CME Slips on Revenue Miss

Profit jumped 42% at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange(CME Quote), fueled by greater electronic trading and increased clearing contracts.

In the first quarter, the derivatives giant made $130 million, or $3.69 a share, compared with $91.4 million, or $2.61 a share, in the year-earlier period. Revenue rose 32% from a year ago to $332.3 million.

Analysts were predicting the derivatives giant would make $3.62 a share on $334 million in revenue.

The CME said average daily trading volume reached a record 6.5 million contracts, up 30% from a year earlier. Trading on the exchange's electronic platform -- the CME Globex -- rose 40% to 4.8 million contracts a day. Electronic trading volume was 75% of the CME's total trading volume in the first quarter.

Clearing and transaction fees rose 29% to $258 million. The exchange said it cleared "record" transaction volumes from the Chicago Board of Trade(BOT Quote) and the New York Mercantile Exchange(NMX Quote) in the quarter.

The CME is battling Atlanta-based IntercontinentalExchange(ICE Quote) for ownership of the Board of Trade. The CBOT has already agreed to be acquired by the CME in an $8.9 billion deal that was announced back in October. But last month, the ICE stepped in with an $9.8 billion all-stock offer for the CBOT.

Both the CME and the CBOT have canceled their shareholder votes originally scheduled for earlier this month. The CME has said it is confident the deal will still go through.

Shares sank $3 early Tuesday to $544.40.