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E*TRADE Financial's May DARTs Rise 8% Amid Improving Markets

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E*TRADE Financial Corporation reported an increase in its Daily Average Revenue Trades (DARTs) for May 2017. The company’s DARTs were 211,516, jumping 8% from the prior month and 42% year over year. Notably, derivatives comprised 32% of DARTs during the month.

Broker performance is generally measured through DARTs that represent the number of trades from which brokers can expect commission or fees. The rise in DARTs largely reflects investors’ willingness in investing in equity markets.

At the end of the month under review, E*TRADE’s total number of accounts were approximately 5.3 million, comprising about 3.6 million brokerage accounts, 1.5 million stock plan accounts and 0.3 million banking accounts.

For the reported month, E*TRADE’s total brokerage accounts included 46,839 gross new brokerage accounts. This was up 20% from the last month and 53% from the prior-year month. Total brokerage accounts highlight the company’s ability to gain and retain customers who trade and invest.

Moreover, E*TRADE’s net new brokerage assets came in at $1.4 billion as against a decline of $0.2 billion recorded in the prior month and a rise of $1.2 billion in the year-ago month.

At the end of May 2017, E*TRADE’s customer security holdings were $253.4 billion, up 2% from Apr 2017 and 21% from May 2016. The company’s brokerage-related cash declined 1% from the prior month to $52.2 billion, with customers being the net buyers of about $1.8 billion in securities. In addition, bank-related cash and deposits for the company totaled $5.2 billion, down from $5.3 billion in both the previous month and the year-ago month.

Our Take

Rise in DARTs and new brokerage accounts will prove to be beneficial for E*TRADE. However, mounting expenses and intense competition related to trading price cuts with other renowned companies remain near-term headwinds.

The company’s shares gained 6% over the last six months as against a 3.5% decline for the Zacks categorized Investment Brokerage industry.



E*TRADE currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Performance of Other Investment Brokers

Interactive Brokers Group, Inc.’s (IBKR - Free Report) Electronic Brokerage segment reported a year-over-year increase in DARTs for May 2017. Total client DARTs were 675,000, up 5% from May 2016. Similarly, DARTs were up 5% from the prior month.

TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation (AMTD - Free Report) reported average client trades per day of 514,000 in its activity report for May 2017. The reported figure was up 2% from the prior-month and 16% from the year-ago period.

The Charles Schwab Corporation’s (SCHW - Free Report) monthly activity report for May 2017 shows an improvement over the year-ago period. Total client assets were $3 trillion at the end of the month, up 15% year over year.

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