TD Ameritrade's Profit Falls Short

TD Ameritrade

(AMTD)

said its fiscal fourth-quarter profit dropped 14% from a year ago and fell just short of expectations, but revenue and trading activity rose.

The Omaha, Neb.-based Internet securities brokerage said it had net income of $172 million, or 29 cents a share, in the quarter, down from $200.4 million, or 33 cents a share, in the year-ago period.

However, TD Ameritrade said net revenue increased nearly 13% from last year to $649.2 million and was up 4% sequentially. The company said 58% of net revenue were asset-based, and that average client trades per day totaled 316,000, an increase of 14%.

On average, analysts expected TD Ameritrade to notch a profit of 30 cents a share on revenue of $605.7 million, according to Thomson Reuters. After falling 7% during Wednesday's session, shares of TD Ameritrade were lately up 1%.

Looking ahead to fiscal 2009, TD Ameritrade said it expects earnings to fall in a range between $1.10 and $1.42 a share. Wall Street is forecasting full-year earnings of $1.33 a share.

"We have a strong, stable balance sheet and a successful business model that allow us to improve our competitive standing, despite the challenging environment," said CEO Fred Tomczyk in a statement. "We are looking forward to 2009 and coming out of this cycle a stronger and better positioned company."

On the downside, the company recorded fiscal 2008 earnings of $1.33 a share, falling 2 cents short of the average analyst target.

Among its rivals,

E*Trade

(ETFC)

was slipping 1.3% in early trading, while

Charles Schwab

(SCHW)

was flat.