Charles Schwab & Co. launched its Analyst Center this week to give retail investors Internet access to third-party research from companies such as First Call, Dow Jones, and Standard & Poor's.
Available on the San Francisco-based discount broker's Web site at www.schwab.com, the center will offer its information free to Schwab investors. The firm charges a flat on-line trading fee of $29.95 on stock orders up to 1,000 shares. A fee of 3 cents is added for each share over the 1,000 threshold.
The center is one of a series of initiatives Schwab plans to attract on- line customers, the company said in a release.
Schwab already offers a number of services to investors who trade on- line. Included among those services is the Asset Allocation Tool Kit, launched last fall, which integrates account holdings.
Separately, Schwab said Wednesday that its 1997 earnings and revenues were the strongest in the company's history.
The company's net income last year totaled $270.3 million, up 15.6% from 1996. Earnings per share rose to 99 cents, from 87 cents in 1996, and revenues hit $2.3 billion, versus $1.9 billion in 1996.
Fourth quarter results were also up strongly. Earnings totaled $63.1 million, up 5.7% from the year-earlier fourth quarter. Revenues climbed 28.7% to $620.6 million.
On a generally strong day for financial stocks, however, Schwab's shares closed down 81.25 cents Wednesday, at $38.1875.
