LEAWOOD, Kansas -- Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ: EEFT), a provider of electronic financial transaction solutions, has moved from the Nasdaq SmallCap Market to the Nasdaq National Market, effective July 3.
Nasdaq approved Euronet's application to list its securities on the Nasdaq National Market on July 1. The trading symbol for Euronet's common stock, EEFT, will remain the same. Euronet was also added as a member of the Russell 3000 and Russell 2000 Indexes as of June 28.
In a news release, Michael J. Brown, Euronet chairman and CEO, attributed the change to his company's "sound fundamentals and consistent improvements in operating profit and EBITDA, which has led to a significant increase in our market capitalization."
Membership in the Russell 3000 Index, which is reconstituted annually in June and remains in place for one year, means automatic inclusion in either the small-cap Russell 2000 Index or large-cap Russell 1000 Index as well as related style indexes. Association in Russell's 21 US equity indexes is determined strictly by market capitalization rankings and style attributes rather than by subjective opinion or committee decisions.
Russell indexes are widely used by managers for index funds and as benchmarks for both passive and active investment strategies. About $250 billion is invested in index funds based on Russell's indexes and an additional $850 billion is benchmarked to them. Investment managers who oversee these funds purchase shares of member stocks according to that company's weighting in the particular index.
