E*Trade reports sharp growth in profits, traffic
Reuters Story - July 21, 1998 20:08
PALO ALTO, Calif., July 21 (Reuters) - Online investing
service E*Trade Group Inc. on Tuesday reported its
third-quarter earnings more than doubled while traffic to its
Web site grew at a strong clip.
The company said its earnings rose to $6.6 million, or 16
cents a share, in the third quarter ended June 30 from $3.1
million or nine cents, in the year-ago period. Revenues jumped
68 percent to $62.3 million from $37 million a year earlier.
The results, which were released late Tuesday afternoon,
were in line with Wall Street's expectations.
Traffic to the company's Web site jumped to an average 2.2
million page views per day, from 1.4 million in the second
quarter. About 51,000 customers visit the site every day, and
customers on average spend about four hours per month there.
E*Trade President Christos Cotsakos said the company
expected traffic to keep growing in the coming months as the
company enhances its service with financial content for
investors.
The company, which recently received a $400 million
investment from Japan's Softbank Corp. also plans to
spend aggressively over the next several quarters on marketing
programs to build its brand name, and on strategic acquisitions
and other moves to improve its online service.
E*Trade shares closed down 25 cents at $32 on the Nasdaq.
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