Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Will Strong Market Making Unit Aid Virtu Financial's Q1 Earnings?

Read MoreHide Full Article

Virtu Financial, Inc. (VIRT - Free Report) is scheduled to release first-quarter 2025 results on April 23, before the opening bell. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at $1.14 per share, which indicates an improvement of 50% from the prior-year quarter’s number.  (See the Zacks Earnings Calendar to stay ahead of market-making news.)

The first-quarter earnings estimate has witnessed five upward estimate revisions against no downward movements over the past 30 days. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at $460 million, implying 25.3% growth from the year-ago quarter’s figure.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Virtu Financial’s Earnings Surprise History

VIRT’s bottom line beat estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 25.09%. This is depicted in the chart below:

Virtu Financial, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise

Virtu Financial, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise

Virtu Financial, Inc. price-eps-surprise | Virtu Financial, Inc. Quote

What Our Quantitative Model Unveils for VIRT

Our proven model predicts an earnings beat for Virtu Financial this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat, which is the case here.

Earnings ESP: Virtu Financial has an Earnings ESP of +3.08% because the Most Accurate Estimate of $1.17 per share is pegged higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.14. You can uncover the best stocks before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: VIRT currently carries a Zacks Rank of 3.

Factors Likely to Shape VIRT’s Q1 Results

The top line of Virtu Financial is likely to have gained on the back of higher net trading income, commissions and technology services revenues. However, a decline in interest and dividend income is expected to have hurt revenue growth in the first quarter. 

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for overall net trading income is $461 million, which indicates a 13% rise from the prior year's quarter figure.  The consensus mark for commissions and technology services revenues is $139 million, implying 16.8% growth year over year. 

Our forecast for these two revenue components implies an increase of 12.9% and 17.4%, respectively, from the corresponding figures of the prior-year quarter.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for interest and dividends income is pegged at $105 million, which implies a 0.9% dip from the year-ago quarter’s figure. 

Trading income in the Market Making segment is expected to have benefited from strength in the customer and non-customer market-businesses. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for adjusted net trading income in the Market Making segment is pegged at $347 million, indicating a 26.6% year-over-year rise. 

The Execution Services segment’s trading income is also likely to have witnessed year-over-year improvement in the to-be-reported quarter, attributable to strength in the algo product revenues. The consensus mark for adjusted trading income of the unit is pinned at $113 million, indicating 21.5% growth from the prior-year quarter’s number. 

Virtu Financial’s margins are likely to have taken a hit from escalating operating costs, which in turn, are expected to have stemmed from increased brokerage, exchange, clearance fees and payments for order flow, and communication and data processing expenses. Our estimate for total operating expenses is $555.6 million, which indicates an increase of 10.4% year over year.

Other Stocks to Consider

Here are some other companies from the Finance space, which according to our model, have the right combination of elements to beat on earnings this time around:

Postal Realty Trust, Inc. (PSTL - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +5.44% and a Zacks Rank of 1 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for PSTL’s first-quarter earnings is pegged at 29 cents per share, which indicates a 16% rise from the prior-year quarter’s figure.  Postal Realty’s earnings beat estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and missed the mark once, the average surprise being 11.29%. 

Ameris Bancorp (ABCB - Free Report) currently has an Earnings ESP of +7.83% and a Zacks Rank of 2. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ABCB’s first-quarter earnings is pegged at $1.15 per share, which implies a 4.6% rise from the year-ago quarter’s figure.  

Ameris Bancorp’s earnings beat estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 7.51%.

Camden Property Trust (CPT - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +0.26% and a Zacks Rank of 3 at present. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CPT’s first-quarter earnings is pegged at $1.68 per share, which indicates a 0.6% rise from the prior-year quarter’s figure.  

Camden Property Trust’s earnings beat estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 1.94%.

Published in