ICE's first quarter 2026 earnings release and presentation can be found in the investor section of ice.com. You will find a reconciliation to the equivalent GAAP term in the earnings materials. When used on this call, net revenue refers to revenue net of transaction-based expenses. Throughout this presentation, unless otherwise indicated, references to revenue growth are on a constant currency basis.

Please see explanatory notes on the second page of the earnings supplement for additional details regarding the definition of certain items. Adjusted operating income totaled a record $1.9 billion, up 26%, with meaningful contributions from all three of our operating segments. In the first quarter of 2025, we delivered 8% revenue growth and 16% adjusted EPS growth, which were both records at the time. Our business deepens with use, our recurring revenues compound over time, and our expense discipline creates the capacity to invest in future organic growth by simultaneously delivering strong operating leverage and free cash flow.

On the topic of expenses, adjusted operating expenses totaled $1.035 billion, in line with the midpoint of our updated guidance range. Adjusted free cash flow generation was a first quarter record, $1.2 billion, a figure that speaks to the quality of our earnings and the capital efficiency of our model. First quarter Exchange net revenues reached a record $1.8 billion, up 27% year-over-year. Critically, these results compound on top of 12% growth in 2025, 11% growth in 2024.

What went well
  • The first quarter was the strongest in ICE's history: adjusted EPS of $2.35 rose 37% year-over-year on record net revenues of $3 billion (up 18%) and record adjusted operating income of $1.9 billion (up 26%), with all three segments contributing.
  • The Exchanges segment reached record net revenues of $1.8 billion (up 27%), with transaction revenue up 33%, the interest rate complex up nearly 70%, the global oil complex up 47%, and natural gas and environmental products up 37%.
  • Adjusted free cash flow was a first quarter record of $1.2 billion; ICE repurchased about $550 million of stock (including an incremental $200 million in mid-February) and returned nearly $850 million to shareholders in total.
  • FIDS revenues reached a record $657 million (up 9%), with transaction revenue up 14% led by CDS clearing (up 18%), recurring revenue a record $514 million, and the index business a record $829 billion in ETF AUM (about $2 trillion now benchmarked to ICE indices).
  • Exchange recurring revenue was a record $405 million (up 10%), and Mortgage Technology revenue of $539 million (up 6%) was its strongest quarter since Q4 2022 on a pro forma basis, with transaction revenue up 22%.
What went wrong
  • Mortgage recurring revenue of $401 million benefited from roughly $4 million of one-time items, and management guided second quarter recurring revenue to remain around current levels rather than grow.
  • The broader mortgage origination market remained well below its long-run normalized potential.
  • Management noted that part of the exceptional first quarter activity reflected episodic volatility (March was exceptional for the energy business), even as it argued the underlying open-interest momentum was structural.
  • ICE bought back extra stock in mid-February specifically because its share price had, in management's view, disconnected from the fundamentals of the business.

More on Intercontinental Exchange, Inc.

Reported 2026-04-30 · figures from the Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. Q1 2026 earnings call.

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