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Ameritrade CEO is bullish
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June 6, 2000: 5:31 p.m. ET
Despite analysts' pessimism, the online-brokerage chief has rosy outlook
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Ameritrade Chief Executive Tom Lewis spoke optimistically about his company Tuesday, despite recently anemic stock market trading and analysts' uncertainty about the online brokerage.
Lehman Brothers, citing low stock-exchange volume, Monday lowered its earnings expectations for Ameritrade's fiscal third quarter, from a profit of four cents a share to a loss of a penny a share. On May 2, Lehman also downgraded the Omaha, Neb.-based brokerage's rating from "outperform" to "neutral."
 Lewis talked to CNNfn Tuesday before speaking at PaineWebber's 11th Annual Growth and Technology Conference in New York. He told CNNfn that Ameritrade does not give forward-looking statements; but, while admitting it was "hard to tell" how his company's profitability would fare, he said he expected better results in the fall.
"There's typically a seasonal drop in the summer, and we expect that; and we have been preparing (Wall) Street for that," Lewis said. "But invariably, we've seen immense pick-ups in the mid-fall."
Lewis said he thinks market momentum is actually shifting in Ameritrade's favor, away from "glitz and excitement" to traditional economics, and he thinks his company's profit margin will help it survive. (240K WAV) or (240K AIF)
While touting Ameritrade's "traditional" values, Lewis also said his company's lack of "bricks and mortar" makes it suited to ride the ups and downs of the market. (319K WAV) or (319K AIF)
Lewis also said Ameritrade is strictly focused on online trading, unlike other online brokerages - which he called "financial supermarkets" - offering banking, mortgages and insurance.
Lewis said this is why Ameritrade (AMTD: Research, Estimates) has been able to expand its marketing - launching a new ad campaign in the fall, cross-marketing with credit-card company MBNA (KRB: Research, Estimates), and entering a joint venture in 1999 with Charles Schwab (SCH: Research, Estimates) and TD Waterhouse (TWE: Research, Estimates) to create online investment banker Epoch Partners - without raising its cost per trade of $8.54. 
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Ameritrade, Inc.
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