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Non-Tech : TD Waterhouse Group (TWE) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: OldAIMGuy who wrote (1094)	3/1/2000 12:06:00 PM
From: Ian@SI	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1413

iWSJ subscribers: interactive.wsj.com Short extract... March 1, 2000 Online-Brokerage Executives Bet Firms' Shares Are Turning Corner By DANIELLE SESSA Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Executives at some online-brokerage firms are betting that their stocks will soon be as popular with investors as their offbeat commercials are. Insiders at Ameritrade Holding Corp., ETrade Group Inc. and TD Waterhouse Group Inc. have started to accumulate shares in their firms. While the amount of buying is hardly eye-popping, it marks a shift in sentiment for sector insiders. Online brokers' shares have fallen hard since the heady days last spring when the Internet boom carried the stocks to record highs. Increased competition, rising interest rates and some high-profile Web site outages helped to drag down the sector. Throughout the roller-coaster ride, insiders at ETrade and Ameritrade continued to sell stock, settling for lower and lower prices. Instead of reducing their stakes, insiders are adding to their positions. The heaviest insider buying was at TD Waterhouse. Nine insiders bought 108,000 shares at $15.13 to $16.72 from Nov. 24 to Jan. 4. The top buyers included President Frank Petrilli, who picked up 54,500 shares; Chief Executive Stephen McDonald, who purchased 25,000 shares; and Director Lawrence Waterhouse, who bought 10,000 shares. Online-brokerage firms got a boost Tuesday as investors piled into the stocks following National Discount Brokers Group Inc.'s announcement that it expects to surge past analysts' expectations for the fiscal third quarter, ended Tuesday. In 4 p.m. New York Stock Exchange composite trading, NDB soared 45%, or $14.125, to $45.125 and TD Waterhouse climbed 10%, or $1.6875, to $18.3125. In 4 p.m. Nasdaq Stock Market trading, Ameritrade rose 16%, or $2.5625, to $18.6875 and E*Trade Group gained 7.7%, or $1.75, to $24.625. "These stocks became sharply oversold and the sentiment turned overly bearish," says Greg Smith, an analyst at Chase H&Q. "Stock prices became disconnected on the underlying fundamentals. Online-trading volumes and new-account levels hit higher levels and I'm sure that [insiders] at these companies were seeing that too." Industrywide volume at online brokers rose 50% in the fourth quarter and is expected to post 30% to 40% gains for the first quarter, Mr. Smith says. The insider buying is an "encouraging" sign for Steven Appledorn, senior portfolio manager of the Munder NetNet Fund, which owns stakes in several online brokers. Mr. Appledorn sees online brokers as "great long-term investments" and adds, "it's nice to have management voting the same way with their wallets." The recent buying at TD Waterhouse wasn't the first spree for executives at the New York company. Insiders bought about 90,000 shares at $12 to $13 in September, shortly after its June initial public offering at $24. "The management team believes that TD Waterhouse is a good long-term investment and the buying activity by members of our management team reflects that belief," a spokeswoman for the firm says. ...