Etrade Financial Gives Warning Guidance

After the market closed, Etrade (NASDAQ: ETFC) came out with a profit warning for the year. This was highly anticipated by the market as you can see the stock has been a poor performer preceding this announcement. The stock, however, did trade lower in the after market after a gap down and a small rally following the conference call. During the call Etrade executives clearly laid out their plan going forward and took various questions from numerous firms. I came away relatively satisfied that their plan was satisfactory going forward and that there is a decent possibility of a share buyback and/or a merger with Ameritrade (NASDAQ: AMTD). The p/e remains low and balance sheet should remain strong despite the conservative (I think its over conservative) lower guidance. While obviously the portfolio entry will suffer for our lack of good timing, barring another bit of unforeseen news, the shares will remain in the portfolio.