John,
The article is from the 16th, here is the link for registered users.
interactive.wsj.com@2.cgi?stanjr/text/wsjie/data/SB892763171310500500.djm/&NVP=&template=news-search.tmpl&form=news-search.html&dbname=wsjie%2Findex&dbname=autowire%2Findex&words=egrp&any-all=AND&maxitems=30&HI=15
And due to privacy aggreements, I will just post a sniplet from it. (thats should keep me A$$ out of a sling)
Analysts Fume Over Uncertainty
About Numbers From E*Trade
By REBECCA BUCKMAN
Dow Jones Newswires
But right now, analysts are having a hard time figuring out just how many new
accounts one Internet pioneer, E*Trade Group Inc., is racking up each quarter.
Although the company plays down the controversy, the uncertainty has led some
analysts to wonder whether E*Trade is growing as robustly as it once was.
"They are confusing investors as to what the true economics of their business are,"
fumed one analyst, E*Trade bull James Marks of Credit Suisse First Boston Corp.
"When we as analysts don't know what's happening, we can only assume the worst.
And the worst here is that they're not producing true account growth commensurate
with their spending."
.....
In January, however, E*Trade disclosed that for its quarter ended Dec. 31, about
65,000 of the company's 100,000 new accounts were converted from OptionsLink.
When it reported earnings last week, E*Trade said only that it gathered 80,000 new
accounts, bringing its total to more than 400,000.
It seem option link traders arent just that TRADERS, and that the 90,000 or so of them seem to be just fluff in numbers and wont produce much revenue. Sounds like creative accounting to me, but you read it and see what it says :)
Happy Trading
Stan |
