NEW YORK (AP) -- E-Trade slide 8 percent in premarket trading Thursday, a day after the online broker reported an unexpected quarterly loss.
The New York company reported late Wednesday that it lost 2 cents per share in the fourth quarter, while analysts were expecting a profit of 21 cents per share. Revenue of $475 million also fell short of estimates, and the company opened 10,000 new brokerage accounts during the quarter, less than half the 28,000 opened in the prior-year quarter.
Joel Jeffrey of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods said that expenses were higher during the quarter and weighed down results, but they were non-recurring. However, he lowered his estimates for 2012 earnings per share to 53 cents from 78 cents in part because of slowing trade activity by investors. He maintained a "Market Perform" rating and $10 price target on the stock.
BMO Capital Markets analyst David Chiaverini also confirmed his "Market Perform" rating but reduced his price target by $1 to $8. He wrote that E-Trade's margin outlook is weaker than expected, and he nearly halved his profit estimate for the year to 34 cents per share from 65 cents per share.
In premarket trading, the shares of E-Trade Financial Corp. fell 78 cents to $8.58. Over the past year, shares have traded between $7.42 and $18.13.
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