NEW YORK (AP) — The Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. on Wednesday posted a 40 percent drop in fourth-quarter net income due to higher operating expenses and other costs. But results excluding the cost of debt refinancing and other one-time items just topped Wall Street expectations.
For the three months ended Dec. 31, the operator of the Nasdaq Stock Market and multiple foreign exchanges said its net income fell to $82 million, or 45 cents per share, from $137 million, or 69 cents per share, in the year-earlier period.
Due to company buybacks, the number of outstanding shares dropped 10 percent during the year, which has the effect of boosting per-share results.
Adjusted for $44 million in one-time items, including debt refinancing, merger costs and the value lost in a certain security investment, per-share results for the quarter came to 63 cents per share.
Revenue rose 6 percent to $422 million, from $400 million in the 2010 fourth quarter.
Analysts, on average, were expecting profit of 62 cents per share, on revenue of $415.3 million, according to data provided by FactSet.
Nasdaq, which is based in New York, said that costs for transaction rebates and brokerage, clearance and exchange fees rose 9 percent to $417 million, while operating expenses jumped 16 percent to $261 million.
The company said 56 new companies listed on the Nasdaq during the quarter, including 16 initial public offerings, including daily deal site Groupon Inc and online gaming company Zynga Inc. That was down from 63 new listings and 37 IPOs in the 2010 fourth quarter.
Nasdaq has been expanding its businesses as trading revenues waver. The company said net U.S. cash equity trading revenue was flat with the 2010 quarter but fell compared with the third quarter. European cash equity trading revenues fell 4 percent from the prior year.
Meanwhile, the company bought a company that provides economic news directly to customers, providing government data and other indicators that can be incorporated into algorithmic trading systems; launched a new risk management platform for the Nordic clearing house; bought a software provider used for investor relations and public relations and signed a deal to provide market technology and other services to Bolsa Electronica de Chile.
For the full year, net income was $387 million, or $2.15 per share, compared with $395 million, or $1.91 per share for all of 2010. Revenue rose 11 percent to $1.69 billion from $1.52 billion.
Nasdaq shares gained 24 cents, or 1 percent to $25 in premarket trading.



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