What is an income statement waterfall?

An income statement waterfall is a bar chart that walks from total revenue down to net income, with each step showing how much a cost or tax line removes (or adds). Subtotals — gross profit, operating income, pre-tax income — are anchored to zero so the cascade reconciles exactly to the bottom line.

How much of Nasdaq (NDAQ) revenue becomes net income?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Nasdaq turned $8.27B of revenue into $1.91B of net income — a net margin of 23.1%. The waterfall shows where the rest goes: cost of revenue, operating expenses, non-operating items, and taxes.

What are Nasdaq (NDAQ) gross, operating, and net margins?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Nasdaq reported a gross margin of 54.8%, an operating margin of 29.5%, and a net margin of 23.1%. Each subtotal in the waterfall corresponds to one of these margins.

Why does Nasdaq (NDAQ) have such a high (or low) gross margin?

Gross margin (gross profit ÷ revenue) reflects how much of each revenue dollar remains after direct production costs. Capital-light software and platform businesses often show gross margins above 60–80% because their cost of revenue is mainly hosting and support. Hardware, retail, and commodity businesses show lower gross margins because raw materials and manufacturing costs are significant. The waterfall makes this visible at a glance — the size of the "Cost of Revenue" bar relative to Revenue is the gross margin complement.

What is the difference between gross, operating, and net margin?

Gross margin = (Revenue − Cost of Revenue) ÷ Revenue. It measures production efficiency. Operating margin = Operating Income ÷ Revenue. It adds operating expenses (R&D, S&M, G&A) and measures the profitability of core operations. Net margin = Net Income ÷ Revenue. It also includes interest, other income/expense, and taxes, and represents the shareholder take after everything.

Nasdaq (NDAQ) Income Statement Waterfall

Revenue

$8.27B

Gross Margin

+54.8%

Operating Margin

+29.5%

Net Margin

+23.1%

Income statement waterfall for Nasdaq (NDAQ) — TTM through Q1 2026

Net income: $1.91B

Margin breakdown for Nasdaq (NDAQ) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Revenue	$8.27B	$8.27B
Cost of Revenue	-$3.74B	$4.53B
Gross Profit	$4.53B	$4.53B
Operating Expenses	-$2.09B	$2.44B
Operating Income	$2.44B	$2.44B
Other Income / Expense	-$107M	$2.33B
Pre-tax Income	$2.33B	$2.33B
Income Tax	-$421M	$1.91B
Net Income	$1.91B	$1.91B

Revenue$8.27B
Cost of Revenue-$3.74B
Gross Profit$4.53B
Operating Expenses-$2.09B
Operating Income$2.44B
Other Income / Expense-$107M
Pre-tax Income$2.33B
Income Tax-$421M
Net Income$1.91B

Want to see what changed vs last year?Profit Bridge

Frequently asked questions

Data & methodology

Nasdaq (NDAQ) Key Financials

Charts, filings, and peer comparison for every metric

Income Statement

Balance Sheet

Profitability

Cash Flow

Capital Return

Forecast & Valuation

Operations

Employees9.5K

Explore more

Deep-dives across the income statement, cash flow, capital return, and valuation

Overview

NDAQ Overview

Counters