Debt is smaller than equity and it can meet short-term obligations.
Metrics · D/E ~13% · Current Ratio 1.02
💲Is the price expensive now?
Not cheap (fair to slightly pricey)
Because it is a good, popular company, those expectations are already priced in.
Metrics · P/E 21.4 · P/B 3.4
💡Operating margin 65.7% leads exchanges. D/E 0.13 means effectively no debt, and ROE 15.8% is a 10-year high. But the 4.50% yield includes a variable dividend.
Compiled from public financial data. Not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. · Source: stockanalysis (margins, P/B, ROE are TTM; total debt $3.42B) · P/E and P/B recomputed on the July 24 close, as of 2026-07-24
Business Summary · Key Value Metrics
The world's largest derivatives exchange. It lists futures and options on interest rates, equity indexes, energy, agriculture, and metals, and clears them in-house. Revenue comes from trading fees and market-data sales. The first half of 2026 was the strongest in company history. TTM revenue $6.76B, operating margin 65.7%, net margin 63.4%.
Current Price
$252.37
-0.77%-$1.95· Close 2026-07-24
Analyst Consensus Target (external reference)
$283.93
Avg. of 16 external analysts · stockanalysis (16-analyst consensus, Buy · high $330 / low $230)
P/E (TTM)
21.4x
TTM
Operating margin
65.7%
TTM · above ICE (52.1%)
ROE
15.8%
TTM · 10-year high
Debt/Equity
0.13x
25.2x interest coverage
Dividend yield
4.50%
incl. variable; fixed part ~2.1%
Market cap
$91.5B
as of 2026-07-24
Economic Moat · Key Business Segments
CME concentrates open interest in interest-rate, equity-index, energy, and agricultural futures in one venue, so liquidity attracts more liquidity. Trading and clearing are vertically integrated, enabling portfolio margining that offsets collateral across products — an advantage that disappears if a trader moves to a rival venue. Average daily volume reached 29.8 million contracts in Q2 2026, while market-data revenue, which does not depend on volume, hit $238M (+20% YoY) for a 33rd consecutive quarter of growth (Source: company IR, stockanalysis).
Liquidity network effect
Trading gravitates to where open interest already sits — the hardest moat for a rival exchange to break.
Integrated trading and clearing
Portfolio margining offsets collateral across products; the capital efficiency vanishes if you leave.
Benchmark rate products
The de facto standard for hedging U.S. rates, including SOFR. Regulation and convention anchor demand.
Asset-light economics
No factories or inventory, so operating margin runs 65.7% and most cash returns as dividends.
10-Year Financial Trends
Revenue compounded at a 9-year CAGR of +6.8% ($3.6B in 2016 to $6.5B in 2025). Operating income grew +7.5% and pretax income +9.9%, yet net income rose +11.5% — the gap reflects the effective tax rate falling from 32.9% in 2016 to about 22% from 2019, so operating income reads cleaner. The 2017 figures ($4,063M net income, $11.94 EPS) came from a $1,537M tax benefit on deferred-tax remeasurement (-60.9% rate), distorting EPS, P/E and ROE that year alone. Operating margin climbed from 53.2% (2019) to 64.9% (2025), ROE from 8.0% to 14.8%. Q2 2026: revenue $1.706B (+0.8% YoY), diluted EPS $2.88.
9-Year CAGR: Revenue +6.8% · Operating Income +7.5% · Net Income +11.5% (incl. tax-rate cut) · EPS +10.5%
Source: SEC EDGAR 10-K (revenue, operating income, net income, diluted EPS, equity, income tax); fiscal year-end closes from Yahoo Finance; cross-checked against stockanalysis. P/E is year-end close ÷ diluted EPS and ROE is net income ÷ average equity; both match stockanalysis across all five overlapping years (P/E 31.34, 22.72, 23.77, 24.02, 24.47 / ROE 9.81, 9.92, 12.03, 13.25, 14.75). The 2017 distortion was confirmed directly in EDGAR as a $1,537M tax benefit (-60.9% effective rate).
Mega-Cap Value Metric Comparison
CME's 65.7% operating margin leads ICE (52.1%) and Nasdaq (48.2%), and its 0.13x debt-to-equity is well below ICE (0.71) and Nasdaq (0.77). ROE at 15.8% sits close to Nasdaq's 16.5%, because CME's equity carries large intangibles from the historical CBOT and NYMEX mergers, thickening the denominator. Its 4.50% dividend yield is the highest of the three, but that figure includes a once-a-year variable dividend (Source: stockanalysis, company IR).
Revenue tied directly to volume— Transaction fees dominate revenue, so volume is the result. Q2 2026 revenue grew just 0.8% YoY and Q3 2025 fell 3.0%. Calmer markets compress both volume and fees.Source: company 10-K
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Vertically integrated new entrants— Crypto perpetual futures and prediction markets bring operators that own both the customer relationship and the venue, pressuring derivatives exchange fee rates and multiples.Source: company IR, industry reports
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Much of the dividend is variable— Of the $11.35 annual dividend behind the 4.50% yield, $7.45 is a once-a-year variable payment. The fixed quarterly dividend ($1.30) alone is about 2.1%, and the variable part falls first when earnings do.Source: company IR
✦ ValueCrab Dashboard PreviewCME $252.37 -0.77% · as of 2026-07-24
Q. What are the key value metrics for CME Group (CME)?P/E (TTM) 21.4, operating margin 65.7%, ROE 15.8%, debt-to-equity 0.13x, dividend yield 4.50%, and a 9-year revenue CAGR of +6.8% (Source: stockanalysis, SEC EDGAR, as of 2026-07-24).
Q. Does a 4.5% yield make this a dividend stock?The fixed portion is much lower. Of the $11.35 annual dividend, $7.45 is a variable payment that changes with earnings each year; the fixed quarterly dividend ($1.30, or $5.20 a year) works out to roughly 2.1%. The variable part is the first to shrink if profits fall.
Q. Why did 2017 EPS spike so much?Tax reform (TCJA) forced a remeasurement of deferred taxes, producing a $1,537M tax benefit and a -60.9% effective rate. Pretax income was an ordinary $2,526M, but net income jumped to $4,063M and EPS to $11.94. That is also why the year shows a 12.2x P/E and 19.0% ROE that do not reflect real earning power.
Q. How should an exchange be evaluated?Average daily volume (ADV) and the share of revenue that does not depend on volume are the core measures. CME posted ADV of 29.8 million contracts in Q2 2026, and market-data revenue reached $238M — a 33rd straight quarter of year-over-year growth. A higher data share cushions results when volumes fall.