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New York-based MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (MKTX) operates an electronic trading platform for institutional investors and broker-dealer companies worldwide. With a market cap of $8.9 billion, MarketAxess offers institutional investors access to global liquidity in products like U.S. high-grade corporate bonds, emerging markets and high-yield bonds, European bonds, and more.
Shares of MarketAxess have underperformed the broader market over the past year. Over the past 52 weeks, MKTX dipped 3.4%, lagging behind the S&P 500 Index’s ($SPX) 26.1% returns. In 2024 alone, MKTX declined 18.9% compared to SPX’s 17.2% gains on a YTD basis.
Narrowing the focus, MKTX’s underperformance appears more pronounced than that of the S&P Capital Markets ETF SPDR (KCE). The exchange-traded fund returned 35.8% over the past 52 weeks and gained 17.5% on a YTD basis.
Despite underperforming the broader market over the past year, MarketAxess’ stock has performed well recently, gaining 15.2% over the past three months. MKTX surged 5.2% after its Q2 earnings release on Aug. 6. The company’s revenue surged 9.9% annually to $197.7 million, driven by growth in total credit average daily volume (ADV) and Pragma revenues. Moreover, its net income grew by 8.5% to $64.9 million.
For the current fiscal year, ending in December, analysts expect MarketAxess’ EPS to grow 2.3% annually to $7.05. The company’s earnings surprise history is mixed. It surpassed the consensus estimates in three of the past four quarters while missing on another occasion. Its EPS for the last reported quarter surpassed the consensus estimates by 1.8% to $1.72.
Among the 15 analysts covering the MKTX stock, the consensus rating is a “Hold.” That’s based on four “Strong Buy” ratings, nine “Holds,” one “Moderate Sell,” and one “Strong Sell.”
This configuration has been consistent over the past months.
On Aug. 5, KBW analyst Kyle Voigt maintained a “Hold” rating with a price target of $222.
Although MKTX is trading above its mean price target of $234.62, the Street-high target of $310 represents a potential upside of 30.5% from current price levels.
On the date of publication, Aditya Sarawgi did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
