Marketaxess Holdings (MKTX) AI Stock Analysis

• Market Cap: $6.76B
• Dividend Yield: 1.66%
• Average Volume (3M): 523.48K
• Price to Earnings (P/E): 27.4
• Beta (1Y): -0.19
• Revenue Growth: 3.96%
• EPS Growth: -20.33%
• Country: US
• Employees: 891
• Sector: Financial
• Sector Strength: 70
• Industry: Financial - Capital Markets
• EPS (TTM): 1.68
• Shares Outstanding: 35,548,264
• 10 Day Avg. Volume: 431,381
• 30 Day Avg. Volume: 523,475
• PEG Ratio: -3.13
• Price to Book (P/B): 5.82
• Price to Sales (P/S): 7.88
• P/FCF Ratio: 17.84
• Enterprise Value/Market Cap: 1.03
• Enterprise Value/Revenue: 8.20
• Enterprise Value/Gross Profit: 11.35
• Enterprise Value/Ebitda: 15.67
• 1Y Price Target: $192.83
• Price Target Upside: 4.31% Upside
• Rating Consensus: Moderate Buy
• Number of Analyst Covering: 7
• EPS Forecast (FY): 8.16
• Revenue Forecast (FY): $912.99M

• Rating: 75 Outperform
• Price Target: $205.00 ▲(10.89% Upside)
• Action: Reiterated Date: 02/25/26
• Date: Action: Reiterated 02/25/26

The score is driven primarily by strong underlying fundamentals (high margins and robust free cash flow) and supportive technical momentum (price above key moving averages with positive MACD). Offsetting factors are a relatively high P/E and earnings-call-flagged pressures on profitability (fee capture mix shift and higher expenses) alongside increased leverage.

Positive Factors

Free Cash Flow Strength

MarketAxess consistently converts earnings into cash (free cash flow running ~82%–98% of net income) and produced a record $347M FCF in 2025. Durable cash generation underpins dividends, buybacks, tech investment and resilience through cycles, supporting long-term capital allocation flexibility.

Market Leadership & Volume Growth

Sustained, broad-based volume growth and rising market share (notably in portfolio trading and blocks) strengthen network effects and liquidity advantages. Persistent scale in ADV makes the platform more indispensable to institutional clients, supporting durable revenue and competitive moat.

Product Innovation & Automation

Accretive acquisition, expanding automation and new protocols (MIDEX, closing auction, targeted RFQ) and a large proprietary data footprint create sticky, higher-value product hooks. These structural capabilities support long-term differentiation and new subscription/fee streams driven by AI and workflow integration.

Negative Factors

Fee-Capture Compression

Growth skewing toward lower-capture products (portfolio trading, eurobonds, protocol volumes) reduces revenue per unit traded. Even with rising volumes, persistent mix shifts can structurally limit top-line leverage from flow growth and require sustained product pricing or mix remediation to protect margins.

Rising Leverage

Higher debt and temporary revolver draws for the ASR have reduced previously conservative balance-sheet flexibility. Elevated leverage limits optionality for future M&A or buybacks, increases interest sensitivity, and makes capital allocation more contingent on cash generation and deleveraging execution.

Investment-Driven Expense Growth

Sustained investment in technology, AI and new protocols supports long-term growth but raises structural operating costs that compressed margins in 2025. If expense growth outpaces revenue gains, margin expansion targets will be harder to achieve and free cash flow conversion may remain volatile.

Marketaxess Holdings Business Overview & Revenue Model

Company Description

MarketAxess Holdings Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates an electronic trading platform for institutional investor and broker-dealer companies worldwide. It offers the access to liquidity in the U.S. investment-grade bonds, U.S. high-yield bonds, and U.S. Treasuries, as well as municipal bonds, emerging market debts, Eurobonds, and other fixed income securities. The company, through its Open Trading protocols, executes bond trades between and among institutional investor and broker-dealer clients in an all-to-all anonymous trading environment for corporate bonds. It also offers trading-related products and services, including composite+ pricing and other market data products to assist clients with trading decisions; auto-execution and other execution services for clients requiring specialized workflow solutions; connectivity solutions that facilitate straight-through processing; and technology services to optimize trading environments. In addition, the company provides various pre-and post-trade services, such as trade matching, trade publication, regulatory transaction reporting, and market and reference data across a range of fixed-income and other products. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

How the Company Makes Money

MarketAxess generates revenue primarily through transaction fees charged to clients for trades executed on its platform. The company earns a commission for each trade, which varies based on the type of security and the volume traded. Additionally, MarketAxess generates revenue from subscription fees for its market data services, which provide clients with access to real-time pricing and analytics. Moreover, the company may also benefit from strategic partnerships with broker-dealers and financial institutions that enhance its platform offerings and expand its user base. Overall, its revenue model is heavily reliant on the volume of trading activity on its platform and the demand for fixed-income securities.

Marketaxess Holdings Financial Statement Overview

Summary

High-quality fundamentals with strong profitability and robust free cash flow that generally tracks earnings. Offsets include 2025 net income decline and margin compression despite the revenue surge, a noticeable uptick in leverage, and some cash-flow conversion volatility.

Income Statement

Revenue has grown steadily over the 2021–2024 period, with a sharp acceleration in 2025 (annual revenue growth ~83%). Profitability remains very strong with consistently high gross and operating margins, supporting solid earnings power. The main weakness is some margin compression and profit decline in 2025 (net profit margin fell to ~29% from ~34% in 2024, and net income declined), suggesting higher costs and/or investment spending despite the revenue jump.

Balance Sheet

The balance sheet is generally conservative, with low leverage historically and strong profitability on equity (return on equity roughly ~20%+ across years). However, debt increased materially in 2025 (debt-to-equity rising to ~0.25 from ~0.05 in 2024) while equity declined, reducing balance-sheet flexibility versus prior years. Even with the higher debt, leverage remains manageable, but the direction of change is a notable watch item.

Cash Flow

Cash generation is strong, with free cash flow closely matching reported earnings across the period (free cash flow running ~82%–98% of net income), indicating good earnings quality. Free cash flow also surged in 2025 (very high growth off the prior year). The key weakness is volatility in the relationship between operating cash flow and free cash flow year-to-year, and a weaker cash conversion signal in 2025 versus 2024 (operating cash flow coverage fell meaningfully), implying working-capital swings or timing effects.

Breakdown	Dec 2025	Dec 2024	Dec 2023	Dec 2022	Dec 2021
Income Statement
Total Revenue	846.26M	817.10M	752.55M	718.30M	698.95M
Gross Profit	611.28M	563.35M	528.62M	518.53M	511.96M
EBITDA	442.77M	442.61M	411.09M	406.14M	395.01M
Net Income	246.82M	274.18M	258.06M	250.22M	257.89M
Balance Sheet
Total Assets	1.81B	1.79B	2.02B	1.61B	1.53B
Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments	568.46M	649.25M	522.25M	464.75M	517.93M
Total Debt	284.94M	72.65M	79.68M	82.68M	88.42M
Total Liabilities	650.35M	400.56M	722.10M	526.68M	489.14M
Stockholders Equity	1.15B	1.39B	1.29B	1.08B	1.04B
Cash Flow
Free Cash Flow	373.94M	375.30M	281.32M	237.36M	231.47M
Operating Cash Flow	382.14M	385.24M	333.77M	289.23M	282.09M
Investing Cash Flow	-96.93M	-86.94M	-155.29M	-86.27M	-67.69M
Financing Cash Flow	-332.37M	-201.38M	-147.06M	-242.38M	-189.78M

Marketaxess Holdings Technical Analysis

• Technical Analysis Sentiment: Positive
• Last Price: 184.87
• 50DMA: Positive
• 100DMA: Positive
• 200DMA: Negative
• MACD: Negative
• RSI: Neutral
• STOCH: Neutral

Evaluating momentum and price trends is crucial in stock analysis to make informed investment decisions. For MKTX, the sentiment is Positive. The current price of 184.87 is above the 20-day moving average (MA) of 173.55, above the 50-day MA of 174.80, and below the 200-day MA of 185.88, indicating a neutral trend. The MACD of 3.18 indicates Negative momentum. The RSI at 67.48 is Neutral, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 75.33 is Neutral, not indicating any strong overbought or oversold conditions. Overall, these indicators collectively point to a Positive sentiment for MKTX.

Marketaxess Holdings Peers Comparison

Name	Overall Rating	Market Cap	P/E Ratio	ROE	Dividend Yield	Revenue Growth	EPS Growth
TW	78 Outperform	$28.53B	32.04	13.20%	0.45%	22.17%	40.13%
MKTX	75 Outperform	$6.76B	27.38	19.46%	1.66%	3.96%	-20.33%
VIRT	73 Outperform	$6.32B	7.96	30.87%	2.88%	27.66%	131.25%
SNEX	70 Outperform	$6.68B	19.10	16.17%	―	32.53%	13.38%
Sector *	68 Neutral	$18.00B	11.42	9.92%	3.81%	9.73%	1.22%
PIPR	62 Neutral	$5.49B	19.60	21.65%	1.63%	12.77%	36.43%
LAZ	60 Neutral	$4.78B	21.25	30.59%	4.06%	1.58%	1.93%

Marketaxess Holdings Corporate Events

MarketAxess Announces Leadership Transition in Technology Organization

On February 16, 2026, MarketAxess Holdings Inc. concluded a comprehensive search to identify a new Chief Technology Officer, signaling a forthcoming leadership change in its technology organization. The company plans to announce the new CTO later in the first quarter of 2026, underscoring the strategic importance of technology in its electronic trading and market data operations.

Concurrently, MarketAxess determined that Chief Information Officer Naineshkumar Panchal’s service will end effective April 1, 2026, marking an executive transition in its information and technology leadership. His departure is classified as a termination without cause under his existing severance protection agreement, entitling him to agreed severance payments and benefits, which may reassure stakeholders about an orderly transition.

The most recent analyst rating on (MKTX) stock is a Buy with a $225.00 price target. To see the full list of analyst forecasts on Marketaxess Holdings stock, see the MKTX Stock Forecast page.

MarketAxess Extends Credit Facility and Declares Dividend

On February 4, 2026, MarketAxess Holdings amended and restated its existing $750 million revolving credit facility, extending the maturity from August 2026 to February 2029, removing a 0.10 percentage point SOFR credit spread adjustment and significantly increasing the amount of cash that can be netted against debt when calculating leverage, while leaving outstanding borrowings at $220 million and making no new draws. The company retained the option to increase the facility by up to $375 million subject to lender commitments, and on February 6, 2026, the board declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.78 per share payable on March 4, 2026, alongside reporting record 2025 revenues of $846.3 million, driven by double-digit growth outside U.S. credit, strong gains in block, portfolio and dealer‑initiated trading volumes, and ongoing investment in AI-driven tools and trading protocols that reinforce its competitive position in electronic fixed-income markets despite higher expenses and a year-on-year decline in net income and EPS.

The most recent analyst rating on (MKTX) stock is a Sell with a $179.00 price target. To see the full list of analyst forecasts on Marketaxess Holdings stock, see the MKTX Stock Forecast page.

MarketAxess Adds Independent Directors to Strengthen Board

On January 22, 2026, MarketAxess Holdings Inc. elected Douglas A. Cifu, co-founder and former CEO of Virtu Financial, and Kenneth T. Schiciano, a senior advisor and longtime executive at private equity firm TA Associates, to its board of directors, with their appointments effective March 1, 2026. Announced publicly on January 26, 2026, the additions bring substantial experience in financial technology, market structure and private equity to the MarketAxess board, reinforcing the company’s strategic focus on next-generation trading protocols, data-driven solutions and the ongoing digital transformation of fixed-income markets; both directors have been deemed independent under Nasdaq rules and will receive the same compensation as other non-employee directors, with committee assignments to be determined later.

The most recent analyst rating on (MKTX) stock is a Hold with a $195.00 price target. To see the full list of analyst forecasts on Marketaxess Holdings stock, see the MKTX Stock Forecast page.

MarketAxess Announces Stock Repurchase Increase

On December 9, 2025, MarketAxess Holdings Inc. announced new medium-term financial targets and an increase in its stock repurchase authorization to $505 million, reflecting the Board’s confidence in its long-term strategy and commitment to stockholder value creation. The company plans to enter into an Accelerated Stock Repurchase agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank to repurchase $300 million of its common stock, funded by cash on hand and borrowings, with the remaining $205 million available for future repurchases.

The most recent analyst rating on (MKTX) stock is a Hold with a $183.00 price target. To see the full list of analyst forecasts on Marketaxess Holdings stock, see the MKTX Stock Forecast page.