E*TRADE Financial Reports Q1 Operating Metrics, Net Income Retreats QoQ

E*TRADE Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:ETFC) has reported its Q1 2015 financial metrics ending March 31, 2015.

The statement follows on the heels of last month’s February monthly figures, having reported DARTs of 179,420, up 3.7% MoM from 172,944 in January 2015. February 2015’s figure also represented a drop of -10.1% YoY from 201,223 in February 2014.

In terms of the Q1 2015 metrics, E*Trade notched a net income of $40.0 million, or $0.14 per share. This represents a loss of -2.4% QoQ from $41.0 million in Q4 2014 and $0.14 per share.

Moreover, the company reported an exclusion of pre-tax losses on early extinguishment of corporate debt of $73.0 million Q1 2015, compared with $59.0 million Q4 2014. Total net revenue at E*Trade yielded $456 million, down roughly -1.1% from $461 million in Q4 2014 – this compares with $475 million in Q1 2014, a decline of -4.0% YoY.

According to Paul Idzik, Chief Executive Officer of E*Trade Financial in a statement on the Q1 metrics, “Our year is off to a solid start on several fronts. Our core business is strong and growing stronger, demonstrated by healthy trading levels, record high margin balances and continued growth in accounts and assets.”

“The key regulatory approvals we announced at the beginning of the year enabled us to reduce our corporate debt to our target level of $1 billion. We will ultimately have more than a few options for further capital deployment as the team’s hard work has led to a level of capital flexibility this company hasn’t seen in years. As we move forward, I can promise we will never stop focusing on two things: our customer experience, and on being a good and faithful steward of capital for our owners,” he added.

In terms of DARTs, E*Trade reported 170,000 during Q1, an increase of 1.0% QoQ from Q4 2014 and a decrease of -14.0% YoY from Q1 2014. The company also ended Q1 with 3.2 million brokerage accounts, an increase of 39,000 accounts from Q4 2014.

Finally, E*Trade ended Q1 with $299 billion in total customer assets, compared with $290 billion at the end of Q4 2014 (3.1% QoQ growth) and $269 billion from Q1 2014 (11.1% YoY jump).