Continue reading E*TRADE Drops on Declining Accounts

E*TRADE Drops on Declining Accounts originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Shares of E*Trade Financial (NASDAQ: ETFC) caught a boost this morning on reports that Citadel Investment Group LLC, the online broker's largest stock and bond holder, has scrapped its plan to unload 120 million shares over the next three months. The size of the planned sale represented about 10% of the hedge fund's investment in ETFC.

"Citadel believes that the termination of the plan at this time is in the best interests of E*Trade and all of its stakeholders," said the firm in a statement. The massive sale, first announced on Aug. 11, was due to commence today, but Citadel says that no shares have been sold under the plan.

Continue reading Citadel scraps plans to unload E*Trade Financial shares

Citadel scraps plans to unload E*Trade Financial shares originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 31 Aug 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

E*Trade Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: ETFC) has garnered three upgrades in as many days this week. On Monday, Fox-Pitt upped the equity from Underperform to In Line, while FBR on Tuesday raised its opinion from Underperform to Outperform. Raymond James rounded out the trifecta on Wednesday, hiking its rating on ETFC from Underperform to Market Perform.

Judging by this rush of analyst love, Wall Street seems to think the worst is over for E*Trade. However, most of this week's commentary falls under the category of "damning with faint praise." For example, Fox-Pitt said they now believe ETFC is more likely to be acquired by another firm than to file bankruptcy, and Raymond James observed that the stock has "limited downside" -- hardly a bold statement for an equity that settled Wednesday at $1.23.

Continue reading Call volume climbs on E*Trade Financial after a trio of upgrades

Call volume climbs on E*Trade Financial after a trio of upgrades originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In response to the news, Fox-Pitt Kelton widened its third-quarter loss estimate for E*Trade. The analysts now expect a per-share loss of 42 cents rather than 27 cents. In comments accompanying the revised outlook, Fox-Pitt noted that ETFC's efforts to patch up its damaged balance sheet haven't been sufficient to eliminate doubts regarding its home-equity line of credit losses.

Yesterday's headlines probably came as an unpleasant surprise to the new crop of ETFC bulls. The International Securities Exchange (ISE) is experiencing a surge in call volume on the stock, which has now racked up a 10-day call/put ratio of 6.51 on the exchange. In other words, traders have purchased about 6.5 calls to open on ETFC for every 1 put during the past couple of weeks.

Continue reading Eyeing E*Trade Financial in the Fannie and Freddie aftermath

Eyeing E*Trade Financial in the Fannie and Freddie aftermath originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

When E*Trade Financial Corp. (Nasdaq: ETFC) had its meltdown, I considered buying but I was too chicken. I mean, can you really blame me? When it got caught up in the financial crisis, the term "falling knife" never felt so accurate. A 52-week range between $2.08 and $25.79 is a pretty scary thing; to see what I mean in graphic format, feast your eyes on the chart.

Lately, though, I've been warming up to the idea ever so slightly of taking a shot on E*Trade. I can't say I possess strong conviction yet, but I'm not necessarily afraid of owning financial stocks. In fact, as an example, I own Newcastle Investment (NYSE: NCT), an idea that Sheldon Liber talked about recently, one that has a pretty frightening yield. E*Trade is a significant name in the online-brokerage industry, and its brand is valuable. When I saw the company falling off a cliff last year, my instinct to buy started to kick in, insisting that it isn't going to go the way of the dodo. Plus, takeover theories began, further fueling my fascination. In the end, I took no action.

Now, though, the stock has bounced nicely off its lows. And it reported January data yesterday that had a couple of good data points. Daily average revenue trades are up 18.8% for the month-to-month timeframe, and they increased 21.5% year-over-year. End-of-period retail accounts were flat month-to-month, and were up 6.2% year-over-year. Total retail client assets did decrease, however -- year-over-year, they declined over 12%. And, hey, for whatever this is worth, its Super Bowl "Talking Baby" ads apparently were a hit.

At any rate, I'm a bit more sanguine on E*Trade's stock potential. I may not buy just yet, but the closer it gets to $6 or $7 a stub, the better the chance it has, in my mind, of going to double digits again. Sure, Schwab (NASDAQ: SCHW) and TD Ameritrade (NASDAQ: AMTD) are the safer broker bets, but I can't help looking at E*Trade.

E*Trade: Is there a case here? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 14 Feb 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.