CME Group Inc. (CME) — Fundamental Analysis & Key Financial Ratios

Kaplio's reading: CME Group Inc.

Updated on October 22, 2026 · accounts published on October 21, 2026

A highly profitable, lightly indebted business with record margins

CME trades at a P/E of 25.1, 10 % below its ten-year median, with a record 65 % operating margin in fiscal 2025 and debt of just 0.13 times equity.

• Is CME expensive or cheap? CME trades at a P/E of 25.1, 10 % below its ten-year median of 28.0 but 95 % above its sector median of 12.9.
• How is the business doing? The operating margin hit 65 % in fiscal 2025, the highest in 12 years and well above the 60 % average for 2014-2025.
• How strong is the balance sheet? Debt is just 0.13 times equity, and the 3.8 % dividend has risen for 6 straight years, though the payout is 97 %.
• What to expect from the next earnings? Analysts expect EPS of $2.99 for the report due February 3, 2027; CME beat estimates in 7 of the last 8 quarters.
• Is it a scalable, lightly leveraged business? CME passes four of five sector health checks; revenue per share grew 5.8 % a year in 2020-2025, just short of the 6 % bar.

Is CME expensive or cheap?

Over the last 12 months CME trades at a P/E of 25.1, 10 % below its ten-year median of 28.0. In the past decade it has traded at a lower multiple only 23 % of the time, within a range that ran from 18.1 to 41.8. Against its own five-year average of 25.2 it sits right on the line. The sector comparison looks harsher: the median financial-services company trades at 13.3, so CME carries an 95 % premium. A free cash flow yield of 3.5 % and an earnings yield of 3.3 % are modest. Investors are paying up for quality here.

How is the business doing?

Revenue grew 6.4 % over the last 12 months while EPS rose 15.4 %, so profits are expanding faster than sales. That gap fits the margin story: the operating margin stands at 65 % over the last 12 months and the net margin at 63 %, against a 60 % operating average across fiscal 2014-2025. Fiscal 2025 set the high of that 12-year stretch. Return on equity of 15.5 % over the last 12 months is solid without being spectacular. Free cash flow covered 104 % of net income in fiscal 2025, a sign that reported profit turns into real cash.

How strong is the balance sheet?

With debt at 0.13 times equity over the last 12 months, CME sits far below the 0.5 level considered prudent for financial-services companies. Leverage is not where the risk lies. The dividend is the main channel for returning cash: a 3.7 % yield over the last 12 months, and six consecutive years of higher dividends per share through fiscal 2025. The catch is a payout ratio of 97 % of fiscal 2025 earnings, which leaves almost no cushion. Future increases depend on profits continuing to grow, since there is little room left to stretch the payout.

What to expect from the next earnings?

On October 21, 2026 CME reported EPS of $3.02 against $2.99 expected, a 1.0 % beat and the seventh in the last eight quarters. The beats tend to be small, which suggests analysts model the business well. Estimates are drifting up: the 2026 EPS consensus rose 0.7 % in the last 30 days, from $12.25 to $12.33 across 10 analysts, and the revenue consensus gained 0.6 %. Opinion is lukewarm: of 37 analysts, 14 recommend buying, 18 holding and 5 selling. The next report, due February 3, 2027, carries an expected EPS of $2.99.

Is it a scalable, lightly leveraged business?

For exchanges, brokers and asset managers, earnings come from fees, so the useful tests are revenue growth, margins and how much profit turns into cash. On those terms CME scores well. Its fiscal 2025 operating margin of 65 % is more than double the 30 % healthy threshold, free cash flow equals 104 % of net income against a 90 % bar, and debt of 0.13 times equity sits under the 0.5 prudence line. ROE of 15.5 % clears the 15 % mark by a hair. The weak spot is growth: revenue per share rose 5.8 % a year over fiscal 2020-2025, just below the 6 % healthy level.

How this was prepared: the data comes from companies' official filings, collected by a professional provider, and from Kaplio's analysis engine (trailing-12-month ratios, 10 years of history and sector medians computed across US-listed companies). The text is written from that data alone, every figure is checked against it before publication, and it is reviewed when the company reports results. This is not investment advice.