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Non-Tech : E*Trade (NYSE:ET) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Roger Bodine who wrote (8707)	10/1/1999 12:49:00 PM
From: Roger Bodine	Respond to of 13953

For those of you that have E-Trade accounts, here is a link under "EGRP" for the Wall St. Consensus. Buy: 4 Buy/Hold: 6 Hold: 3 Weak Hold: 0 Sell: 0 trading.etrade.com

To: Roger Bodine who wrote (8707)	10/1/1999 12:56:00 PM
From: Roger Bodine	Respond to of 13953

trading.etrade.com STOCK REPORTS E*TRADE Group 25-SEP-99 Industry Outlook Our outlook for the investment banking and brokerage industry over the next six to 12 months is positive. Firms will benefit from the secular trend of increasing securities trading volumes, which should lead to higher commissions. Investment banking revenues should continue to pick up, as underwriting and merger and acquisition activity maintains its brisk pace. We expect Europe, with the development of the EMU, to be a significant driver of investment banking revenues, as the reduction of regulatory barriers drives cross border M&A activity, and as European companies begin to rely more on the capital markets for financing. In the first half of 1999, European M&A activity rose 50%, to 55 billion. Year to date, through September 10, 1999, the S&P Investment Banking and Brokerage Index rose 23.4%, versus a 9.3% increase in the S&P 1500. S&P carries no investment opinions on securities brokers. Competition among industry participants is likely to intensify, driven by consolidation and pressure on margins in certain product areas. The growth of low cost on-line trading is likely to put pressure on traditional retail brokerage commissions. In addition, the number of companies competing for a similar customer base is growing, as banks and insurance companies increase their offerings of traditional brokerage products. Despite these trends, the industry's long term outlook is also favorable. Factors bolstering long term prospects include monetary unification in Europe and problems with funding social security obligations in developed nations. Also, increased internationalization of financial markets and favorable demographics suggest higher savings rates. The move to build up asset management operations and institute variable compensation plans are steps the industry has taken to reduce its cyclicality. Price-to-tangible book value is a measure investors frequently use to value brokers, because their highly liquid balance sheets can be readily marked to market. The traditional P/E ratio suffers from two drawbacks: it tends to make the stocks look undervalued at market tops and overvalued at market bottoms. Of course, brokerage stocks should be assessed based on a comprehensive set of relevant factors, including earnings stability or volatility, financial strength, size, cost structure and other considerations.