ISI Reiterates Hold Rating on E*Trade Following Management Meeting

In a research report published earlier today, ISI revealed its decision to maintain its Hold rating on E*Trade

due to a recent management meeting that revealed the long-term outlook on the stock to be promising, but to remain cautious in 2012. According to ISI, “After a dinner hosted by ETFC's senior mgmt, we reiterate our Hold rating. Overall, while we are very constructive on the longer-term outlook and strides mgmt is making toward achieving a more normalized EPS run rate (eventually near $2 p.s.), near-term credit and interest rate risks could make progress uneven this year and ETFC shares remain more negatively levered to a weaker economic and market scenario (which we are not forecasting). Thus, we would wait for a better entry point before risk/return became attractive.” ISI maintains its $9 PT on E*Trade, which closed yesterday at $9.31.