MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) reported stronger-than-expected second-quarter results on Wednesday, though its shares dropped 2.8% in pre-market trading amid concerns over repositioning costs.
The electronic fixed-income trading platform posted adjusted earnings of $2.00 per share, slightly beating analyst projections of $1.97. Revenue hit a new high of $219.5 million, narrowly surpassing the consensus estimate of $219.09 million. This reflected an 11% year-over-year increase fueled by robust growth across several product lines.
The company incurred $4 million in repositioning expenses, mainly severance related to changes in its management team. When excluding these charges, MarketAxess reported a 16% rise in adjusted earnings compared to last year.
“In the second quarter, we made significant strides in enhancing our client franchise, increasing client engagement with X-Pro, and delivering on our new initiatives across our client-initiated, portfolio trading and dealer-initiated channels,” said Chris Concannon, CEO of MarketAxess. “Strong progress with our new initiatives, combined with a favorable market backdrop, helped drive record levels of revenue and ADV across most product areas and regions in the quarter.”
Total credit commission revenue reached a record $176.6 million, up 10% year-over-year, while rates commission revenue jumped 40% to an all-time high of $8.1 million. Service revenues also set a record at $27.7 million, marking a 7% increase over the prior year.
Portfolio trading’s average daily volume surged 69% to a record $1.5 billion, while dealer-initiated volume climbed 40% to $1.8 billion. Block trading showed strong growth across various markets as well.
Despite the upbeat financial results, the stock dropped as investors reacted to the repositioning charges and management changes announced alongside the earnings.
MarketAxess Holdings stock price
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