I remain upbeat about the shares of Nasdaq (NDAQ), an operator of a global stock exchange. The company’s financials for the fourth quarter of 2016 were decent. Net revenues increased 11.8% y-o-y to $599 mn, in line with consensus estimate, with growth in all reported segments. The improvement was mostly driven by acquisitions. Revenues at Market Services rose 12.8% to $220 mn, Corporate Services’ revenues jumped 16.8% to $167 mn, Information Services’ revenues climbed 6.3% to $135 mn, while revenues at Market Technology came in at $77 mn, up 8.5% y-o-y. Operating expenses grew faster than revenues reflecting incremental charges from the acquisitions. As a result, adjusted operating income increased just 9.6% to $275 mn, and operating margin contracted 90 basis points to 45.9%. Adjusted operating income rose 6.7% to 95 cents and surpassed analysts’ average projection by a penny. For full year 2016, the company earned $3.68 per share (growth of 8.6%) on net revenues of $2.28 bn (growth of 8.9%).Nasdaq ended Q4 with cash and cash equivalents of $403 mn and long-term debt of $3.6 bn. During 2016, the company repurchased 1.5 mn shares for $100 mn and, as of Dec 31, had $429 mn remaining under its authorized share buyback program. A quarterly dividend was 32 cents per share, which offers a healthy annualized dividend yield of 1.8%. The company also said that as of 2016-end, it had achieved $38 mn in annualized run-rate cost synergies for the acquisitions in 2016 out of the targeted $60 mn.I believe Nasdaq’s focus on expansion through acquisitions and organic initiatives that enable entry and cross-selling opportunities into new markets to continue to support the company’s growth going forward. Top line should also benefit from the company’s consistent focus on its strategy to accelerate its non-transaction revenue base, which includes technology, listing and information revenues.Recently, shares of Nasdaq surpassed $70 resistance level. I expect the stock to continue growth, with medium-term target at $78. $NDAQ, Nasdaq, Inc. / D