Online stockbroker Interactive Brokers Group (IBKR 7.77%) soared to close up 7.65% on Friday after beating on both the top and bottom lines Thursday evening.
Heading into the quarter, analysts forecast Interactive Brokers would earn $0.45 per share (adjusted for one-time items) on sales of just under $1.4 billion. In fact, the company earned $0.51 per share -- generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) -- and its sales were just under $1.5 billion.
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Interactive Brokers Q2 earnings
Not only did Interactive Brokers report GAAP earnings superior to the mere "adjusted" earnings number Wall Street was looking for, but its earnings actually grew 24% in comparison to last year's Q2. Revenue growth for the quarter was only 20%, so profit margins on revenue improved as well.
Interestingly, new customer accounts grew only 32% during the quarter, however, so much of the company's increase in revenue (and profit) must have come from existing customers, with new customers just dipping their toes in the water initially. Indeed, DARTs (daily average revenue trades) for the company grew 49%, suggesting that long-term customers of the company traded even more frequently in the quarter.
Is Interactive Brokers stock a buy?
Management did not give guidance for the coming quarter or for the full year. For what it's worth, though, analysts who follow the stock forecast Q3 earnings very similar to Q2 -- $0.46 per share, unless IB surprises them again. Revenue growth is supposed to be similarly modest, up only 3% year over year.
Granted, longer term, analysts see the company growing earnings at a faster rate -- 12.5% annually over the next five years. Still, that doesn't seem fast enough to justify the stock's premium valuation of nearly 33x trailing earnings.
At that high price, I just can't bring myself to recommend the stock, earnings beat or no earnings beat.
