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Microcap & Penny Stocks : Tokyo Joe's Cafe / Societe Anonyme/No Pennies -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kevin McKenzie who wrote (67553)	4/9/1999 10:25:00 PM
From: Mr. Big	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 119973

National Discount Brokers (NDB) offers a quality online service -- including its innovative NDB University, which provides educational materials on personal finance and investing through an arrangement with Time Warner's (NYSE:TWX - news) Money.com. Piper Jaffray estimates that NDB's customer accounts grew by 32% in the December quarter -- twice the industry average. The market is now valuing the company at $3,000 per customer account, or just 30% to 50% of what investors are paying per account for the top online brokers like Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCH - news) and ETrade (Nasdaq:EGRP - news) . And that assumes the firm's market-making and specialist businesses are basically worthless. Of course, investors are willing to pay up for firms with the best-known brands and significant market share. Still, that's an enormous price disparity. Not long ago, a single analyst was estimating the company would earn $0.85 a share in the year ending in May. But Q3 earnings released March 30 suggest that estimate could prove way low. Revenue roared ahead 81% to $68.2 million, pumping EPS from continuing operations up to $0.58 from just $0.14 last year. That brings year-to-date earnings to $0.90 per share. Frenetic market activity continues to produce outsized profits. Trades per day by individual investors soared 61% from the same period a year ago while trades through its Sherwood Securities unit increased 74%. As long as market activity stays so strong, National Discount Broker should remain on a roll. Then again, it could get hit much harder than the other online brokers in a market slowdown. National Discount Brokers is an online brokerage with roughly 128,000 customer accounts and assets of $6.5 billion. Basic limit orders cost $19.75. Barron's recently rated NDB in a tie for #2 among 21 online brokers. Piper Jaffray figures NDB claimed 1.2% of all online accounts and 1.3% of trading volume as of December, placing it tenth among online brokers. Sherwood is a wholesale market maker in about 3,600 Nasdaq and small-cap stocks. It executes transactions primarily for institutional investors. The parent also owns a 47% membership interest in Equitrade Partners, a specialist in 157 New York Stock Exchange stocks. NDB plans to sell Equitrade. As of September, insiders owned 8.1 million shares, or 56.2% of the company. FINANCIAL FACTS Income Statement 12-month sales: $196.1 million 12-month income: $15.7 million 12-month EPS: $1.11 Profit Margin: 8.0% Market Cap: $389.6 million (From continuing operations.) Balance Sheet Cash: $0.8 million Total Assets: $195.5 million Total Liabilities: $69.3 million Long-term Debt: None