Posts for Ticker ‘AMTD’

AMERITRADE Shelf Registration Spurs E*TRADE Speculation Further (AMTD, ETFC, SCHW)

TD AMERITRADE Holding Corporation (NASDAQ: AMTD) has just filed an automatic shelf registration statement with the SEC today, which many rumor mongers may jump on and point to the notion that this lends more credibility to some buyout rumors from yesterday that it may want to acquire E*TRADE Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: ETFC).  AMERITRADE did not offer any terms nor any size or timing, but the offering is solely for senior debt securities and for subsidiary guarantees.  As with most automatic shelf registrations, no underwriters were mentioned by name.
Read More »

Posted on: November 19, 2009 – 11:38 am in Banking, Brokerage Firms, Financial Stocks, Mergers and Buy Outs, Rumors, , ,

Today’s Best Market Rumors (11/19/2009) (BA)(AMTD)(MWW)(NWSA)(AAPL)

Updated throughout the day.

Update 12.50 PM EST:  Boeing (NYSE:BA) could lose a $7.5 billion order for fighter planes to Brazil if the US Senate does not confirm Obama’s nominee to be ambassador to the South American country  (Bloomberg)

Update 11.08 AM EST:  TDAmeritrade (NASDAQ:AMTD) may be buying E*Trade  (NASDAQ:ETFC)  (Omaha World Herald)

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) has lost a large number of its most talented people to hedge funds. (Bloomberg)

The Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) tablet PC launch date has been delayed until late 2010.  (Digitimes)

Monster.com (NASDAQ:MWW) may be taken over by News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA) or Google (NASDAQ:GOOG)  (WSJ)

Blackstone’s (NYSE:BX) Pinnacle Brands may buy Birds Eye  (CNBC)

Sony (NYSE:SNE), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Nintendo are working on ways to keep market share as smart phones come after their market share.  (BusinessWeek)

Time Warner’s (NYSE:TWX) AOL is seeking to buy-out 2,500 employees as it is spun off by its parent. (various)

Citigroup (NYSE:C) may sell its auto lending group.  (NYPost)

You can join our open email distribution list to hear more news on key analyst calls, top day trader alerts, mergers and acquisitions, Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

For more information on Citi, Microsoft, Sony, and Google check the 24/7 Wall St 500.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: November 19, 2009 – 8:45 am in Rumors, , , , , , , , , , ,

Investors Flee Full-Service Brokers

mackMany investors feel that their brokers led them astray when the market collapsed. Brokers may not have suggested moving money to safe havens, or they may have suggested that clients double down as the market dropped as a means to make up losses. The trouble is that the prices of  most stocks and mutual funds kept dropping.

Full-service brokers have a distinct disadvantage, particularly in a recession. They change fees that tend to be much higher than those of discount and online brokers. Read More »

Posted on: July 25, 2009 – 6:16 am in Financial Stocks, , , ,

Charles Schwab (SCHW) And The Price Of Reputation

bankSeveral research firms publish data on corporate reputations each year. It is not difficult to predict which companies are likely to be on the section of these lists where there has been a large erosion of the public’s or Wall St.’s estimation of a firm. It has been twenty-three years since the “60 Minutes” segment on acceleration problems with Audi’s flagship sedan ran. There is not a single complete history of product marketing that does not review the multi-year damage that the incident did to Audi’s sales. The brand finally recovered. Interbrand puts its value at over $5 billion in 2008. Audi has returned to being one of the most highly regarded luxury automobiles in America. There is no record of what the story cost Audi, but it has to be in the billions of dollars. Read More »

Posted on: July 21, 2009 – 3:46 am in Financial Stocks, , , , ,

Media Digest 7/21/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   Microsoft (MSFT) is putting more R&D in India.

Reuters:   CIT (CIT) confirmed that it rasied $3 billion.

Reuters:   Bernanke said Fed can control inflation.

Reuters:   California lawmakers agreed to a state budget.

Reuters:   Small business  groups are  seeking help to keep companies afloat.

Reuters:    TI (TXN) profits and outlook beat expectations. Read More »

Posted on: July 21, 2009 – 2:53 am in Banking, Compensation, Drug companies, Earnings, Healthcare, Housing, Internet, Media, Oil & Gas, Old Media, Press Digest, Research, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

E*TRADE Valuation May Finally Be Compelling (ETFC, SCHW, AMTD, GS, MS)

ETRADE LogoE*TRADE Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: ETFC) has been the worst of the online brokerage stock.  With some of the crazy mortgage products it offered, it is no wonder.  And the stock has paid a price, over and over.  It trades as though it is destined to stay a $1.00 stock forever.  But today’s major drop in the price just might offer investors with a long-term horizon a stock with a low share price and a solid customer base that could have some serious upside.

E*TRADE was at $1.90 this week, but the hopes that hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin of Citadel would make a play diminished as the company’s financing pact came to be more financing by more debt owned by Citadel.  We have always believed that E*TRADE would make a great asset buy for a larger bank.  Charles Schwab &NASDAQ: SCHW) or TD Ameritrade (NASDAQ: AMTD) would be the natural buyers.  We also thought there was an outside chance that Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) or Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) might want to own this one so that they could live up to the status of “bank holding company.”  But now we know for certain that those classification changes to bank holding companies were merely for appeasing regulators and to more easily skate through the financial meltdown.

Read More »

Posted on: June 19, 2009 – 2:08 pm in Banking, Brokerage Firms, Financial Stocks, Rumors, Secondary Offering, , , , ,

Surprise Short Selling Changes (DNDN, DRYS, ETFC, FLEX, GRMN, SIRI, AMTD)

After looking through the short interest changes for the end of May.  We saw unusual gains in short selling increases in Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN), DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS), E*TRADE Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: ETFC), Flextronics International (NASDAQ: FLEX), Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN), Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI), and TD Ameritrade Holding (NASDAQ: AMTD). As you will see below, we included the stocks and the short interest changes:
Read More »

Posted on: June 10, 2009 – 11:02 am in Short Interest, , , , , , ,

Top Analyst Downgrades & Cautious Calls (ATHN, ETFC, LM, MICC, TKC, AMTD, YUM)

These are the top pre-market analyst downgrades or cautious notes we have seen early this Thursday morning from Wall Street brokerage firms with more than two hours until the market opens:

Athenahealth (ATHN) Started as Neutral at Baird.
E*TRADE (ETFC) Started as Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Legg Mason (LM) Started as Sell at Deutsche Bank.
Millicom (MICC) Cut to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
Turkcell (TKC) Cut to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
TD Ameritrade (AMTD) Started as Hold at Deutsche Bank.
YUM! Brands (YUM) Started as Hold at Jefferies.

Jon C. Ogg

Posted on: June 4, 2009 – 6:12 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , ,

American Companies Selling More $1 Products (AAPL)(KRT)(WMT)(MCD)(SBUX)

001_1American companies are increasingly offering products for $1 or less. Some are among the largest firms in the United States such as Wal-Mart (WMT) and McDonald’s (MCD). Other are smaller but use big distribution networks like the Apple (AAPL) iPhone App store to reach millions of consumers.

The most obvious reason for pricing products at $1 is to keep customers during a recession. When Radio Shack (RSH) sells four batteries for $.99, it may be the only way that it gets consumers to buy anything from Radio Shack at all. People may not be able to afford the retailer’s more expensive products. The fact that Radio Shack can offer something cheap and of real value keeps consumers “in touch” with the brand which will benefit the company when the economy recovers and higher priced consumer electronics begin to sell well again. Read More »

Posted on: May 26, 2009 – 4:12 am in Consumer Electronics, Consumer Goods, Food, Interview, Old Media, PC Companies, Retail, Telecom, Video Games, Wireless, , , , , , , , ,

Short Sellers Lighten Up On Online Brokers (ETFC, AMTD, SCHW)

We noticed how short sellers had increased their bets against banks and financials, even if this was right at the time that the big short squeeze came via a huge market rally.  But what is interesting is that the short sellers had actually been taking their bets down slightly in the online and discount brokerage firms.

Company Stock (Ticker)……………………… March 13… Change
E*TRADE Financial Corp. (ETFC)…………. 72,711,601  (-1.42%)
TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. (AMTD)….. 11,509,080  (-1.43%)
The Charles Schwab Corporation (SCHW) 33,356,727  (-3.09%)

What is interesting about the online and discount brokerage firms is that these have not risen as much as many of the leveraged banks and brokerage firms in this last rally.

JON C. OGG
March 25, 2009

Posted on: March 25, 2009 – 8:31 am in Banking, Brokerage Firms, Short Interest, , ,

Citi Starts Online Broker Coverage (SCHW, ETFC, AMTD)

Citigroup has initiated coverage of the discount and online brokerage universe this morning.  There is a mix of coverage in the call rather than a positive or negative for the whole group.:

  • Charles Schwab (NASDAQ: SCHW) Started as Buy.
  • E*TRADE (NASDAQ: ETFC) Started as Sell.
  • TD Ameritrade (NASDAQ: AMTD) Started as Hold.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: March 12, 2009 – 6:37 am in Analyst Calls, Brokerage Firms, , ,

Online Brokerage Review: Day Traders Haven’t Avoided Market Malaise (ETFC, AMTD, SCHW)

burning-money-pic12We now have all three of the large online brokerage giants out with their monthly metrics for Janury.  We wanted to compare E*TRADE FINANCIAL Corporation (NASDAQ: ETFC), TD AMERITRADE Holding Corporation (NASDAQ: AMTD), and The Charles Schwab Corporation (NASDAQ: SCHW).  We did a basic apples-to-apples comparison where available, and we also included the Daily Average Revenue Trades, or DARTs, along with assets and numbers of accounts.
Read More »

Posted on: February 18, 2009 – 8:55 am in Brokerage Firms, Financial Stocks, Trading Alert, , ,

The Ten Companies That Will Lead The US Out Of The Recession

EmpireThere are an extremely small number of companies which are likely to do relatively well during the recession, either because they are the market share leaders in their industries by a wide margin, or they are in businesses which sell products and services which are a necessary part of everyday life.

Wal-Mart (WMT) recently announced that its same store sales in January were up 2.1%, which was more than forecast. With the company’s huge network of stores and ability to strong arm suppliers, Wal-Mart offers shoppers good merchandise at prices which becomes more and more attractive as the downturn continues.

McDonald’s (MCD) says its same-store sales are holding up fairly well. Its “value meal” concept is likely to keep customers returning to its restaurants for plentiful and inexpensive food.

Colgate (CL) sales have also held up well as the recession has deepened. People are going to buy toothpaste and shampoo unless they are completely out of money.

Over the last year, shares of Colgate, Wal-Mart, and McDonald’s have significantly outperformed the DJIA.

The signals of a recovery will probably come from companies which are No. 2 or No.3 in their industries. It will be telling if they can begin to show even slightly improving trends operating in the shadow of larger competitors. The other area of corporate America worth watching is the sectors which have done substantially worse than most. That includes airlines, automobiles, and media companies.

Looking though a list of some of America’s largest companies to find firms which fit these descriptions, 24/7 Wall St. identified ten companies to watch for the signs of an economic recovery. A reasonable quarter or a slightly better-than-expected outlook from some of these companies should show that the recession is coming to a close.

Read More »

Posted on: February 6, 2009 – 1:35 pm in Economy, Editor's Picks, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Moody’s Raises TD Ameritrade, Above Junk (AMTD)

Money_stack_pic_4TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: AMTD) has been caught up in much of the same malaise affecting other financial and brokerage firm stocks.  The company posted a drop of more than 20% to its earnings this morning and gave lackluster guidance.  But what is interesting is that late today Moody’s Investors Service raised its debt ratings on the company to investment grade.

Read More »

Posted on: January 20, 2009 – 7:51 pm in Analyst Calls, Brokerage Firms,

Niche Trading Firm Mergers Not Dead (AMTD, SWIM, OXPS, TRAD)

Money_stack_picIt seems that the appetite for online brokerage firms to do selective M&A deals is not entirely dead.  TD Ameritrade (NASDAQ: AMTD) has announced this morning that it is acquiring much smaller thinkorswim Group Inc. (NASDAQ: SWIM).  It is paying a hefty premium of $606 million for the company, but you also have to consider what the larger firm is getting for the acquisition.

Read More »

Posted on: January 8, 2009 – 9:18 am in Brokerage Firms, Mergers and Buy Outs, , , ,

Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades (CMA, FITB, IRM, RF, SPSS, AMTD, THO, TDG)

Money_stack_picThese are some of the top pre-market analyst upgrades we are seeing this Wednesday morning:

  • Comerica (CMA) Raised to Outperform at Bernstein.
  • Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) Raised to Outperform at Bernstein.
  • Iron Mountain (IRM) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
  • Regions Financial (RF) Raised to Outperform at Bernstein.
  • SPSS Inc. (SPSS) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
  • TD Ameritrade (AMTD) Raised to Outperform at Raymond James.
  • Thor Industries (THO) Raised to Neutral at Baird.
  • Transdigm Group (TDG) Raised to Buy at UBS.

Jon C. Ogg
November 5, 2008

Posted on: November 5, 2008 – 8:08 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , ,

Online Brokers Catch A Bid (SCHW, AMTD, ETFC, IBKR)

This is the new official 48-hour period to be known in the future as GOVERNMENT BACKSTOP DAYS.  While financial stocks are a big beneficiary of this, the moves being seen in online trading firms are just as large or even larger.  Here are some of the pre-market moves and we also included a change from the intraday lows of yesterday morning.

Read More »

Posted on: September 19, 2008 – 8:24 am in Brokerage Firms, HI/LOW, Internet, , , ,

4 Chart Breakout Candidates (NTRS, WMT, AMTD, CHS)

Today was a strange day in the markets because of the Uncle Sam bailouts, but there are many stocks which showed activity on their charts exhibiting breakout or reversal patterns.  Whether they continue is something else entirely.  We would caution that with the markets also being this strong there are many stocks in our screening universe that looked up much more than they should have been.

Read More »

Posted on: September 8, 2008 – 6:37 pm in Charts, , , ,

TDAmeritrade (AMTD), Oppenheimer (OPY), And Raymond James (RJF) Try To Dodge Auction-Rate Buy-Backs

R218533_855025Several of the modest-sized investment houses say they should not have to buy back auction-rate securities which they sold to their customers.

The dog ate their homework.

Read More »

Posted on: August 19, 2008 – 4:49 am in Financial Stocks, , , ,

With Shares Low, E*Trade (ETFC) Becomes Buy-Out Target, Again

Etrade_2E*Trade (ETFC) had a bad quarter, in large part due to provisions for loan losses of $319 million. The company posted a net loss for the quarter of $119 million against a profit of $158 million in the same quarter last year.

E*Trade did have $535 million in revenue. That was down from $669 million last year, but there are a number of signs that the firm’s discount brokerage operation is in good shape.

Read More »

Posted on: July 24, 2008 – 12:03 pm in Brokerage Firms, , ,