Brokerages Weekly Review: April Trading Metrics For Charles Schwab, Ameritrade, E*Trade

TD Ameritrade (NYSE:AMTD), E*Trade Financial (NASDAQ:ETFC) and Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) recently released their monthly volume figures for the month of April. After a surge in trading activity in the December quarter, the brokerages reported subdued trading volumes in April. Although trading activity was higher than the previous month, volumes were sluggish compared to the prior year period. On the other hand, total client assets under management witnessed a slight sequential decline from previous levels. However, on a year-on-year basis total client assets were significantly higher than the previous year period. Here’s a quick roundup on the individual metrics and April performance for the brokerage firms.

TD Ameritrade

Ameritrade’s trading volume in the March quarter was 3% lower than the comparable 2014 period, with an average of 476,000 trades per day. ^[1] Although Ameritrade’s trades per day in April fell to 457,000 trades per day, the figure was about 2% higher than the the prior year period. Ameritrade’s Insured Deposit Account (IDA) balances were 2% higher than the year ago period and roughly flat over Q1 levels at $74.5 billion. On the other hand, its interest-earning assets were about 9% higher than the prior year period and 4% higher than the Q1 average at $20.2 billion in April. Similarly, Ameritrade’s total client assets rose annually by about 14% annually to $704.5 billion.

• Trefis has a $34 price estimate for Ameritrade’s stock, implying a market cap of $18.2 billion. This is about 10% lower than the current market price, which fluctuated between $36 and $37 during the week.

See our full analysis for TD Ameritrade

Charles Schwab

Charles Schwab averaged about 277,000 revenue trades per day in April – about 12% lower  than the Q1 average of about 313,000 trades per day. ^[2]. The brokerage added 60,000 new accounts in April, taking the total number of active brokerage accounts to over 9.5 million. Schwab’s total client assets under management stood at over $2.52 trillion at the end of April, up from just over $2.30 trillion in April 2014. We currently forecast Schwab’s total client assets to reach nearly $2.7 trillion by the end of the year. ^[3]

• Trefis has a $27 price estimate for Charles Schwab, translating into a $35.2 billion market cap. This is about 15% lower than the current market price, which has fluctuated between $31 and $32 during the week.

See our full analysis for Charles Schwab

E*Trade Financial

E*Trade’s total client assets were also up on a year-over-year basis but declined sequentially to $46.8 billion at the end of April. ^[4] However, E*Trade’s total client assets (customer assets in brokerage accounts and banking accounts combined) were up to $302 billion from $266 billion in the year ago period and $299 billion at the end of March. Daily average revenue trades (DARTs) for the month of April were down by about 1% sequentially to 157,000 trades per day and were about 8% lower than the comparable prior year period.

• Trefis has a $22 price estimate for E*Trade’s stock, translating into a $6.4 billion market cap. This is over 20% below the market price, which fluctuated between $29 and $30 during the week.

See our full analysis for E*Trade Financial

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1. Ameritrade Monthly Metrics For April, TD Ameritrade Investor Relations, May 2015 [↩]
2. Charles Schwab Trading Metrics For March and April, Charles Schwab Investor Relations, May 2015 [↩]
3. Charles Schwab Monthly Metrics For April, Charles Schwab Investor Relations, May 2015 [↩]
4. E*Trade Monthly Metrics For April, E*Trade Investor Relations, May 2015 [↩]