FX Alliance Inc.
(
FX
) reported second quarter earnings of 23 cents per share, beating
the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 21 cents, but falling short of 25
cents earned in the year-ago quarter. Earnings of $6.9 million in
the reported quarter were lower by 3.2% than $7.1 million recorded
in the second quarter of 2011.
Including a stock-based compensation expense of $0.65 million,
the company reported net income of $6.2 million or 21 cents per
share, compared to $3.3 million or 15 cents in the prior-year
quarter.
Operational Update
During the quarter under review, total revenue of FX Alliance
grossed $31.4 million, climbing 6.7% from $29.4 million in the
year-ago quarter and a tad higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate
of $31 million. A 5.1% increase in transaction fees and 12.1%
increase in user, settlement and license fees led to the overall
increase.
Total operating expenses for the second quarter amounted to
$20.9 million, increasing 12.7% from the prior-year quarter
primarily due to a 34% increase in expenses related to technology,
30.6% general and administrative costs and professional fees that
increased nearly four times year on year.
The magnitude of increase in total operating expense was higher
than the magnitude of total revenue increase, inducing the
operating income to decrease 3.7% year over year to $10.5
million.
Adjusted EBITDA during the reported quarter dropped 4.3% year on
year to $14.2 million.
FX Alliance's total trading volume for the second quarter
increased 7.7% to $5,911.9 billion from $5,487.2 billion in 2011.
This increase was almost equally contributed by an increase in both
relationship trading and active trading.
Financial Position
FX Alliance exited the second quarter with cash and cash
equivalents of $61.5 million versus $127.7 million as on December
31, 2011. Total assets as on June 30 amounted to $150.9 million,
falling from $212.5 million in 2011-end with a stockholder equity
of $132.7 million compared to $79.5 million as on December 31,
2011.
Capital expenditures in the quarter under review amounted to
$3.9 million, in line with the year-ago quarter.
Peer Take
The company's peers,
CME Group Inc.
(
CME
) and
NYSE Euronext Inc.
(
NYX
), also reported second quarter results recently. CME Group
reported operating earnings per share of 89 cents, surpassing the
Zacks Consensus Estimate of 82 cents and the year-ago quarter's
earnings of 88 cents. The earnings per share also included the
effect of a 5-for-1 common stock split on July 20, 2012.
The operating earnings of NYSE Euronext were a penny higher than
the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 50 cents but were lower than 61
cents recorded in the year-ago quarter.
Zacks Rank
FX Alliance currently retains a Zacks #1 Rank, which translates
into a short-term Strong Buy rating.
CME GROUP INC (CME): Free Stock Analysis Report
FX ALLIANCE INC (FX): Free Stock Analysis
Report
NYSE EURONEXT (NYX): Free Stock Analysis Report
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