Quick Summary
- The firm’s adjusted earnings per share reached $1.43, exceeding forecasts by four cents
- First quarter net revenue achieved an all-time high of $6.5B, representing a 16% annual increase
- Client assets under management expanded 19% to reach $11.77 trillion
- The company executed $2.4B in stock buybacks and increased its dividend by 19%
- Average daily trading activity reached an unprecedented 9.9 million trades, marking a 34% jump from the prior-year period
The financial services giant delivered an impressive first quarter performance, with adjusted earnings per share of $1.43 surpassing Wall Street’s consensus estimate of $1.39 by four cents.
On a GAAP basis, earnings per share totaled $1.37. The company’s net revenue climbed to an unprecedented $6.5 billion, representing a 16% year-over-year gain and narrowly exceeding analyst expectations of $6.47B.
GAAP-based net income for the three-month period reached $2.48 billion, marking a 30% increase compared to the same quarter last year. On an adjusted basis, net income totaled $2.59 billion, reflecting a 29% year-over-year improvement.
The Charles Schwab Corporation, SCHW
The firm’s pre-tax profit margin widened to 49.2% under GAAP accounting, up from 43.8% in the year-ago quarter. The adjusted pre-tax margin reached 51.4%.
The brokerage attracted $140 billion in core net new assets throughout the quarter. When excluding a scheduled mutual fund clearing deconversion that accounted for $17.5 billion in outflows, net new assets totaled $157.5 billion.
The company added 1.3 million new brokerage accounts during the first quarter. Active brokerage accounts now total 39.1 million, while the overall client account base has grown to 47.2 million.
Unprecedented Trading Volumes and Asset Expansion
Average daily trading volume reached an all-time high of 9.9 million trades during the quarter, representing a 34% increase versus the first quarter of 2025. This surge in activity drove trading revenue up 20% year-over-year.
Total assets held by clients grew 19% annually to $11.77 trillion. Revenue from asset management and administration services increased 15% to $1.8 billion.
Net flows into Managed Investing Solutions jumped 46% compared to the same period in 2025. Outstanding bank loan balances expanded 29% year-over-year, reaching $60.9 billion at the end of March.
Margin lending balances climbed 13% from year-end 2025 to $126.7 billion, which includes $21.3 billion associated with long/short investment strategies employed by registered investment advisor clients.
The firm’s net interest margin stood at 2.88% for the quarter. Client transactional sweep cash balances finished March at $461.5 billion, up $7.8 billion from the previous quarter.
Shareholder Rewards and Dividend Increase
Schwab bought back 24.3 million shares of common stock for $2.4 billion throughout the first quarter. Additionally, the firm boosted its quarterly common stock dividend by 19% to $0.32 per share.
Annualized return on average common stockholders’ equity reached 23%, compared to 18% in the first quarter of 2025. Return on tangible common equity hit 40%.
The brokerage completed its purchase of Forge Global in early March. GAAP operating expenses increased 5% year-over-year, with adjusted expenses similarly rising 5% after backing out $143 million in costs related to acquisitions and integration activities.
During the quarter, the firm introduced the Schwab Teen Investor Account, designed for young investors between the ages of 13 and 17.
StockBrokers.com recognized the company as the top-ranked overall broker for the second consecutive year. Core net new assets for March alone totaled $79.7 billion, representing the second-highest monthly figure ever recorded.
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