E TRADE Financial Corp (ETFC)

[junkmasterg]

In search of Bigfoot
You might think of E*Trade Financial as your online discount broker, but its banking operations remain substantial, even though it has lost $236 million so far this year -- primarily on writedowns of home equity loans. It's also applying for $800 million from the federal government through its bank bailout loan program. CAPS member methusalaw pointed out at the end of last month that when the housing crisis hit, E*Trade restructured its portfolio and is now positioned to climb out of the morass:

[E*Trade] has been quietly performing a solid recovery while accelerating its core business (online brokerage) over its peers. It has been building its cash balance and provisions against its mortgage portfolio while its mortgage portfolio is performing better than most others in the business. ... They have reduced their open HELOCs from $7 B down to $3 B and none of those are late payment or delinquent. Their brokerage is No. 1 in the online investment industry and all points to a profitable quarter the 1QTR of 2009. Everything is lining up.

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2008/11/10/tomorrows-monster-stocks.aspx