Charles Schwab Q4 Profit Rises; Revenues Beat View

(RTTNews) - Brokerage and investment manager Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW) said its profit for the fourth quarter increased about 15 percent from last year on higher revenues. Revenues for the quarter beat analysts' expectations.

The company's net income available to common stockholders for the fourth quarter increased to $378 million or $0.28 per share from $329 million or $0.25 per share in the prior year.

On average, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.25 per share. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Total net revenues for the quarter grew 9 percent to $1.69 billion from $1.55 billion last year and beat analysts' consensus estimate of $1.61 billion for the quarter.

Asset management and administration fees grew almost 5 percent to $673 million, while net interest revenue increased 18 percent to $690 million. But, trading revenue declined 13 percent from last year to $690 million.

Clients' daily average revenue trades declined 10 percent from last year, while average revenue per revenue trade declined 3 percent. New brokerage accounts at the end of the quarter rose 8 percent from last year to 262,000.

The company ended 2015 with 9.8 million active brokerage accounts, 1.0 million banking accounts, and 1.5 million retirement plan participants, up 4 percent, 5 percent and 6 percent, respectively.