CBOE profit rises, beats Wall Street view

(Reuters) — CBOE Holdings Inc., which operates the biggest U.S. stock-options market, reporter higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Friday on increased trading of exclusively listed contracts tied to stock-market indexes and volatility.

Third-quarter net income was $41 million, or 47 cents a share, the Chicago-based company said. That beat analysts' average forecast of 45 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

** daily chart **

CBOE, under new Chief Executive Edward Tilly, has fought hard to boost its exclusive franchise in stock-index options, even as a growing number of competitors chip away at its once-unquestioned dominance as a trading venue for options on individual stocks.

Trading in single-stock options in the third quarter fell to an average of 1.77 million contracts a day from 1.96 million a year earlier, while trading in CBOE's index-options rose to 1.38 million contracts daily from 1.15 million. CBOE gets about 67 cents in revenue for each index-option trade, compared with only about 8 cents for each option on an individual share.

Last month CBOE began a long-delayed expansion in trading hours for contracts tied to its CBOE VIX index, known as Wall Street's fear gauge. Eventually, Tilly expects to offer trading nearly 24 hours a day to capitalize on growing interest from international traders.

CBOE on Friday lowered its forecast for expenses this year, projecting spending on capital projects of $33 million to $36 million, down from earlier guidance of $35 million to $40 million. Its forecast for core operating expenses was unchanged at $189 million.

In the year-earlier third quarter CBOE earned $37.7 million, or 43 cents a share, excluding a one-time tax benefit.