Shareholders in the US group, including MarketScreener, which holds the stock as an investment in its US portfolio, will have had the opportunity to reflect on this old saying in light of their investment's performance, with its market capitalization more than doubling in three years and quintupling in 10 years.

2026 crowns this excellent cycle, with net revenue up 14% and operating income up 23% in the first nine months. Following SpaceX's IPO, the largest in history, the market now has its eyes fixed on the imminent offerings of OpenAI and Anthropic.

It must be said that the group's economic performance, as well as, notably, its track record in terms of acquisitions, has been excellent during this period, which has been prosperous for the technology sector as a whole and during which Nasdaq captured the explosion in index-linked flows.

Further proof came very recently, with $141bn in net inflows over 12 months into products tracking its indexes, while index revenue rose 39% in the latest quarter.

In reality, Nasdaq's market activities now account for just one-fifth of revenue. More than a casino, the operator has essentially become a software, data and index publisher.

That does not change the fact that no alternative to Nasdaq is capable of offering such access to liquidity, or a comparable range of technology solutions, a perfect illustration of the famous competitive advantage linked to the "network effect."

That is also what attracts companies from other sectors, most famously Walmart, which transferred its listing in December 2025. In Q3, once again, Nasdaq hosted 8 of the 10 largest IPOs.

For investors, this offers an interesting lesson: over the past decade, the market operator's stock has traded at a median of 28x earnings, a seemingly high level that nevertheless did not prevent shareholders from being handsomely rewarded.

https://www.marketscreener.com/news/nasdaq-always-in-the-right-place-at-the-right-time-ce785cdfd98af426