B3, Brazil’s Stock Exchange, Turns Record Trading Into Record Profit

3 Key Points

—B3, the company that owns and runs Brazil’s stock exchange, is this earnings season’s quietest winner: its most recent quarter delivered a record recurring net profit of R$1.54 billion ($302M), up 33% year over year on record revenue, because every record day for the Ibovespa is a fee-collecting day for the exchange itself.

—The growth engine is volume, not price: trailing revenue is up 20% year over year to R$10.6 billion ($2.1B) with a 67% operating margin and 47% net margin — and Citi expects the company to hand shareholders about R$6.3 billion ($1.2B) in dividends, interest on capital and buybacks this year, raising its recommendation and target on the stock.

—The next test is dated: B3 reports second-quarter results on August 6, deep in a quarter in which the Ibovespa set repeated records — while the stock, at R$15.39, still trades 23% below its 52-week high and 30% below the R$19.96 consensus target, with rival exchange projects circling its near-monopoly.

B3 Profit Record: What Happened

01What Happened

B3 S.A. – Brasil, Bolsa, Balcão (B3: B3SA3) is the operator of Brazil’s only major stock exchange and one of the world’s largest exchange groups by market value. It clears the country’s equities, derivatives, fixed income and even car and real-estate registrations — a toll booth on nearly every financial transaction in Latin America’s largest economy.

Formed from the 2017 merger of BM&FBovespa and Cetip, it is that rare Brazilian blue chip with no controlling shareholder: 93% of the stock floats.

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The exchange’s latest reported quarter was a record: recurring net income of R$1.54 billion ($302M), up 33% year over year, on all-time-high revenue, as InfoMoney reported. Reported net income came to R$1.48 billion ($290M). The result beat the sell side’s earnings-per-share forecast, and it did so for the most mechanical of reasons: Brazilians are trading again. The Ibovespa’s record run — which continued through the second quarter — flows almost directly into B3’s fee lines.

Company Intelligence · Market Data

Ticker / listingB3SA3 · B3 Novo Mercado

Share price (Jul 17)R$15.39

Market capR$76.9 bn ($15.1B)

52-week rangeR$11.62 – R$20.02

Trailing P/E16.7x

Price / book4.3x

EV / EBITDA8.2x

Wall Street target (consensus)R$19.96

EPS (TTM)R$0.92

Payout ratio57%

Shares out / free float5.00bn / 92.6%

Beta0.16

Source: EODHD market data, July 17, 2026.

The consensus target sits 30% above the price even before the August 6 report — and Citi went further, per Seu Dinheiro, projecting roughly R$6.3 billion ($1.2B) of total shareholder payouts this year and upgrading the stock. On a R$76.9 billion market value, that is a cash-return yield above 8%.

Company Intelligence · Company Profile

CompanyB3 S.A. – Brasil, Bolsa, Balcão

Sector / industryFinancial Services · Exchanges & Financial Data

HeadquartersSão Paulo, Brazil

CEOGilson Finkelsztain

CFO / IRAndré Veiga Milanez

Created2017 merger of BM&FBovespa and Cetip

OwnershipNo controlling shareholder; ~93% free float

ListingB3 Novo Mercado (it lists itself)

Source: EODHD company fundamentals, July 17, 2026.

Key Drivers Behind the B3 Profit

02Key Drivers

An exchange’s income statement is a mirror of its market’s mood. When the Ibovespa rallies to records — as it has through 2026, powered by disinflation and the approach of interest-rate cuts — three things happen at once: trading volumes rise, listed companies’ market values (the base for many fees) swell, and new issuance stirs after years of drought.

All three feed B3’s top line simultaneously, which is how revenue grew 20% year over year while Brazil’s real economy grew low single digits.

The margin does the rest. At a 67% operating margin and 47% net margin, B3 converts each additional real of trading into profit at a rate few businesses anywhere can match — the economics of a platform whose costs barely move whether 3 billion or 5 billion shares change hands.

The countervailing force is competition. For the first time since the 2017 merger, rival exchange projects — backed by international players and large banks — are moving from paper to licensing, as A Revista noted in its results coverage. None trades yet; all of them shape how B3 prices, invests and pays out.

Live Market IntelligenceBrazil — Live Market BoardInside: market breadth, the sector heatmap, currencies & rates, the Latin America scoreboard and the full instrument board.

Rio Times · Live Market Intelligence

Brazil — Live Market Board

B3 · São Paulo

Jul 17, 2026 · 09:01

Ibovespa · benchmark

173,825.27

-1.24%

+28.27% over 12 months

Market breadth · 15 names

20% advancing

3 ▲ advancing12 declining ▼

Currencies, rates & key inputs

USD / BRL

5.10

+0.03%

EUR / BRL

5.83

-0.05%

Selic rate

14.25%

·

Brent crude

85.92

+2.01%

Iron ore

161.91

·

Sector heatmap · average move today

Materials

+0.53%

SUZB3

Consumer Staples

+0.19%

ABEV3

Consumer Disc.

-0.70%

AZZA3

Financials

-0.82%

ITUB4, BBDC4, BBAS3, B3SA3

Energy

-1.48%

PETR4, PRIO3

Mining

-1.97%

VALE3, CSNA3, GGBR4

Industrials

-2.72%

WEGE3, RENT3

Utilities

-3.71%

ENEV3

Latin America scoreboard

IndexLastTodayStrength

IbovespaBrazil

173,825.27

-1.24%

S&P/BMV IPCMexico

66,358.81

-0.08%

S&P IPSAChile

10,947.38

-0.70%

S&P MERVALArgentina

3,185,257

+0.00%

MSCI COLCAPColombia

2,285.11

-0.30%

BVL S&P PerúPeru

57,112.22

—

Full instrument board

Instrument

Last

Change

YoY

Prev.

High

Low

Volume

IBOV

173,825.27

-1.24%

+28.27%

176,010.90

—

—

—

USD/BRL

5.10

+0.03%

-8.33%

5.10

5.10

5.10

—

SELIC

14.25%

—

—

—

—

—

PETR4

39.89

-1.72%

+25.48%

40.59

40.86

39.89

20,460,700

VALE3

72.98

-2.05%

+34.15%

74.51

74.08

72.54

12,956,600

ITUB4

42.55

-1.37%

+24.54%

43.14

43.23

42.34

18,143,000

BBDC4

18.41

-1.02%

+14.63%

18.60

18.54

18.19

19,588,300

BBAS3

20.76

+1.02%

-0.57%

20.55

20.82

20.45

15,277,700

B3SA3

15.39

-1.91%

+12.50%

15.69

15.72

15.24

31,040,600

ABEV3

15.60

+0.19%

+14.04%

15.57

15.71

15.46

20,801,700

WEGE3

43.49

-1.74%

+5.76%

44.26

44.35

43.12

5,647,900

PRIO3

56.79

-1.23%

+33.97%

57.50

57.95

56.79

3,779,700

SUZB3

41.70

+0.53%

-17.46%

41.48

42.18

41.38

4,337,500

RENT3

38.86

-3.69%

+5.03%

40.35

40.25

38.63

5,996,900

AZZA3

18.53

-0.70%

-48.83%

18.66

18.84

18.30

1,186,600

CSNA3

5.10

-2.67%

-36.25%

5.24

5.20

5.10

8,771,300

GGBR4

23.91

-1.20%

+44.65%

24.20

24.37

23.80

7,992,200

ENEV3

25.95

-3.71%

+86.69%

26.95

26.88

25.83

11,323,800

Largest moves today

ENEV3

25.95

-3.71%

RENT3

38.86

-3.69%

CSNA3

5.10

-2.67%

VALE3

72.98

-2.05%

B3SA3

15.39

-1.91%

WEGE3

43.49

-1.74%

PETR4

39.89

-1.72%

ITUB4

42.55

-1.37%

The session read

The Ibovespa eased 1.24%, with breadth negative — 3 of 15 names higher. Materials led, while Utilities lagged.

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B3 Financial Detail

03Financial Detail

Metric

1T25

1T26

Chg

Recurring net income

R$1.16 bn ($227M)

R$1.54 bn ($302M)

+33%

Reported net income

—

R$1.48 bn ($290M)

—

Revenue (TTM basis)

R$8.8 bn ($1.7B)

R$10.6 bn ($2.1B)

+20%

Operating margin (TTM)

—

67.3%

—

Net margin (TTM)

—

47.0%

—

Five-Year Track Record

The longer arc explains why this breakout matters. Through Brazil’s brutal rate cycle of 2021–2024, B3’s profit line went sideways — a R$4–4.7 billion plateau while double-digit interest rates kept investors in fixed income and out of stocks. The plateau is now breaking upward:

Fiscal year

Revenue

EBITDA

Net income

2021

R$9.1 bn ($1.8B)

R$8.2 bn ($1.6B)

R$4.7 bn ($921M)

2022

R$9.1 bn ($1.8B)

R$8.2 bn ($1.6B)

R$4.2 bn ($823M)

2023

R$8.9 bn ($1.7B)

R$7.9 bn ($1.5B)

R$4.1 bn ($804M)

2024

R$9.4 bn ($1.8B)

R$8.0 bn ($1.6B)

R$4.6 bn ($902M)

2025

R$10.1 bn ($2.0B)

R$9.1 bn ($1.8B)

R$4.6 bn ($902M)

Earnings vs. Estimates

Quarter

EPS actual

EPS estimate

Surprise

Q1 2026

R$0.30

R$0.29

+3.4%

Q4 2025

R$0.28

R$0.33

−15.2%

Q3 2025

R$0.24

R$0.24

0.0%

Q2 2025

R$0.25

R$0.24

+4.2%

Q1 2025

R$0.22

R$0.22

0.0%

Balance Sheet Snapshot

Company Intelligence · Balance Sheet (Mar 31, 2026)

Total debtR$15.6 bn ($3.1B)

Cash & equivalentsR$0.9 bn ($181M)

Net debtR$14.7 bn ($2.9B)

Shareholders’ equityR$18.3 bn ($3.6B)

Return on equity (TTM)26.7%

Operating margin (TTM)67.3%

Source: EODHD company fundamentals, July 17, 2026.

The debt is deliberate. With cash generation this stable, B3 runs a leveraged balance sheet to make its own equity work harder — the same playbook as the big global exchanges — and still holds a 27% return on equity while paying out more than half its earnings.

Management Signals from B3

04Management Signals

Management’s posture under CEO Gilson Finkelsztain has been consistent: defend the franchise with technology investment, keep costs flat against inflation, and return everything the franchise does not need. The Citi payout projection of R$6.3 billion ($1.2B) is the sell side taking that message literally.

The competitive response is the piece to watch — an incumbent monopolist can fight entrants on price, on product breadth, or by locking in the plumbing (clearing and depository), and B3’s public remarks lean on the third.

What to Watch Next for B3

05What to Watch Next

August 6: second-quarter results, covering the months in which the Ibovespa repeatedly closed at records — consensus will be chasing the volume data upward. Selic cuts: every cut pushes Brazilian savings from fixed income toward equities, B3’s highest-margin business. Payout announcements: whether the board validates the R$6.3 billion ($1.2B) trajectory Citi projects. Competition milestones: any rival receiving a securities-exchange license from the CVM would be the first real structural news since 2017. IPO reopening: a revived listings pipeline would add the one revenue line still dormant.

Risks Facing B3

06Risks

The stock is a leveraged bet on its own market: a rally reversal cuts volumes, market caps and issuance simultaneously, and the operating leverage that flatters profits on the way up works in reverse. Competition is no longer theoretical, and even an unsuccessful entrant could force fee cuts that permanently reset margins.

Regulatory and tax intervention in financial transactions is a recurring Brasília temptation. And at 4.3x book, the shares already price a great deal of the franchise’s quality.

Exchange Sector Context

07Sector Context

Globally, exchanges are among the best businesses ever listed — regulated near-monopolies with software margins — and B3 is the purest emerging-market expression of the model. For foreign investors, it is also the cleanest single-stock proxy for the entire Brazilian equity story: one cannot believe in a multi-year Brazilian bull market and not believe in the toll booth it must pass through.

That is what makes August 6 more than one company’s earnings date — it is the quarter’s best measurement of how much money is actually moving back into Brazilian stocks.

This report is part of The Rio Times’ Company Intelligence coverage of B3-listed companies. It is journalism, not investment advice.