Shares of Charles Schwab Corp. surged 2.1% in premarket trading Tuesday, after the discount brokerage reported fourth-quarter profit and revenue that beat Wall Street forecasts, as client engagement grew to record levels in 2020. Net income was $1.14 billion, or 57 cents a share, after net income of $852 million, or 62 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted earnings per share rose to 74 cents from 63 cents and beat the FactSet consensus of 65 cents. Total revenue jumped 60% to $4.18 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $4.11 billion. "The pandemic's rapid escalation in early 2020 was accompanied by volatile equity markets and further easing of monetary policy," said Chief Executive Walt Bettinger. "As the year progressed, government aid packages and vaccine developments helped settle the markets, with the S&P 500 eventually erasing its pandemic-related losses to finish up 16% from December 2019." That helped lift new-to-firm households last year by more than 175% from 2019, while the number of households placing trades rose more than 50%. The stock, which reached a record close of $61.20 on Jan. 12, has soared 51.1% over the past three months through Friday, while the S&P 500 has gained 10.0%.
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