Nasdaq, Inc. (NDAQ) stock is up over 16.4% in the last two months, and up +2.6% this year. So, is it worth buying NDAQ now?
It’s near analysts’ price targets who may be waiting for upcoming results expected on Jan. 30. One attractive play is to sell short out-of-the-money puts in nearby expiry periods.
NDAQ is trading at $99.69 in morning trading on January 6. That’s up 16.4% from its recent low of $85.56 on November 5.
I discussed how NDAQ stock could be worth $100 per share in an Oct. 21, 2025, Barchart article after its Q3 results that day. That was based on its strong free cash flow (FCF) and FCF margins.
Moreover, analysts at the time had an average price target (PT) of $101.89 (Yahoo! Finance). Today, those 17 analysts have an average PT of $104.20.
Similarly, Barchart’s mean analyst survey PT has risen from $104.50 to $107.00.
Moreover, AnaChart.com, which covers recent analyst write-ups, reports that 12 analysts have an average PT of $108.72. So, on average, analysts now expect around a 7% upside (PT of $106.64) from today.
But, does that make it worth buying? Possibly, but I highly suspect that analysts are waiting for its upcoming results.
Just in case the stock retreats, it makes sense to set a lower buy-in price point. One way to do that, as well as getting paid to wait, is to sell short out-of-the-money (OTM) put options.
NDAQ stock has options only available once per month. So, the upcoming Jan. 16, 2026, expiration period (10 days to expiry or DTE) shows that the $95.00 strike price put option has a $0.28 midpoint premium.
That means that an investor who secures $9,500 with their brokerage firm can make $28 by entering an order to “Sell to Open” this contract. That represents a 10-day yield of 0.295%.
Monthly, assuming this could be repeated every 10 days (which it can’t), it represents a one-month yield of 0.88%.
However, the next month expiry period ending Feb. 20, 2026, shows that the same $95.00 put option has a midpoint premium of $1.18 per put contract.
That represents income of $118 for a $9,500 investment over the next 45 days. This represents an income yield of 1.24% (i.e., $118/$9,500) for 45 days.
