Nasdaq (NDAQ) Completes Divestiture Of BWise To SAI Global

Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) has divested BWise enterprise governance to SAI Global for an undisclosed amount. The divestiture was announced on Feb 1, 2019.

Founded in 1994, BWise is an enterprise governance, risk and compliance (GRC) software platform. Nasdaq acquired BWise in 2012 in its effort to help companies sharpen their ability to track, measure and manage key organizational risks, thus maximizing efficiency.

Currently, Nasdaq is focusing on maximizing opportunities as an innovative analytics and technology partner in the capital markets, developing and deploying its marketplace economy, technology strategy and consolidating its competitive edge in core businesses. The divestiture is in tandem with this new strategy.

In fact, in its latest effort to consolidate the Nordic capital market by bringing the Norwegian financial ecosystem together with the Danish, Finish, Icelandic and Swedish systems, the Zacks Rank # 3 (Hold) provider of trading and clearing services is looking to acquire Oslo Børs VPS Holding ASA.

Earlier, Nasdaq’s divestiture of 5% equity stake in LCH Group Holdings Limited reflected the company’s endeavor to free up capital from non-core areas to deploy the same in growth initiatives.

SAI Global is a recognized global provider of integrated risk management (IRM) software and the world's leading provider of ethics and compliance learning content. Thus, the addition of BWise to SAI Global’s portfolio will add capabilities to the acquirer’s suite of integrated risk management skills, thereby strengthening its market presence.

Shares of Nasdaq have outperformed the industry year to date. While the company’s shares have gained 8.4%, the industry decreased 4.3%. The company’s sustained efforts to expand capabilities and accelerate growth should continue to keep the momentum alive.

Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks from the finance sector are Arch Capital Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:ACGL) , Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRKa) BRK.B and Torchmark Corporation (NYSE:TMK) . Each of the stocks carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Arch Capital Group provides property, casualty and mortgage insurance and reinsurance products worldwide. The company delivered positive surprise in all the last four reported quarters, with the average being 14.72%.

Berkshire Hathaway provides property and casualty insurance and reinsurance plus life, accident and health reinsurance besides operating railroad systems in North America. The company came up with positive surprise in three of the preceding four reported quarters, the average beat being 4.31%.

Torchmark provides various life and health insurance products and annuities in the United States, Canada and New Zealand. The company pulled off positive surprise in three of the preceding four reported quarters, with the average beat being 2%.

Today's Best Stocks from Zacks

Would you like to see the updated picks from our best market-beating strategies? From 2017 through 2018, while the S&P 500 gained +15.8%, five of our screens returned +38.0%, +61.3%, +61.6%, +68.1%, and +98.3%.

This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. From 2000 – 2018, while the S&P averaged +4.8% per year, our top strategies averaged up to +56.2% per year.

See their latest picks free >>