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Schwab to beat the Street
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March 15, 1999: 12:00 p.m. ET
Boom in customer trading volume to lift discount broker past analysts' 1Q targets
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Powered by a boom in customer trading activity, discount broker Charles Schwab Corp. said Monday it expects to post first-quarter profits higher than Wall Street analysts had expected.
The San Francisco-based broker said it expects to report record first-quarter net of $130 million to $140 million, or 31 cents to 34 cents per share. That's roughly twice the earnings per share posted a year ago.
Analysts polled by First Call Corp., which tracks earnings estimates, expected Schwab to earn 26 cents a share.
First-quarter revenue is expected to rise by more than 50 percent from a year ago, to $910 million to $940 million, Schwab said.
Shares of Schwab (SCH) rose 3 to 89 shortly before noon on the New York Stock Exchange Monday.
"Recent trading volumes are propelling the company to its best quarter ever in terms of revenues and profits," said David Pottruck, Schwab president and co-chief executive officer.
Schwab said customer daily average revenue trades in February fell 18 percent from January's level to 150.9 thousand, but that is up 68 percent from February 1998.
Web-based trading through the discount broker's eSchwab site has exploded in the past year, vaulting Schwab atop the list of major online trading firms.
But Schwab, like many rivals such as E*Trade Group (EGRP) and Ameritrade (AMTD), has run into trouble handling the soaring online trading volume. Schwab has been struck by at least four temporary online trading shut-downs this year. 
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Charles Schwab
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