Financial tollbooth businesses are a great place to invest because they are embedded in the system, take a cut whenever money moves or decisions are made, and need little capital. S&P Global and Moody's, tied to credit markets, are hard to replace; FICO is strong but more exposed to pricing backlash; CME gains when volatility lifts volumes; LSEG fits too. MSCI is the favorite, with fees spread across trillions tied to benchmarks for durable pricing power, and insider buying near current prices. … Show more

Cboe looks better than CME or ICE because it has a net cash position, a strategic-review catalyst, higher growth and better five-year performance at equivalent profitability. The trade-off is earnings more concentrated in its S&P 500 options franchise. x.com 

Intercontinental Exchange, CME Group and Cboe are in the first inning of a de-rating, as the rush to defend them against crypto perpetual futures competition shows. With few near-term catalysts to make them work, they are worth revisiting in 12-24 months. x.com 

Zoetis, ResMed, Netflix, Progressive, Kinsale, Brown & Brown and CME Group offer far more interesting valuations than the S&P 500, whose average P/E of about 25.6 is historically elevated, per GuruFocus. Their P/Es range from 11.69x for Progressive and 12.51x for Zoetis to 23.22x for Netflix. x.com 

Cboe and MIAX stand to benefit long term as wealth passes from risk-averse generations to more risk-seeking ones. Baby boomers hold at least $93 trillion in assets, per Visa, more than Gen X and millennials combined. Barriers to entry remain substantial, since only a few exchange groups run the US listed-options market and few genuinely new operators have entered in 15 years. x.com  x.com 

Moody's, S&P Global and Deutsche Börse are moated toll booths that compound intrinsic value for decades, and their subsector just took market leadership. Chris Hohn, who owns all three, says Deutsche Börse's Eurex became winner-takes-all because liquidity attracts the best prices, and that ratings are essential since debt must eventually be refinanced and rated. These asset-light, scalable businesses turn revenue into profit with high operating leverage, and the subsector led arvy's screen. … Show more

Cboe's fundamentals are inflecting positively and should stay attractive if the war worsens or fails to improve, while the competitive threat won't move serious volume. Many of the policies behind that threat are likely to be rolled back within the next few years, and Cboe has also been a takeover target. x.com 

Cboe Global Markets is the primary winner of the long-term boom in options trading, owning a toll booth that takes a cut of every trade. Once its platform is built, each extra transaction costs almost nothing, giving exceptional margins, and exclusive rights to products like the VIX and S&P 500 options can't be copied. More traders deepen liquidity in a network effect. It also tends to do well when markets panic, making it a good portfolio hedge. CME Group and Nasdaq are strong competitors. … Show more

Miami International Holdings has real operating leverage in its Access & Market Data fees, which carry nearly 100% margin. Options transaction fees are 72% of revenue but net only $74M after $223M of liquidity rebates, while Access & Market Data fees of $46M are 36% of net revenue and grew 45%. As MIAX takes options share, those fees rise straight to the bottom line, leaving much margin growth versus other exchanges. The slide from $57 reflects lock-up selling, not fundamentals. x.com 

Intercontinental Exchange is an overlooked, high-quality name in the financial infrastructure selloff. It runs 12 regulated exchanges and marketplaces, most notably the NYSE, and is still led by founder Jeffrey Sprecher, who built it from the struggling Continental Power Exchange bought for $1,000 in 1997. Nasdaq's passive QQQ flows have weighed on the NYSE, but the NYSE is not going anywhere and its popularity picks up during tech routs. x.com