Yep,,,I am a slave to those profits!!! Please keep up the frenzied trading!
Long on Schwabie,
CMM
SAN FRANCISCO, April 3 (Reuters) - Charles Schwab Corp. <SCH.N>, the No. 1 U.S. discount and Internet brokerage, predicted on Monday that its first-quarter profits would nearly double to a record due to frenzied customer stock trading.
Schwab, which has around 6.6 million customers, said it expected to earn $265 million to $280 million, or 31 to 33 cents per share, in the first quarter. That compares with a $143 million profit, or 17 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Revenues should rise to $1.55 billion, up 63 percent from $952 million a year ago, Schwab said.
Schwab's projected profits exceed analysts estimates of 26 cents a share, according to research firm First Call/Thomson Financial. Analysts generally have underestimated the brokerage industry's profits, enabling most firms to beat estimates every quarter.
Schwab's stock price gained 4 to 60-13/16 in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Schwab said it processed a record 320,000 trades a day it earned a commission on in March, more than double the average a year ago. The month of March was also a record month for the nation's exchanges, with the Nasdaq posting volumes of more than 2 billion shares a day on several record-breaking days.
Customers of CyBerCorp Inc., the day-trading firm Schwab recently bought, generated more than 18,000 trades a day in March, up more than 600 percent from a year ago, Schwab said.
Schwab's estimated first-quarter results include charges of $13 million relating to its purchase of CyBerCorp and planned acquisition of private banking firm U.S. Trust Corp. <UTC.N>.
Schwab will report final first-quarter results in mid-April |
