Interactive Brokers Shares Tumble On 3Q Report

BOSTON (AP) — Shares of Interactive Brokers Group Inc. tumbled Friday after the automated electronic broker reported a third-quarter profit below Wall Street's expectations.

The stock fell $2.53, or 12.9 percent, to $17.03 in afternoon trading. The stock has ranged from $12.68 to $23.19 over the past year.

After markets closed Thursday, the Greenwich, Conn.-based company reported net income available to common shareholders of $8.5 million, or 20 cents per share, down from a profit of $27.2 million, or 65 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had forecast a profit of 31 cents per share.

Revenue dropped by nearly half to $286.6 million from $567.9 million. Analysts had expected revenue of $323.4 million.

Interactive Brokers said its market-making business income before income taxes was down 47 percent from the previous quarter and down 74 percent from the year-ago quarter.

"Ever-increasing competition in the transparent, exchange-listed derivatives markets continued to pressure spreads to never-before-seen levels in the third quarter," CEO Thomas Peterffy said in a statement. "These ultra-low transaction costs in exchange-listed products will inevitably be followed by higher trading volumes and better customer performance."

At the company's electronic brokerage segment, income before income taxes was roughly flat in the latest quarter compared with this year's second quarter, and dipped 3 percent from the year-ago quarter.