Jon, thanks for the link.
I think it merits discussion here.
CHICAGO, April 15 (Reuters) - Online brokerage firm AmeriTrade Holding Corp. said Thursday it would boost its technology spending by $100 million over the next two years, a move analysts said was needed to sustain growth.
SO, they haven't spent $100 million to improve their site , as some here claim they have. NO they haven't.
Further, The higher spending represents a 40 percent to 50 percent increase over current technology spending, which is about $40 million per year,
Maybe I am wrong with my math, but $100 million over two years IS NOT a 40%-50% increase, it is 25% by my calculations. Anyone care to clarify?
More..... this is gonna be financed by a secondary offering. Fine, but when will those funds be received to allow them to upgrade? Three more months? and how long after that until they begin the upgrading?
The spending will be used in part to upgrade the look and function of the Omaha, Neb.-based firm's Web site and will be used to open two technology centers located in Omaha and the Baltimore, Md., area, the company said.
So let's see they are opening two new centers, and increasing spending by only 25%? Is this correct?
AmeriTrade, the nation's sixth largest online broker, also said its advertising and marketing spending would increase significantly this summer in an effort to sustain account growth, but no specific spending levels were provided.
That's the kicker guys, and again you bulls, show me the light please. Their gonna do another advertising blizt this summer to B.S the public into thinking they are a professional company.
No doubt their commercials are extremely effective, but what do you think that will do to your accessability to the site? Improvements? Yeah right. more like let's see how many peons we can fit on the head of a needle.
AmeriTrade said a stock split was also not out of the question if the shares remain at current levels.
God, I hope they do announce a stock split. Let is run for another few days or weeks. The sooner the better. Then when the time is right, I might be able to find shares of this POS to short. I rarely short, but I will do so again on this one.
Who knows, maybe I'm wrong, maybe this will run for ever and ever, great stock performance. Crappy service. These two factors will meet somewhere.
Have fun everyone. And this post is not to try to scare all you AMTD bulls. In fact, I encourage you to buy more. Who cares about the price, just buy more. And DO NOT SELL. I repeat, DO NOT SELL.
If everyone just keeps their shares, no way can the price fall. |
