Charles Schwab's (Nasdaq: SCHW ) second-quarter results proved that not all companies in the financial-services industry are struggling in the current crisis. optionsXpress (Nasdaq: OXPS ) drove that message home with its earnings report, where it demonstrated the attractiveness of its capital-light franchise and the growth in its market.
The numbers look sound
Revenues increased 4% year over year, and customer assets grew 7%. Net income growth wasn't strong, but it was positive -- though barely, at 1%. The company reduced its shares outstanding through buybacks, which boosted earnings-per-share growth to 5%.
Although the number of customer trades per account declined by 6%, management assured investors that this was solely a function of "market environment" and that it had seen "absolutely no degradation at all in terms of the quality of [our] new accounts." The other operational numbers the company provided looked sound.
In a brutal stock market, optionsXpress, which focuses on enabling retail investors to trade options, still looks good. Option strategies that benefit from increased volatility become more attractive, and investors may be more willing to consider hedging their stock portfolios.
optionsXpress has an appetite
On the M&A front, the company closed an acquisition of Open E Cry, a futures broker for institutional investors. CEO David Fisher said the company is looking at a number of other opportunities, too. I wonder whether thinkorswim (Nasdaq: SWIM ) is on the radar -- the shares are off nearly 60% this year! If optionsXpress did snatch this rival, the company would instantly add lots of customer accounts and, according to Foolish options junkie Jim Fink, gain access to a superior trading platform.
It's true that optionsXpress' purchasing currency -- its stock -- has also weakened this year, to the tune of nearly 30%. There's also no debating that the debt market isn't very accommodating right now.
Would I invest in optionsXpress?
At a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 13.6, shares don't look expensive for a business with high margins and good growth prospects. The stock may offer a good alternative to bottom-fishing among broker-dealers such as Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH ) , Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MER ) or Merrill Lynch (NYSE: ML ) .
But as a potential investor, I'd want to verify whether options accounts are as stable as equity accounts. (I don't think they are, although at this stage in the industry's development, that may not be critical.) In any case, optionsXpress doesn't look like an extreme buying opportunity. There are enough higher-quality names on sale in other sectors to keep me busy for now.
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