Nasdaq Inc vs NRG Energy Inc — how do they compare? Nasdaq Inc trades at $94.62 (market cap $53.13B), while NRG Energy Inc trades at $116.5 (market cap $25.15B). The key difference: Nasdaq Inc is far larger — about 2.1× NRG Energy Inc's market cap, and NRG Energy Inc pays the higher dividend (1.59%). Which is the better fit depends on your goals.
| NDAQ | NRG | |
|---|---|---|
Market Cap | $53.13B | $25.15B |
Sector | Financials | Utilities |
52-Week High | $100.98 | $184.03 |
52-Week Low | $76.85 | $109.51 |
Enterprise Value | $59.58B | $49.10B |
Dividend Yield | 1.22% | 1.59% |
Signals from Pluang's Aura AI — not financial advice
Nasdaq (NDAQ) trades at $95.04, down 1.9% today, with a bullish technical signal from moving averages but bearish oscillators. The company reported strong earnings beats in recent quarters, with Q2 2026 EPS of $1.07 exceeding the $0.984 estimate. Revenue grew to $8.26B in 2025, up from $7.4B in 2024, and net income margin improved to 22.52%. Recent news highlights Nasdaq's acquisition of Dasseti to enhance AI capabilities in investment technology.
The outlook for NDAQ is positive, supported by consistent earnings outperformance, revenue growth, and strategic acquisitions. Risks include market volatility and competitive pressures. Analysts maintain a bullish consensus with a $109.20 price target, implying 15% upside from current levels.
NRG Energy trades at $119.64, up 0.52% with a bullish technical signal despite recent earnings misses. The stock shows strong profitability metrics including 26.77% ROE and 2.56% net margin, supported by $30.71B revenue in 2025. Recent developments include a transformative 1.2 GW Texas data-center power project and LS Power acquisition, driving long-term growth expectations. Cash flow trends show volatility with 2025 net cash flow of $3.83B followed by projected 2026 outflow of -$264M.
Wall Street maintains strong bullish sentiment with 69% buy ratings and $201.29 consensus target, representing 68% upside. Key risks include rising interest costs impacting earnings, elevated debt levels at 56.42% debt-to-asset ratio, and execution challenges with major capital projects. The data center expansion strategy offers significant growth potential but requires careful monitoring of capex and leverage management.
Trailing returns across standard periods
Latest headlines on both assets
Founded in 1971, Nasdaq is primarily known for its equity exchange, but in addition to its market-services business (about 35% of sales), the company sells and distributes market data as well as offers Nasdaq-branded indexes to asset managers and investors through its information-services segment (30%). Nasdaq's corporate-services business (20%) offers listing services and related investor relations products to publicly traded companies and through the company's market technology group (15%), Nasdaq facilitates the exchange operations of other exchanges throughout the world and provides financial compliance services.
Read more on NDAQ →NRG Energy is one of the largest retail energy providers in the U.S., with 7 million customers, including its 2021 acquisition of Direct Energy. It also is one of the largest U.S. independent power producers, with 16 gigawatts of nuclear, coal, gas, and oil power generation capacity primarily in Texas. Since 2018, NRG has divested its 47% stake in NRG Yield, among other renewable energy and conventional generation investments. NRG exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy as a stand-alone entity in December 2003.
Read more on NRG →