OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Online brokerage TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. said Tuesday lower interest rates and higher expenses contributed to a 26 percent drop in its first-quarter profit.
Its shares fell 2 percent to $17.96 in premarket trading.
The company said healthy trading volume wasn’t enough to offset a decline of 10 percent in asset-based revenue and an increase of nearly 31 percent in expenses.
Expenses jumped largely because of last year’s acquisition of options-trading specialist thinkorswim.
Ameritrade reported it earned $136.2 million, or 23 cents per share, for the three months ended Dec. 31. That’s down from $184.4 million, or 31 cents a share, a year ago.
The brokerage based in Omaha said its revenue grew about 2 percent to $624.6 million from $610.7 million a year ago.
Analysts expected earnings per share of 26 cents on $628.18 million in revenue.
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On the Net:
TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.: www.amtd.com