rl's Comments RSS Syndication from SeekingAlpha.com http://seekingalpha.comuser/183687/comments http://seekingalpha.com/article/144749-here-s-why-e-trade-s-customers-are-not-happy?source=feed#comment-559844 559844
i don't know how amtd can manage to keep their customers but i know i'm happy w/ etrade as my brokerage for the past 12+ years.
]]> Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:44:59 -0400
i don't know how amtd can manage to keep their customers but i know i'm happy w/ etrade as my brokerage for the past 12+ years.
]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/134522-schwab-interested-in-e-trade-is-e-trade-interested-in-schwab?source=feed#comment-487786 487786
here's a post that i summarized the CC in yahoo message board to reduce the reading if anybody cares:
messages.finance.yahoo...

the language used in the cc referring to OTS capital request is also not negative and here's my post for that:
messages.finance.yahoo...

Layton said: "We are looking at a significant range of alternatives to generate capital, large and small..... to replenish the bank's capital cushion, we will need to pursue financing alternatives, including equity issuances through public or private transactions as well as asset sales or other special transactions." the statement fully explains the intention to pursue "significant range of alternatives to generate capital" and i think dilution is still a last resort type of action. of course, we'll just have to trust ETFC to make best judgments pending on market condition. the only concern i have is that "all 19 stressed tested banks" will also be raising capital and that may cause some credit shortage.

It is my believe that Layton believes and did gave a positive report but the market's reaction afterward is what really twisted the reality. people looked for the worst and presume the worst as they tried to justify the market reaction which was largely manipulation in my opinion. i also believe that this may be the reason that the “surprised” Layton wrote the letter to etfc customer/shareholders to help explain the company's position (posted on e*trade).
]]> Sun, 03 May 2009 16:07:53 -0400
here's a post that i summarized the CC in yahoo message board to reduce the reading if anybody cares:
messages.finance.yahoo...

the language used in the cc referring to OTS capital request is also not negative and here's my post for that:
messages.finance.yahoo...

Layton said: "We are looking at a significant range of alternatives to generate capital, large and small..... to replenish the bank's capital cushion, we will need to pursue financing alternatives, including equity issuances through public or private transactions as well as asset sales or other special transactions." the statement fully explains the intention to pursue "significant range of alternatives to generate capital" and i think dilution is still a last resort type of action. of course, we'll just have to trust ETFC to make best judgments pending on market condition. the only concern i have is that "all 19 stressed tested banks" will also be raising capital and that may cause some credit shortage.

It is my believe that Layton believes and did gave a positive report but the market's reaction afterward is what really twisted the reality. people looked for the worst and presume the worst as they tried to justify the market reaction which was largely manipulation in my opinion. i also believe that this may be the reason that the “surprised” Layton wrote the letter to etfc customer/shareholders to help explain the company's position (posted on e*trade).
]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/99614-an-ameritrade-e-trade-merger-not-as-crazy-as-it-sounds?source=feed#comment-284582 284582 Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:48:39 -0400 http://seekingalpha.com/article/99614-an-ameritrade-e-trade-merger-not-as-crazy-as-it-sounds?source=feed#comment-283013 283013
i have not read any actuall share dilution on ETFC yet, can you provide a source for that info? i don't understand how fitting Citidel's agenda would equate to a slow motion raid on ETFC. perhaps i'm too simple minded but i think Citidel would enjoy the most profit if ETFC stock price goes through the roof and it would try it's best to make sure it happens that way.]]> Wed, 15 Oct 2008 12:17:24 -0400
i have not read any actuall share dilution on ETFC yet, can you provide a source for that info? i don't understand how fitting Citidel's agenda would equate to a slow motion raid on ETFC. perhaps i'm too simple minded but i think Citidel would enjoy the most profit if ETFC stock price goes through the roof and it would try it's best to make sure it happens that way.]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/99614-an-ameritrade-e-trade-merger-not-as-crazy-as-it-sounds?source=feed#comment-282196 282196
ETFC started the turn around plan about a year ago and got rid of their toxic stuff very quick and only kept some with income producing potential. with the fed lowering the prime rate, it certainly helps the homeowners with heloc with the rate without hurting profit for etfc. with a recent market condition, many shorts had coverted their bet, we will not likely to see a "pop" on etfc anytime this year, but there are lots of cash sitting on the sideline just waiting for the storm to blow over. merger or not ETFC is a great brand name with very competitve products (prob. the best).... if anybody want's to invest in a brokerage company, ETFC is a better deal than AMTD or SCHW. ]]> Tue, 14 Oct 2008 13:23:33 -0400
ETFC started the turn around plan about a year ago and got rid of their toxic stuff very quick and only kept some with income producing potential. with the fed lowering the prime rate, it certainly helps the homeowners with heloc with the rate without hurting profit for etfc. with a recent market condition, many shorts had coverted their bet, we will not likely to see a "pop" on etfc anytime this year, but there are lots of cash sitting on the sideline just waiting for the storm to blow over. merger or not ETFC is a great brand name with very competitve products (prob. the best).... if anybody want's to invest in a brokerage company, ETFC is a better deal than AMTD or SCHW. ]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/99614-an-ameritrade-e-trade-merger-not-as-crazy-as-it-sounds?source=feed#comment-281419 281419 Mon, 13 Oct 2008 13:20:43 -0400 http://seekingalpha.com/article/96485-e-trade-financial-it-was-good-to-be-long?source=feed#comment-261697 261697
btw, glad you enjoyed my rant.

thanks.]]> Mon, 22 Sep 2008 13:50:59 -0400
btw, glad you enjoyed my rant.

thanks.]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/96485-e-trade-financial-it-was-good-to-be-long?source=feed#comment-261685 261685 Mon, 22 Sep 2008 13:44:15 -0400 http://seekingalpha.com/article/96485-e-trade-financial-it-was-good-to-be-long?source=feed#comment-261613 261613 i don't think etfc will be merged, i would rather see it grow and surpass the old chuck. etfc was always better then schwab and should pass schwab like bby left circuit city behind while the analyst predicted otherwise. etfc has the innovation and the management to make it worthwhile for the longs.
]]> Mon, 22 Sep 2008 12:40:58 -0400 i don't think etfc will be merged, i would rather see it grow and surpass the old chuck. etfc was always better then schwab and should pass schwab like bby left circuit city behind while the analyst predicted otherwise. etfc has the innovation and the management to make it worthwhile for the longs.
]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/79303-citadel-infuses-e-trade-with-strong-experienced-management?source=feed#comment-179877 179877 needless to say that etfc has prove itself to be strong on innovation. etfc should be trading as strong as schw if not better within 3 to 4 years and will eventually overtake schw if schw doesn't keep up. once the older generation that buys into schw's brand dissipates, schw will need strong marketing/business strategy to stay on top.]]> Thu, 05 Jun 2008 15:51:24 -0400 needless to say that etfc has prove itself to be strong on innovation. etfc should be trading as strong as schw if not better within 3 to 4 years and will eventually overtake schw if schw doesn't keep up. once the older generation that buys into schw's brand dissipates, schw will need strong marketing/business strategy to stay on top.]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/79303-citadel-infuses-e-trade-with-strong-experienced-management?source=feed#comment-178571 178571 blogs.wsj.com/deals/20...

did bahtia just hinted that etfc is ready to ripe?]]> Tue, 03 Jun 2008 11:58:04 -0400 blogs.wsj.com/deals/20...

did bahtia just hinted that etfc is ready to ripe?]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/79303-citadel-infuses-e-trade-with-strong-experienced-management?source=feed#comment-176183 176183
thanks for your input.

yes, the 12.5% is very good and solid but still can be much less of the 2 choices.... so i'm thinking when the "time" is matured... swap... and for their benefit, i don't think Citadel intends to dump the entire block to lower the price unless there is substantial "reasons".

jbmaria,

being that you're fairly neutral on etfc at the moment, what's your take on what i've wrote? i'm really interested on what you think is a good signal to jump on etfc.]]> Thu, 29 May 2008 14:24:50 -0400
thanks for your input.

yes, the 12.5% is very good and solid but still can be much less of the 2 choices.... so i'm thinking when the "time" is matured... swap... and for their benefit, i don't think Citadel intends to dump the entire block to lower the price unless there is substantial "reasons".

jbmaria,

being that you're fairly neutral on etfc at the moment, what's your take on what i've wrote? i'm really interested on what you think is a good signal to jump on etfc.]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/79303-citadel-infuses-e-trade-with-strong-experienced-management?source=feed#comment-176048 176048
"At the same time,Citadel registers for "potential" sale over 90 million shares it got for lending ETFC $1.9 Billion at 12.5 % last November. It also registers this debt for "potential' sale at the same time as the share authorization. Curious! "

one should ask what Citadel's intention is ..... MONEY!! of course!

Citadel is basically getting ready to realize their investment and they're certainly going to maximize their profit. they're getting ready for the stock to go through the roof right after they swap out the debt so they hold and controls more shares. KG is a genius setting this whole thing up.... wow. i assume a long term investment is lower in tax even with the hedge funds.... which means they'll wait till they get the tax break?

somebody, please tell me if there is something wrong with my naive assumption.]]> Thu, 29 May 2008 11:59:04 -0400
"At the same time,Citadel registers for "potential" sale over 90 million shares it got for lending ETFC $1.9 Billion at 12.5 % last November. It also registers this debt for "potential' sale at the same time as the share authorization. Curious! "

one should ask what Citadel's intention is ..... MONEY!! of course!

Citadel is basically getting ready to realize their investment and they're certainly going to maximize their profit. they're getting ready for the stock to go through the roof right after they swap out the debt so they hold and controls more shares. KG is a genius setting this whole thing up.... wow. i assume a long term investment is lower in tax even with the hedge funds.... which means they'll wait till they get the tax break?

somebody, please tell me if there is something wrong with my naive assumption.]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/78558-seeking-e-trade-s-magic-moment?source=feed#comment-174633 174633
what's your projection on etfc in the near term to 2 years?]]> Tue, 27 May 2008 13:41:18 -0400
what's your projection on etfc in the near term to 2 years?]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/78935-the-online-brokerage-wars-e-trade-offers-compelling-risk-reward?source=feed#comment-174552 174552
what's your projection on etfc in the near term to 2 years?]]> Tue, 27 May 2008 11:58:13 -0400
what's your projection on etfc in the near term to 2 years?]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/78558-seeking-e-trade-s-magic-moment?source=feed#comment-172937 172937
again, sell on an investment is just moving money around to better position an investor, there should be little concern over that and we all know why etfc wants more cash and less debt.

50mil per q for interest is nothing compares to schw's per emp cost which puts etfc in somewhat of an adventage over schw and the market certainly rates etfc much lower due to the recent cry wolf.

i was going to talk about everything you wrote, but i'll just generalize as "if there's no risk at all, this won't be an investment and you have the right to be concern but don't scare yourself nor cry the sky is falling as we discuss tomorrow's possibilities"

one thing i like is that layton's pay is tie to the stock value and he is not meeting too much resistance in his executions.



]]> Fri, 23 May 2008 18:11:55 -0400
again, sell on an investment is just moving money around to better position an investor, there should be little concern over that and we all know why etfc wants more cash and less debt.

50mil per q for interest is nothing compares to schw's per emp cost which puts etfc in somewhat of an adventage over schw and the market certainly rates etfc much lower due to the recent cry wolf.

i was going to talk about everything you wrote, but i'll just generalize as "if there's no risk at all, this won't be an investment and you have the right to be concern but don't scare yourself nor cry the sky is falling as we discuss tomorrow's possibilities"

one thing i like is that layton's pay is tie to the stock value and he is not meeting too much resistance in his executions.



]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/78558-seeking-e-trade-s-magic-moment?source=feed#comment-172633 172633 Fri, 23 May 2008 11:09:23 -0400 http://seekingalpha.com/article/78182-e-trade-what-the-analysts-and-news-haven-t-told-you?source=feed#comment-172624 172624
duh... etfc post lost last quarter, of course the rev per emp dropped... we were talking about the long term cost of operations for schw is higher then the limite interest etfc has to fork out. just go long and be happy..... of course, that wouldn't be as fun as to tease all these people online all day long.]]> Fri, 23 May 2008 11:00:26 -0400
duh... etfc post lost last quarter, of course the rev per emp dropped... we were talking about the long term cost of operations for schw is higher then the limite interest etfc has to fork out. just go long and be happy..... of course, that wouldn't be as fun as to tease all these people online all day long.]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/78182-e-trade-what-the-analysts-and-news-haven-t-told-you?source=feed#comment-172216 172216
buy when it drops and sell when it pops.... hold enough to make you rich... chances like this is too rare to miss.... and jbmaria is running out of ammos..... ]]> Thu, 22 May 2008 19:10:19 -0400
buy when it drops and sell when it pops.... hold enough to make you rich... chances like this is too rare to miss.... and jbmaria is running out of ammos..... ]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/78182-e-trade-what-the-analysts-and-news-haven-t-told-you?source=feed#comment-172211 172211
i decided to run the number on the emps.... lets just say $13 per hour avg. including benefits and everything else... that would be aprox. $27000 per year per emp.... 9000 x 27000 = 243,000,000.... WOW... that's just avg. of $27000 per year per emp.... not even $30,000.... may be if schw hire's people @ less then $13 per hour it would be better off then etfc...


]]> Thu, 22 May 2008 19:04:21 -0400
i decided to run the number on the emps.... lets just say $13 per hour avg. including benefits and everything else... that would be aprox. $27000 per year per emp.... 9000 x 27000 = 243,000,000.... WOW... that's just avg. of $27000 per year per emp.... not even $30,000.... may be if schw hire's people @ less then $13 per hour it would be better off then etfc...


]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/78182-e-trade-what-the-analysts-and-news-haven-t-told-you?source=feed#comment-172201 172201
you can call me a twinkie and i won't have a problem, those cream fill yellow #6 preserves me well.

here's some numbers from yahoo schw competitors:
#emp on schw = 13,300 vs 3,867 on etfc, the rest of the number is too hard to disect, perhaps you can educate me on each of them so i don't sound too stupid on later posts.

can you calculate the cost per emp over the life time of the loan on etfc w/ cit? the buisness model of schw does not allow it to cut man power as flexible as etfc can and that will prob. out last the life of the loan etfc will have to pay interest on.

lets see if we can agreed on that etfc is currently at a disadventage due to its CURRENT debt situation, the horrible mortagage portfolio can still produce positive income the longer we wait it out, and etfc does have a better platform with good customer loyalty that are actively trading.

if you can agree with me on the above terms then we should enjoy a good growth on etfc for the near future?

buy them while they're cheap. isn't that what investment is about? or do you have convincing evidence that etfc will go belly up.


]]> Thu, 22 May 2008 18:53:20 -0400
you can call me a twinkie and i won't have a problem, those cream fill yellow #6 preserves me well.

here's some numbers from yahoo schw competitors:
#emp on schw = 13,300 vs 3,867 on etfc, the rest of the number is too hard to disect, perhaps you can educate me on each of them so i don't sound too stupid on later posts.

can you calculate the cost per emp over the life time of the loan on etfc w/ cit? the buisness model of schw does not allow it to cut man power as flexible as etfc can and that will prob. out last the life of the loan etfc will have to pay interest on.

lets see if we can agreed on that etfc is currently at a disadventage due to its CURRENT debt situation, the horrible mortagage portfolio can still produce positive income the longer we wait it out, and etfc does have a better platform with good customer loyalty that are actively trading.

if you can agree with me on the above terms then we should enjoy a good growth on etfc for the near future?

buy them while they're cheap. isn't that what investment is about? or do you have convincing evidence that etfc will go belly up.


]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/78182-e-trade-what-the-analysts-and-news-haven-t-told-you?source=feed#comment-172096 172096
"But let's put that aside for the moment and consider from where ETFC will get its future growth given the following;

ETFC is selling off assets that presumably contributed to profits.

ETFC has stopped originating mortgages,once their best source of profits until they went sour.

Trading volumes may be marginally better but certainly not enough to goose earnings to any measurable degree.And now with the biz model essentially the same as AMTD,organic growth seems to be shackled. "

according to your argument, are we assuming people at etfc are robots without innovations? that they will no longer improve their business and just continue with the existing operation and never change? based on my experiance and i'm sure you can agree that it was etfc who was the leader of online trading (e*trade) and chuck's phone trading system was actually better then their online system back in the 80's. etfc will alway lead in innovation and create new business revenu as they did. i'm sure schwab and others will try the same, but i've not seen them lead yet.
selling assets are the same as selling the very stock you're holding (if any) you sell it to reinvest the cash else where, if you sell it at a lost to cover a potential margin call then it's bad but if you're selling it w/ profit to hold cash... isn't that what many investors are doing right now to minimize lost and wait for the storm to blow over?

etfc will still continue to profit from existing mortgages for a while and the existing profolio will only get better as time goes by.

there's nothing wrong with the existing business model and it's not the same as AMTD.... not to mention etfc didn't have an issue w/ system when vol was way up a few month ago.

"And just consider if the old commission price wars start up again.The long predicted $5 commission would crunch ETFC earnings,hurt AMTD and frankly barely be felt by SCHW and Fidelity who have massive asset management biz that make the portion of their profits coming from commissions seem small and impervious to cutthroat price slashing.If Chuck and Fidelity want to kick ETFC when they're down,now would be the time.
Can you say competitive disadvantage boys and girls? "

bring it on, etfc has minimal operational cost compares to old schwab and fidelity, the branches and the number of employees.... that's old school... what centry are we on again? competitive disadvantage grandpa and grandma? i'm sure old chuck is wise but it's lost its agility.

forget all the details, it is not difficult to see that even if amtd is as good as etfc, etfc's current stock price should be near amtd once the balancesheet get's cleaned up... and that's within a couple of years.
]]> Thu, 22 May 2008 16:24:03 -0400
"But let's put that aside for the moment and consider from where ETFC will get its future growth given the following;

ETFC is selling off assets that presumably contributed to profits.

ETFC has stopped originating mortgages,once their best source of profits until they went sour.

Trading volumes may be marginally better but certainly not enough to goose earnings to any measurable degree.And now with the biz model essentially the same as AMTD,organic growth seems to be shackled. "

according to your argument, are we assuming people at etfc are robots without innovations? that they will no longer improve their business and just continue with the existing operation and never change? based on my experiance and i'm sure you can agree that it was etfc who was the leader of online trading (e*trade) and chuck's phone trading system was actually better then their online system back in the 80's. etfc will alway lead in innovation and create new business revenu as they did. i'm sure schwab and others will try the same, but i've not seen them lead yet.
selling assets are the same as selling the very stock you're holding (if any) you sell it to reinvest the cash else where, if you sell it at a lost to cover a potential margin call then it's bad but if you're selling it w/ profit to hold cash... isn't that what many investors are doing right now to minimize lost and wait for the storm to blow over?

etfc will still continue to profit from existing mortgages for a while and the existing profolio will only get better as time goes by.

there's nothing wrong with the existing business model and it's not the same as AMTD.... not to mention etfc didn't have an issue w/ system when vol was way up a few month ago.

"And just consider if the old commission price wars start up again.The long predicted $5 commission would crunch ETFC earnings,hurt AMTD and frankly barely be felt by SCHW and Fidelity who have massive asset management biz that make the portion of their profits coming from commissions seem small and impervious to cutthroat price slashing.If Chuck and Fidelity want to kick ETFC when they're down,now would be the time.
Can you say competitive disadvantage boys and girls? "

bring it on, etfc has minimal operational cost compares to old schwab and fidelity, the branches and the number of employees.... that's old school... what centry are we on again? competitive disadvantage grandpa and grandma? i'm sure old chuck is wise but it's lost its agility.

forget all the details, it is not difficult to see that even if amtd is as good as etfc, etfc's current stock price should be near amtd once the balancesheet get's cleaned up... and that's within a couple of years.
]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/77355-schwab-e-trade-monthly-activity-comparison-and-the-industry-average?source=feed#comment-168821 168821
all i'm saying is that by percentage, more of etfc's customer is activly trading where the schwab clients are reluctant to invest actively. april just happen to be a month that magnifies the differences and i'm thinking etfc would certainly profit better if it does have a more profitable client base. etfc has attracted active traders where as schwab has many clients who buys mutual funds.

]]> Fri, 16 May 2008 11:34:22 -0400
all i'm saying is that by percentage, more of etfc's customer is activly trading where the schwab clients are reluctant to invest actively. april just happen to be a month that magnifies the differences and i'm thinking etfc would certainly profit better if it does have a more profitable client base. etfc has attracted active traders where as schwab has many clients who buys mutual funds.

]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/77548-e-trade-primed-for-a-breakout?source=feed#comment-168802 168802 Fri, 16 May 2008 11:18:46 -0400 http://seekingalpha.com/article/77355-schwab-e-trade-monthly-activity-comparison-and-the-industry-average?source=feed#comment-168137 168137 Thu, 15 May 2008 12:17:28 -0400 http://seekingalpha.com/article/74263-e-trade-hindsight-with-binoculars?source=feed#comment-158649 158649 Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:43:21 -0400 http://seekingalpha.com/article/74263-e-trade-hindsight-with-binoculars?source=feed#comment-158132 158132 their platform has gone through several changes over the years and is getting better and better. 2 major changes since i switched and i have to say that the first change was a bit hard to get used to at first. i think over all, they do have a great platform but for new customers, you just gotta realize that there's always things that you need to be familiar with. i have to say that back in the 80's schwab’s online trading system was horrible and i was very happy with etrade when i switched. today, i have no need to try other platforms as etfc has a good full feature site and even more if you qualify or willing to pay for some additional services. what make it so great? once you're familir with it, everything you need to trade is organized and right in front of you with just a mouse click away. ]]> Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:00:21 -0400 their platform has gone through several changes over the years and is getting better and better. 2 major changes since i switched and i have to say that the first change was a bit hard to get used to at first. i think over all, they do have a great platform but for new customers, you just gotta realize that there's always things that you need to be familiar with. i have to say that back in the 80's schwab’s online trading system was horrible and i was very happy with etrade when i switched. today, i have no need to try other platforms as etfc has a good full feature site and even more if you qualify or willing to pay for some additional services. what make it so great? once you're familir with it, everything you need to trade is organized and right in front of you with just a mouse click away. ]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/74263-e-trade-hindsight-with-binoculars?source=feed#comment-158057 158057 Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:17:09 -0400