(Bloomberg) -- TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. Chief Executive Officer Tim Hockey said his departure from the online brokerage no later than the end of February 2020 has nothing to do with mergers and acquisitions, “pro or con.”
Hockey, in a phone interview, brushed off a direct question about whether the move was related to a potential deal with E*Trade Financial Corp. “Everything we do,” he said, seems to center around “M&A activity.”
The exit wasn’t due to any “one thing,” and the decision came after a series of talks with the board, in keeping with “conversations CEOs have with boards.” He said the details of those should remain confidential.
Shares of TD Ameritrade were lower by about 0.9% as of 11:36 a.m. in New York after erasing an earlier 1.3% gain. New York-based E*Trade’s shares gained as much as 2.4% to the highest since May 21.
On Monday, the Omaha-based company abruptly announced Hockey’s departure and said the board will begin a search for a successor. The move surprised Wall Street, particularly as the stock has outperformed the S&P 500 during his tenure, and led to speculation the company may be on the hunt for an acquisition.
The exit “puts shares in the penalty box,” Wolfe Research’s Steven Chubak wrote in a note. “The news came as a shock as Hockey was generally well liked by the investment community,” and shares performed well under his leadership, prompting Chubak to wonder why he’s “being asked to leave.” Chubak dismissed hopes the change would increase the likelihood of a combination with E*Trade, as “we find such speculation unhelpful, as hope is not a strategy.”
Hockey said the change is not to take another job immediately and there was no violation of conduct. He called his departure, after more than three decades at TD, a “very significant shift” for the psyche. “You get an opportunity to know who you are as a person,” he said.
On Monday, TD Ameritrade also reported third-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $1.04 versus analysts’ estimates of 97 cents. Average client trades per day in the quarter were about 825,000, up 5% compared with the prior year. Trades per day in July so far are 780,000.
Hockey flagged seasonal slowness, including the “summer doldrums,” and added that people may have been expecting higher tax refunds.
Geopolitical tension with Iran is “having an impact,” he added. At the same time, he said news that ordinarily would trigger a spike in volatility, like tankers being seized in the Strait of Hormuz, isn’t doing so. “This abnormality will end,” he warned.
To contact the reporter on this story: Felice Maranz in New York at [email protected]
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Catherine Larkin at [email protected] Jeremy R. Cooke, Jennifer Bissell-Linsk
This means, you take one article, and you use the article distribution system. It will generate thousands of unique versions of your article, and publish those unique articles to hundreds of websites that are related to your niche.
Take a look at our comprehensive guide to the best and most popular information ebooks and products available today on Detoxing, Colon Cleansing, Weight Loss and Dating and Romance. They are all in one spot, easy to find and compere to make a quick selection for the product that best fits your needs or wants.
So browse through a category and make your preferred selection and come back here to read more choice articles and get a few more helpful tips on ways to help your enhancement.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. “saubiosaubiosuccess.com is a participant in third party affiliate and advertising programs; The Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, Awin network, and other affiliate advertising programs are designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees and commissions by advertising and linking to products on other sites and on Amazon.com. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc, or its affiliates.”
We use anonymous cookies and various 3rd-party services to optimise and to offer you a better, more personalised, browsing experience with advanced accessibility enhancements.
Dismiss
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
