CME topped?

[HenryTo]

CME (one of the consistently hottest stocks on IBD) just announced earnings - stock is down about 3.9% in the pre-market as I am typing this - after frustrating reversals on Thursday, Friday, and yesterday.
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CME 2nd-qtr profit up on record trading volumes
Tue Jul 26, 2005 07:32 AM ET

CHICAGO, July 26 (Reuters) - Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. (CME.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , parent of the largest U.S. futures exchange, on Tuesday said quarterly profit rose 43 percent but fell short of Wall Street forecasts.

CME second-quarter net income increased to $82 million, or $2.36 per share, from $57.3 million, or $1.66 per share, a year earlier. Analysts, on average, expected earnings of $2.38 share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Revenues rose to $239 million from $136 million, helped by a 28 percent jump in clearing and transaction fee revenue.

Second-quarter futures and options volumes averaged 4.4 million contracts per day, up 33 percent from a year earlier, and volume growth has remained strong into July.

However, the average transaction fee per contract, a key measure of operating margins, fell for a third consecutive quarter.

Excluding the low-priced TRAKRS products, CME's average rate per contract slipped to 65.1 cents from 66.8 cents in the first quarter. The decline was especially big in interest rate products, CME's busiest segment.

The rate declines when CME members, who pay less to trade at the exchange than non-members, account for a larger proportion of trading.

A recent surge in CME's share price -- to a high of $314.40 on July 21 from around $170.00 in late April -- has come amid talk that it has made a bid to buy the Chicago Board of Trade, the No. 2 U.S. futures mart.