ASX Ltd shares (ASX: ASX) continued to push to new 52-week highs on Thursday, capping a five-week run that has seen the stock add 21%. The move comes as strong full-year financials, and the resolution of a long-running regulatory overhang help alleviate some of the early year pressure on the stock.
The ASX share price hit A$65.43, pushing ASX to sit among the most overbought names on the index, with an RSI rising to 79.94. Despite recent gains and a firm shift in sentiment, shares remain around 13% below its recent high set in April last year as you can see on the 2 year chart above.
Recent Financials Supportive
ASX Ltd’s full-year FY26 results provided the support that holders needed, as the company reported operating revenue of A$1.25 billion, representing growth of 13.3% year-on-year, with underlying net profit after tax rising 5.2% to A$536.4 million. Revenue growth was broad-based, spanning all four of the company’s core business units: Listings, Markets, Technology and Data, and Securities and Payments.
The company declared a total fully franked dividend of 206.5 cents per share, translating to a yield of approximately 3.25% at current prices, a figure that continues to attract income-focused funds, particularly given the franking credit benefit available to domestic superannuation investors.
Statutory net profit after tax declined 3.5% to A$484.9 million, weighed down by A$51.5 million in one-off items. These included legal settlement costs and penalties tied to proceedings brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, as well as payments related to the long-delayed CHESS replacement program. EBITDA margin compressed to approximately 61%, reflecting a cost base that is growing faster than revenue.
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Looking ahead to FY27, management guided for operating expense growth of between 18% and 21%, driven by ongoing cloud migration, technology modernisation, and regulatory remediation work tied to its multi-year “Accelerate” program, whilst capex guidance was reaffirmed in the range of A$180 million to A$200 million.
The resolution of key legal matters with ASIC has also been a meaningful sentiment driver. The settlement removes an uncertainty that had weighed on ASX’s valuation multiple for several years, allowing management to redirect focus toward executing the Accelerate technology roadmap. The CHESS replacement remains a central operational priority, with the upgraded infrastructure critical to the long-term competitiveness of Australia’s post-trade ecosystem.
What Lay Ahead
The near-term technical picture for ASX Ltd is one of a stock that has run hard and fast. An RSI approaching 80 places it among the most overbought names on the index heading into Friday’s session, and history suggests that readings at these levels often precede a period of consolidation or modest pullback as short-term traders take profits.
Bears will point to FY27 expense growth of ~19.5% as a significant headwind to earnings expansion, and with the stock trading at a premium multiple relative to intrinsic cash flow models, some fundamental analysts argue the current price already reflects a considerable amount of good news.
ASX shares head into the final trading session of the week as one of the most technically extended stocks on the index, yet with repeated highs continuing to be set, bulls will be looking at last year’s high as the next major target.
