LPL Financial announced its first quarterly and FY results on Monday as a public company, and other than significant charges related to its IPO in the fourth quarter of 2010, it posted more than solid gains in revenue and profitability.
For the fourth quarter, the largest independent broker-dealer posted a net loss of $116.6 million, or $1.20 per diluted share, on an 11.6% increase in net revenue of $820 million.
For 2010, LPL had a net loss of $56.9 million, or $0.64 per diluted share, on a 13.2% rise in net revenue of $3.1 billion.
Absent the charge of $220 million taken in the fourth quarter, partly representing the offering price of LPL's $30.00/share multiplied by 7.4 million shares that were issued to advisors under a 2000 stock bonus plan, the company had a 33% rise in adjusted net income for 2010 to a record $172.7 million, or $1.71 per diluted share. Absent the IPO and other charges for the fourth quarter, adjusted net income rose 6.2% for the fourth quarter to $44.7 million, or $0.42 per diluted share.
These adjusted quarterly earnings beat the consensus estimates of equity analysts by $0.02, while revenues came in ahead of estimates by roughly $23 million.
In a statement, CEO Mark Casady (left), said "the commitment of our financial advisors to help their clients meet their financial goals, coupled with the strength of our business model and breadth of support we provide our customers, enabled us to deli
ver record profitability to shareholders despite the challenging operating environment of 2010."
