Nasdaq, Inc. operates as a technology company that serves capital markets and other industries in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Capital Access Platforms, Financial Technology, and Market Services. The company distributes historical and real-time market data; develops and licenses Nasdaq-branded indices and financial products; provides investor relations intelligence, governance solutions, and sustainability solution products for …
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Competitive advantage assessment
Key strengths
Durable Capital ReturnsReturn durability is high (score 0.85).
Consistent Fee StructureFee margin stability is solid (score 0.85).
Key risks
AUM Retention RiskRevenue stickiness is low (stability score 0.38).
Weak Cash ConversionCash conversion is weak (score 0.31).
The dashed ring is the peer median. Defense scores are percentile ranks
against peers, so 50 is roughly the typical company in this group.
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Where NDAQ ranks in Financial Data & Stock Exchanges
Nasdaq, Inc. ranks #7 of 15
scored companies in Financial Data & Stock Exchanges by moat score — the top 47%.
The widest moat in the group is CME Group Inc. (CME)
at 82/100.
Moat scores for companies ranked near NDAQ in Financial Data & Stock Exchanges
How NDAQ scores on the Asset Management Specialized defenses
Fee Revenue Quality
Score 70
· 20% of the moat score
Fee revenue quality is the ability to charge above the industry's falling average and keep charging it.
Client Retention & Revenue Stickiness
Score 36
· 18% of the moat score
Assets under management leave far more easily than they arrive, and the fee leaves with them.
Compensation Discipline
Score 51
· 18% of the moat score
Compensation is the largest expense in asset management and the one that decides whether a good year ever reaches shareholders.
Capital Efficiency
Score 73
· 20% of the moat score
Asset managers are asset-light: with little capital employed, a healthy business should earn a very high return on equity, and a merely average one is a real warning.
Earnings Quality & Cash Conversion
Score 63
· 14% of the moat score
Reported profits here can be flattered by performance fees, seed-capital gains and consolidated fund accounting, none of which recur reliably.
Balance Sheet Strength
Score 79
· 10% of the moat score
Because the business needs so little capital, an asset manager carrying meaningful debt has usually borrowed to buy another manager or to fund distributions.
Nasdaq, Inc. (NDAQ) scores 61 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as moderate. It ranks #7 of 15 scored companies in Financial Data & Stock Exchanges, the top 47%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 14 companies in Financial Data & Stock Exchanges. Its strongest defense is Balance Sheet Strength (79/100) and its weakest is Client Retention & Revenue Stickiness (36/100).
How does Nasdaq, Inc. compare with other Financial Data & Stock Exchanges companies?
Nasdaq, Inc. ranks #7 of 15 scored companies in Financial Data & Stock Exchanges by moat score. The widest moat in Financial Data & Stock Exchanges is CME Group Inc. (CME) at 82/100. The companies ranked closest are Value Line, Inc. (VALU) at 62 just above it and Moody's Corporation (MCO) at 60 just below it.
How is the moat score calculated?
Each company is scored with an industry-specific template — Asset Management Specialized in this case, chosen because the defenses that matter to a bank are not the ones that matter to a software company. Every defense combines several financial signals, and each signal is measured as a percentile against a peer group of 14 companies in Financial Data & Stock Exchanges. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.
Why is Nasdaq, Inc. scored with the Asset Management Specialized template?
An asset manager owns almost nothing. It charges a fee on someone else's money, pays much of that fee out in compensation, and keeps the remainder — so its economics turn on the fee rate it can defend, whether client money stays, and how much revenue survives the bonus pool. The Asset Management template scores those questions rather than the balance sheet, which in this industry is largely beside the point.
Which competitive defenses are measured for Nasdaq, Inc.?
The Asset Management Specialized template measures 6 defenses, and NDAQ scores: Fee Revenue Quality (70), Client Retention & Revenue Stickiness (36), Compensation Discipline (51), Capital Efficiency (73), Earnings Quality & Cash Conversion (63), Balance Sheet Strength (79). Each is scored independently as a percentile against peers, so a company can be strong on one and weak on another — the overall score reflects how those defenses are weighted for this industry.
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