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

To: Neil H who wrote (12922)	4/4/2000 11:36:00 AM
From: Spytrdr	Respond to of 13953

RESEARCH ALERT - strong buy ================================================================ NEW YORK, April 4 (Reuters) - ING Barings said on Monday it started coverage on some electronic finance companies, putting a hold rating on discount and online broker Charles Schwab Corp. (NYSE:SCH) and a strong buy on ETrade Group Inc. (NASDAQ:EGRP). -- Analyst Andy Collins also started S1 Corp. (NASDAQ:SONE) with a strong buy, E-LOAN Inc. (NASDAQ:EELN) with a buy and Knight/Trimark Group Inc. (NASDAQ:NITE) with a buy. -- Schwab's Web site generated significantly fewer hits this year and yet the stock sells at a 26 percent premium to the average 2000 consensus for the online brokerage group, Collins wrote. Schwab is however, an extremely nimble and customer-focused company, he said. -- ETrade has one of the best business models in the electronic brokerage industry, Collins wrote. He set a 12-month $50 a share target price on the company. -- "E*Trade has transformed itself very rapidly, offering a robust set of online brokerage products while diversifying through several non-brokerage acquisitions over the last year, including purchasing an online financial information provider, an international trade execution firm, an online bank and an ATM network," Collins wrote. -- S1 Corp.'s main business is creating Internet interfaces and data management information pipelines between large mainframe legacy systems at financial institutions and their retail customer bases, Collins wrote. In the future, Collins said he expects S1 to act as a portal for all financial transactions, including banking, brokerage and insurance. -- Online mortgage and auto finance loan source E-LOAN uses proprietary technology to software to pick the best mortgage rate and product for an individual customer, Collins wrote. The process eliminates the need for mortgage brokers, which typically add 125-150 basis points to the closing price.