On the surface, today’s news looked pretty good for MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX), a leading fintech operation that offers trading for credit markets. Total credit volume was up, but investor confidence was oddly down. That much was evident in Wednesday afternoon’s trading, where MKTX stock lost around 13% at the time of writing.
MarketAxess reported that its average total credit volume per day was $12.88 billion for March. That was up 4% from the same time the previous year. Furthermore, total credit trading volume jumped to over $296 billion, which represented a record for MarketAxess, according to Chris Concannon, the current CEO. The record would have been even higher, Concannon noted, except for some “challenges in the banking sector” that only got worse over time.
Yet things weren’t all positive for MarketAxess. Recently-released reports from the company noted that its emerging markets figures came in at $2.7 billion, down 16%. Worse, emerging markets TraX and FINRA TRACE figures were down a combined total of 32%. Some segments were up substantially, though, which helped make up for those declines. In addition, MarketAxess achieved a record in U.S. High-grade open trading, which saw a 5% increase.
Overall, analyst consensus calls MKTX stock a Hold based on two Buys, five Holds, and one Sell assigned in the past three months. With an average price target of $371.86, MKTX comes with 9.8% upside potential.
