TD Ameritrade Says 4Q Profit Fell 9 Pct

JOSH FUNK

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. said Tuesday investors kept its online trading operations busy in its latest quarter as the markets improved but lower interest rates and rising expenses sent its profit down 9 percent compared with a year ago.

Ameritrade said it handled 35 percent more trades per day on average and its trading-based revenue soared almost 38 percent in its fourth fiscal quarter.

The company's acquisition earlier this year of options-trading specialist thinkorswim helped it top trading numbers from last fall's panicked selling during the turmoil around the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. And retail traders stayed engaged in the improving market.

The average number of trades it handled soared to an average of 410,576 trades per day in the quarter.

But Ameritrade said low interest rates drove its asset-based revenue, which includes money earned on its customers' deposit accounts and various investment products, down 29 percent. The net effect was a slim 1 percent increase in overall revenue.

It said higher expenses — mostly associated with the thinkorswim acquisition — also hurt its profit.