S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW) reported its results for the third quarter. Charles Schwab is a savings and loan holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the company provides individuals and institutional clients with securities brokerage, banking and related financial services.

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The Charles Schwab Earnings Cheat Sheet for the Third Quarter

Results: Net income for the investment brokerage rose to $220 million (18 cents per share) vs. $124 million (10 cents per share) in the same quarter a year earlier. This marks a rise of 77.4% from the year earlier quarter.

Revenue: Revenue rose 11% to $1.18 billion from the year earlier.

Actual vs. Wall St. Expectations: SCHW fell short of the mean analyst estimate of 19 cents per share. Analysts were expecting revenue of $1.19 billion.

Quoting Management: President and CEO Walt Bettinger said, “Our unique combination of full-service, high-value brokerage continues to perform well and deliver growth despite a difficult economic environment. Although the environment weakened further during the third quarter, our clients stayed with their long-term investing plans. Their cash holdings at Schwab remained close to pre-crisis levels and they were consistently net purchasers of securities. Our full service capabilities were in demand during the recent quarter as enrollments in our advisory solutions continued at a strong pace. We ended September with a total of 2.4million accounts at Schwab either enrolled in retail advisory offerings or under the guidance of an independent advisor, an increase of 153,000 over September 2010.”

Key Stats:

The company fell short of estimates last quarter after being in line with expectations the quarter before with net income of 20 cents.

Looking Forward: Analysts appear increasingly negative about the company’s results for the next quarter. The average estimate for the fourth quarter has moved down from 21 cents a share to 18 cents over the last ninety days. For the fiscal year, the average estimate has moved down from 80 cents a share to 77 cents over the last ninety days.

Competitors to Watch: optionsXpress Hldgs., Inc. (NASDAQ:OXPS), TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:AMTD), E TRADE Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:ETFC), Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBKR), LPL Investment Hldgs. Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA), TradeStation Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TRAD), Investment Tech. Group (NYSE:ITG), Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC), Penson Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:PNSN), and Raymond James Financial, Inc. (NYSE:RJF).

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(Source: Xignite Financials)

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