One-glance verdict
Undervalued
$657.91 our estimate vs market $270.43
Wall Street consensus: $315.64 (-52.0% lower than our fair-value estimate)
59% below our estimate, below the bear case
Fundamentals snapshot
Cboe Global Markets, Inc.
CBOE · BTS · Financial Services · Financial Data & Stock Exchanges
Current price
$270.43
52-week range
$227.15 - $371.18
Market cap
$28.24B
Balance sheet
Healthy
28.95x Strong cushion
Net cash $774.20M. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
3 Rewards
1 Risk
3 rewards · 1 risks
- Reward Revenue grew 239.3% last year.
- Reward Returns 26.3% on equity, ahead of 83% of its peers.
- Reward Free cash flow was positive in 10/10 years.
- Risk Insider ownership is only 0.3% (peer median: 0.8%).
What this company does
Cboe Global Markets, Inc.
Cboe Global Markets operates the marketplaces, known as exchanges, where investors buy and sell financial products like company stocks and options (contracts that give the right to buy or sell a stock at a set price). The company primarily makes money by collecting a small transaction fee every time a trade is made on one of its platforms. This means Cboe's performance is closely tied to overall market activity; the more people are trading, the more revenue (money a company brings in from sales) it earns.
How the company got here
Cboe Global Markets started in 1973 as the Chicago Board Options Exchange, creating the first marketplace for standardized stock options, which are contracts giving investors the right to buy or sell stocks at a set price. A major turning point was the creation of the VIX in 1993, an index that measures expected stock market volatility (the speed and size of price changes). In 2017, it acquired Bats Global Markets, a major stock exchange operator, and became Cboe Global Markets, transforming from a U.S. options specialist into a global company with multiple types of markets. Through a series of acquisitions, the company has expanded into Europe, Asia, and Canada and added new products like foreign exchange and digital assets.
What it actually does
Think of Cboe as a global marketplace for buying and selling a wide range of financial products, not just company stocks. It operates the exchanges—the electronic platforms and physical trading floors—where these transactions happen, making money by charging small fees on each trade. Beyond just stocks, they offer unique products like options and futures, which are contracts that let investors bet on or protect against future price movements of assets like the S&P 500 stock index. The company also sells the valuable data generated from all this trading activity, like price information and analytics, to professional traders and financial firms.
Options
This is Cboe's largest and most profitable business, making up well over half of the company's net revenue. It operates exchanges where investors trade options contracts, which provide the right—but not the obligation—to buy or sell an asset at a predetermined price. Cboe has exclusive rights to list options on major market indexes like the S&P 500 (known as SPX) and its own VIX (the 'fear index'), which are highly sought after by professional investors for hedging (protecting their investments) or speculating (betting on market direction). Because these products are exclusive, Cboe can earn much higher fees on them compared to products that trade on multiple exchanges.
North American Equities
This segment is what most people think of as a stock exchange, handling the buying and selling of stocks of U.S. and Canadian companies and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which are bundles of stocks or other assets. Cboe operates several electronic stock exchanges that compete for trading volume with rivals like the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. While this business handles a massive number of shares, it is highly competitive and generates a smaller portion of the company's profit than the Options segment because the fees for trading plain stocks are much lower.
Europe and Asia Pacific
This part of the business operates stock and derivatives exchanges in Europe, Australia, and Japan, making Cboe a major player in international markets. In Europe, it runs one of the largest stock exchanges, allowing investors to trade shares of thousands of companies across 18 different countries from a single platform. This segment makes money from transaction fees on trades, clearing services (ensuring trades are settled correctly), and selling market data to local and global investors who want to trade in these regions.
Futures
This segment runs an all-electronic exchange for trading futures contracts, which are agreements to buy or sell an asset at a specific future date for a set price. Its most important products are futures based on the VIX index, allowing investors to trade on their view of future market volatility. This business is a smaller part of Cboe's overall revenue but is strategically important because it complements the company's core options business and strengthens its brand as the home of volatility trading.
Global FX
This business provides an electronic trading platform for the foreign exchange (FX) market, where large institutions like banks and hedge funds trade currencies. Instead of being a central exchange, it operates as a network connecting many different buyers and sellers, earning fees on the transactions that happen on its platform. While a smaller contributor to Cboe's total revenue, the FX segment diversifies the company's business and serves a global client base that trades around the clock.
What management is betting on now
Management's strategy is to focus on its most profitable and unique products, particularly its derivatives business built around the S&P 500 and VIX options. They are expanding these offerings with new variations and longer trading hours to attract more global investors. Another key priority is growing its recurring revenue (income that is stable and predictable) from selling market data and analytics, making the company less dependent on the ups and downs of trading volumes. The company is also investing in new areas like prediction markets, which allow users to trade on the outcomes of future events, to create new sources of growth.
Price history
How the share price has moved
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Earnings history
Last 8 quarters — what happened
Click any quarter to read the call summary and what the numbers say.
FY2024 Q3
$-590.50M
FY2024 Q4
$-734.20M
FY2025 Q1
$898.20M
FY2025 Q2
$313.40M
FY2025 Q3
$137.90M
FY2025 Q4
$332.10M
FY2026 Q1
$1.94B
FY2026 Q2
$-555.50M
Revenue
—
Net income
$353.10M
Diluted EPS
3.35
Operating cash flow
$-503.20M
Free cash flow
$-555.50M
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Sources
Revenue
—
Net income
$385.70M
Diluted EPS
3.66
Operating cash flow
$1.96B
Free cash flow
$1.94B
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
—
Net income
$313.50M
Diluted EPS
2.97
Operating cash flow
$352.10M
Free cash flow
$332.10M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
—
Net income
$300.80M
Diluted EPS
2.85
Operating cash flow
$153.90M
Free cash flow
$137.90M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
—
Net income
$235.10M
Diluted EPS
2.23
Operating cash flow
$333.70M
Free cash flow
$313.40M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
—
Net income
$250.60M
Diluted EPS
2.37
Operating cash flow
$912.90M
Free cash flow
$898.20M
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Sources
Revenue
—
Net income
$196.50M
Diluted EPS
1.85
Operating cash flow
$-710.40M
Free cash flow
$-734.20M
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Sources
Revenue
—
Net income
$218.50M
Diluted EPS
2.07
Operating cash flow
$-578.50M
Free cash flow
$-590.50M
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Sources
Is it cheap or expensive?
Fair value $657.91 vs current price $270.43
Wall Street consensus is the average analyst price target: $315.64 (-52.0% lower than our fair-value estimate).
Our most-likely fair value is $657.91 a share — about 143.3% above today's price of $270.43, so the stock currently looks cheap (undervalued).
Is it drowning in debt?
Healthy
Net cash $774.2M - more cash than debt. Interest coverage 29.0x.
Net debt
$-774.20M
Interest coverage
28.95x
Cboe Global Markets, Inc.'s profit covers its interest bill about 29.0 times over. which is stronger than most peers shown here.
Healthy
Worse cushion
Baseline
Better cushion
CBOE
BASELINE
Cboe Global Markets, Inc.
Total debt $1.58B Interest coverage 28.95x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $20.53B Interest coverage 6.23x -78% vs CBOE Carries about 4.7x less debt cushion than CBOE.
Total debt $3.87B Interest coverage 24.39x -16% vs CBOE Carries about 1.2x less debt cushion than CBOE.
Total debt $9.32B Interest coverage 6.87x -76% vs CBOE Carries about 4.2x less debt cushion than CBOE.
Total debt $178.91M Interest coverage 229.88x +694% vs CBOE Carries about 7.9x more debt cushion than CBOE.
Total debt $150.34M Interest coverage 435.41x +1,404% vs CBOE Carries about 15.0x more debt cushion than CBOE.
What you should know
The case for and against CBOE
3 Rewards
1 Risk
Rewards
-
Revenue grew 239.3% last year.
-
Returns 26.3% on equity, ahead of 83% of its peers.
-
Free cash flow was positive in 10/10 years.
Risks
-
Insider ownership is only 0.3% (peer median: 0.8%).
The numbers
All the key metrics, grouped by purpose
Tap any ? icon to learn what it means.
Valuation
How expensive the stock looks
P/E (TTM)
21.09x
Forward P/E
17.76x
P/B
5.03x
P/S
5.58x
EV/EBITDA
14.27x
PEG ratio
2.52x
Profitability
How much profit each dollar creates
Gross margin
54.1%
Operating margin
34.6%
Net margin
26.7%
ROE
26.3%
ROA
11.6%
Health
Liquidity and balance-sheet strength
Debt / equity
0.28x
Current ratio
1.56x
Quick ratio
0.79x
Total debt
$1.58B
Total cash
$2.35B
Growth
How the business has been compounding
Revenue TTM
$2.23B
Revenue 5Y CAGR
40.5%
EPS TTM
12.82
EPS 5Y CAGR
68.2%
Cash flow
How much cash the business throws off
Operating CF TTM
$1.96B
Free CF TTM
$1.68B
FCF margin
75.4%
Dividend
Shareholder payout
Yield
1.3%
Payout ratio
22.4%
Last ex-div date
2026-08-31