GOIH Capital Markets: Etrade Financial (NASDAQ:ETFC)

Today Etrade Financial (NASDAQ:ETFC) opened for trading at $15.65 and in trading is down $1.60 from the open on vol. of 13.7 million shares. Etrade according to S&P is the second worst stock in the S&P 500 down 47% since the market made its high of 14,000 on July 19, 2007.


Etrade has a portfolio of mortgage carried on its books at $25 billion and the portfolio was the cause for the panic at Etrade on Thurs. Etrade in attempting to calm the market on Thurs. issued a new release stating its portfolio is of prime grade and there is no problems in the portfolio.

There was a rumor in the market that Etrade was freezing accounts.

Below is a PR from Etrade:

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- E-Trade Financial Corp. (ETFC:
e trade financial corp com
News, chart, profile, more
Last: 13.81+0.26+1.92%11:09am 08/17/2007Delayed quote data


ETFC13.81, +0.26, +1.9%) disclosed more information on its mortgage holdings late Thursday to try to calm investor concerns. The discount broker also said that it's so far seen no material changes in the availability, pricing or margin on its wholesale funding sources, including repurchase agreements. "Management maintains that it does not believe that the current market capitalization accurately reflects the financial strength and performance of the business," E-Trade said in a statement. The company's $15.7 billion first-lien mortgage portfolio contains home loans with high credit scores and low loan-to-value ratios, plus private mortgage insurance, E-Trade explained. The company noted that $9.2 billion, or 74%, of its home equity portfolio is tied to loan to borrowers with credit scores of at least 700. E-Trade also disclosed that $12.6 billion, or 99%, of its mortgage-backed securities are rated AAA.


Another Etrade PR:

E*Trade Financial (ETFC - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) bounced back from a steep selloff Thursday after the online broker said its "financial health ... is sound."
Shares of the online broker closed down 3% after earlier dropping as much as 22% amid worries about a possible writedown. Ratings agency Egan-Jones downgraded E*Trade debt to to B+ from BB-, saying the value of E*Trade's $46.1 billion of mortgages and loans receivable "probably needs to be marked down."
An E*Trade spokeswoman said in a statement that the company has not seen any "material changes to date with respect to wholesale funding availability, pricing or margin, including repurchase agreements."
She also denied a rumor that the brokerage firm was freezing accounts.