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To: Voltaire who wrote (4000)	2/16/2000 7:04:00 PM
From: Jenne	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 35685

Tom.. where's CREE heading.. is it 300 by March and a 3-1? : ))

To: Voltaire who wrote (4000)	2/16/2000 7:47:00 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 35685

Voltaire: It looks like some of my trading has helped the bottom line over at Waterhouse <VBG>...FYI... <<FOCUS-TD Waterhouse Q1 profit nearly doubles (NEW YORK, Feb 16 (Reuters) - TD Waterhouse Group Inc. (NYSE:TWE - news) (Toronto:TD.TO - news), the world's No. 2 discount broker, said on Wednesday its profits more than doubled in the fiscal first quarter as more of its customers turned to the Internet to buy and sell stocks. TD Waterhouse, one of many online brokers to report record earnings quarter after quarter amid the longest bull run in U.S. history, also said it had set a goal of reaching ''high double digit'' profit growth in 2000. ''With the achievements of the first quarter, we believe we are well on the way,'' Chief Executive Stephen McDonald said in a statement. TD Waterhouse, which is second in size only to Charles Schwab Corp. (NYSE:SCH - news), posted a net income for the quarter ended Jan. 31 of $57 million, up 184 percent from $20.1 million for the same period a year ago. On a per-share basis, it reached 15 cents a diluted share, 151 percent higher than last year's $0.06 and 87 percent greater than the 8 cents a share forecast by analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial. Excluding the impact of goodwill, the share figure would have been 17 cents a diluted share against 9 cents a share a year ago. Online brokers have repeatedly beaten market estimates by a wide margin as analysts have consistently underestimated their profit growth. Although some analysts expect another record year for the industry, they have yet to update their earnings forecasts. Meanwhile, total revenues went up 77 percent to approximately $382 million in the quarter against $215 million for the same period last year. TTD Waterhouse's stock, most of which are owned by Canada's Toronto Dominion Bank (Toronto:TD.TO - news), closed at 17-1/2, up 1-15/16 on the New York Stock Exchange. TD Waterhouse said new account openings rose 56 percent to 260,000 exclusive of acquisitions, compared with 150,000 in the fourth quarter and 167,000 in the first a year ago. The cost per account -- often used to measure the cost of advertising and marketing -- increased to $139 against $161 the previous quarter and $69 for the first quarter last year. McDonald later told Reuters that the broker had spent about $36 million on advertising and marketing during the quarter and planned to spend about $100 million for fiscal 2000. ''It's about double last year's budget.'' Other online brokers have been spending more money per account. Ameritrade Holding Corp. (NasdaqNM:AMTD - news), for example, plans to spend up to $300 during its fiscal year. TD Waterhouse said it handled an average of 190,000 trades per day during the quarter, up from 103,500 in the fourth quarter and 98,000 for the first quarter a year ago. Online trades grew to 72 percent of total trades versus 58 percent a year ago and 68 percent in the last quarter. ''Online customers tend to have more assets with us and tend to trade more frequently,'' McDonald said. Meanwhile, customer assets grew 24 percent from the fourth quarter and 57 percent from the first quarter last year to $150 billion. After making acquisitions or forming partnerships in the India, Japan, and the United Kingdom last fiscal year, TD Waterhouse planned to further its expansion overseas, said McDonald. ''We definitely do want to span the globe,'' he said, citing Asia, Europe and Latin America as potential markets. ''Our aggressive targets for 2000 are to gain over 1 million new customer accounts, exclusive of acquisitions, $60 billion in customer assets and high double digit growth in profits,'' he added.>> ---------------------------------------------------------------- Actually my larger and more active account is at Schwab. Yet, Waterhouse is making plenty of money. I don't think they'll go hungry anytime soon..!! Best Regards, Scott