Intercontinental Exchange Inc.

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us and welcome to today's ICE third quarter 2026 earnings conference call and webcast. After today's prepared remarks, we will host a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star one again. I will now hand the conference over to Steve Eagerton. Steve, please go ahead.

Good morning. ICE's third quarter 2026 earnings release Our presentation can be found in the investor section of ICE.com. These items will be archived and our call will be available for replay. Today's call may contain forward-looking statements. These statements, which we undertake no obligation to update, represent our current judgment and are subject to risks, assumptions, and uncertainties. For a description of the risks that could cause our results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, please refer to our 2025 Form 10-K, our 2026 10-Qs, and other filings with the SEC. In our earnings supplement, we refer to certain non-GAAP measures. We believe our non-GAAP measures are more reflective of our cash operations and core business performance. 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 and adjusted earnings refers to adjusted diluted earnings per share. Throughout this presentation, unless otherwise indicated, references to revenue growth on a constant currency basis. Please see the explanatory notes on the second page of the earnings supplement for additional details regarding the definition of certain items. Also, we will be discussing our recently announced acquisition of Market Access. The statements made today do not constitute an offer to sell or buy or the solicitation of an offer to sell or buy any securities. With us on the call today are Jeff Sprecher, Chair and CEO, Warren Gardiner, Chief Financial Officer, Ben Jackson, President, Lynn Martin, President of the NYSE, and Chris Edmonds, President of Fixed Income and Data Services. I'll now turn over the call to Warren.

Thanks, Steve. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. I'll begin on slide four. Nine months into 2026, our business has been tested by three very different markets, acute volatility in the first quarter, receding volatility in the second, and in the third, renewed geopolitical risk in global equity, fixed income, and energy markets, as rate expectations moved higher across major economies. Each environment was different, and in each one we grew, a direct result of building a portfolio customers turn to when the world becomes harder to predict. Third quarter adjusted earnings per share were $2.02, up 18% year over year, the best third quarter in our history and the second best quarter we have ever reported, behind only the first quarter of this year. Net revenues of $2.8 billion were up 15% year-over-year. Adjusted operating income grew 19% to $1.7 billion. Recurring revenues reached a record $1.4 billion, up 7%. And transaction revenues grew 23%. That combination is the engine of the ICE model. Steady compounding at the core and upside operating leverage when our markets are active. Through nine months, adjusted earnings per share of $6.27 are up 20% year-over-year. Adjusted operating expenses were $1.68 billion, right at the midpoint of our guidance. As anticipated, the year-over-year increase reflects incentive compensation, which tracks with our results, continued investment in product and technology, including our data center and network capacity, and higher depreciation. Importantly, these expenses were offset by better revenues. For the fourth quarter, we expect adjusted operating expenses to be in the range of $1.82 billion to $1.92 billion. which, at the midpoint, places full-year expenses at the top end of the range we provided in July. Similar to the third quarter, the year-over-year increase is driven by further crystallization of full-year performance-related compensation, investments in both product and technology, as well as higher depreciation. We expect fourth quarter adjusted not operating expense to be between $175 million and $185 million, and the adjusted tax rate to be towards the high end of our 24% to 26% range. Capital expenditures were $226 million in the quarter and $664 million year-to-date. We now expect full-year CapEx of approximately $1.5 billion, with the increase relative to July guidance driven largely by our expected fourth-quarter purchase of a new campus here in Atlanta and, to a lesser extent, some additional data center and other real estate spend. Adjusted free cash flow was $1.1 billion in the quarter and a record $3.7 billion year-to-date, up 17%. We repurchased $400 million of stock in the quarter and paid $293 million in dividends, returning $693 million to shareholders. Year to date, we've returned $2.5 billion, more than 40% above the same period last year, and a record for ICE. During the third quarter, we completed the financing for market access, issuing $3.75 billion of senior notes. Together with a $2 billion term loan and our commercial paper capacity, the financing is fully in place. Importantly, last week received approval from the Department of Justice, and as a result, we now expect the transaction to close in the first quarter of 2027, ahead of the first half timeline we outlined in July. We also repaid approximately $250 million of existing debt in the quarter, and excluding the pre-funded market access notes, leverage ended the quarter at 2.65 times, down from 2.8 times in June and just over 2.9 times a year ago. Turning to our segments, starting with exchanges on slide five. Exchanges net revenue was $1.5 billion, up 22%, a third quarter record and nearly 40% above the level of just three years ago. Transaction revenues rose 28%, and every major asset class contributed. Energy grew 26%, interest rates 48%, and agricultural and metals 62%. At the NYSE, Cash equities and equity options net revenue grew 25% to $132 million, a third quarter record. Importantly, total open interest ended the quarter up 13% year-over-year, giving us a strong foundation as we enter the fourth quarter and look to 2027. Exchange recurring revenues reached a record $422 million, up 8%, and were led by a record $292 million in exchange data services, up 10%. as customers consume more of our futures and equities data across more of their workflows. Our listings franchise continue to attract high-quality companies. Even as industry IPO activity slowed in the third quarter, the NYSE listed the quarter's only two IPOs to raise more than $1 billion, C-Square and Jersey Mike's. And year to date, has facilitated $26.5 billion in IPO proceeds across 73 IPOs, already surpassing all of 2025 and our strongest year since 2021. Nine companies representing nearly half a trillion dollars in market capitalization have also chosen to transfer to the NYSE this year, including AstraZeneca, Fifth Third, Kraft Heinz and Skydance. The largest annual total on record and our retention rate remains above 99%. Shifting to a few guidance items. Given the strong exchange recurring revenue through the first nine months, we now expect full year exchange recurring revenue growth of approximately 9%. The upper end of the high single-digit range we discussed in July. And on OTC and other revenues, we anticipate fourth quarter revenues to be around $100 million, driven in part by lower regulatory fees. Moving to fixed income and data services on slide six. Fixed income and data services revenues were a record $674 million, up 9% year-over-year. Recurring revenues were a record $538 million, also up 9%. Fixed income data and analytics grew 8% to a record $336 million. Pricing and reference data grew 7% on strong consumption trends, net new subscription business, and approximately $3 million of one-time items, while our index business grew 24%. Data and network technology revenues grew 10% to a record $202 million, led by demand for low-latency connectivity and co-location services. Transaction revenues grew 11%, led by a record third quarter in CDS clearing, where revenues rose 13% to $102 million. Moving to guidance, this quarter's recurring growth was slightly ahead of the trajectory we outlined in July, driven by stronger consumption trends, net new sales, and growth in index assets. As a result, we now expect full-year FIDS recurring revenue growth of approximately 8%, the top of our prior range. Shifting to mortgage technology on slide 7. Mortgage technology revenues were $549 million, up 4%, with servicing and data and analytics each growing 6%. Recurring revenues of $405 million grew 4% and increased sequentially once you exclude the roughly 3 million of one-time items we noted in our second quarter results, driven in part by new customers coming online. Transaction revenues also grew 4% in a market that moved against us late in the quarter. This quarter also marks three years since we closed our acquisition in a black night, and the integration continues to deliver a headed plan. We now expect to exit 2026 with approximately $270 million of annualized expense synergies. This compares to an original five-year target of $200 million when we announced the transaction. Looking to the fourth quarter, while we expect mortgage technology recurring revenues to grow modestly from the third quarter, in light of typical fourth quarter seasonality with mortgage rates elevated, we expect transaction revenues to decline from both the third quarter and the prior year. Through nine months, ICE has grown adjusted earnings per share 20% on 12% revenue growth while expanding margins, accelerating investment, delivering a record return of capital to shareholders, and making several strategic investments across our business. Our growth is driven by benchmarks that the world relies on to price energy and interest rate risk, and data and network services that are becoming core infrastructure for superintelligence or SI-driven workflows across fixed income and mortgages. I'll be happy to take your questions during Q&A. But for now, I'll turn it over to Ben.