A — Item 5.02: Officer or director change
AI summary

MKTX (MKTX) filed an 8-K/A amendment to a previously filed Form 8-K current report. The amendment updates or corrects information previously disclosed under Item 5.02. 8-K amendments are filed when material new information becomes available that was not known at the time of the original filing, or when an earlier disclosure contained errors requiring correction. Investors should compare this amendment with the original 8-K to identify what specifically changed or was updated.

3New insider — initial holdingsMar 163
+ 18 other (8 13Gs · 4 proxys · 2 10-Qs · 2 8-Ks) in window

Recent news

Latest headlines from major outlets, sourced and timestamped — context for whatever just moved.

Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec Takes $2.61 Million Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTXdefenseworld.net·5d agoBlackRock Inc. Takes $453.94 Million Position in MarketAxess Holdings Inc. $MKTXdefenseworld.net·10d agoBRODSKY & SMITH SHAREHOLDER UPDATE: Notifying Investors of the Following Investigations: Werewolf Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq – HOWL), Beazer Homes USA, Inc. (NYSE – BZH), MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq – MKTX), CBIZ, Inc. (NYSE – CBZ)globenewswire.com·10d agoDividend Champion, Contender, And Challenger Highlights: Week August 16seekingalpha.com·20d agoAre MKTX and CBZ Obtaining Fair Deals for their Shareholders?prnewswire.com·21d ago

In themes

Explore the broader themes this ticker is being talked about under.

Trending on X

More in Financial - Capital Markets

Peers in the same group — one click to compare setups, fundamentals, and chatter.

$HOOD$GOLD$CRCL$CIFR$PURR$BMNR$MARA$GLXY
Voices on X · last 7 days

No standout posts about $MKTX on X in the last 7 days.

TickerTalks is a research tool, not financial advice. We surface social-attention data; we do not make stock recommendations. Past attention is not predictive of future price movements.

PrivacyTermsSupport