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1. Interactive Brokers keeps adding accounts faster
Interactive Brokers’ account growth has gained speed this year. The online broker’s client accounts grew 31% year over year in the first quarter, 34% in the second quarter, and 35% at the end of September, when the total hit 5.58 million. The money in these accounts grew, too. Client equity rose 27% year over year to $964.7 billion, and margin loans (money clients borrow against their holdings) climbed 36% to $105.2 billion.
Trading, though, cooled in September. Daily average revenue trades (the broker’s count of client orders that bring in revenue) grew just 6% year over year to 4.1 million, after jumping 36% in the second quarter. That matters because commissions are the broker’s second-largest revenue source, after net interest income. So the slowdown may show up in the third-quarter report.
But the business behind these accounts is impressively profitable. Interactive Brokers’ second-quarter net revenue grew 28% year over year to $1.9 billion, and earnings per climbed 35% to $0.69. The company kept 77% of its net revenue as pre-tax profit, up from 75% a year before.
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NASDAQ: IBKR
Interactive Brokers Group
Premium Feature
Moneyball Superscore
89/100
Today’s Change
(2.90%) $2.49
Current Price
$88.30
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$148BMarket cap calculated using publicly traded s outstanding only. Does not include unlisted, private, or dual-class non-traded s. Implied market cap may vary.
Day’s Range
$86.55 – $88.92
52wk Range
$58.95 – $98.75
Volume
4.9M
Avg Vol
4.2M
Gross Margin
95.31%
Dividend Yield
0.38%
Investors are paying up for that, of course. After all, s trade at around 27 times next year’s expected earnings, a rich price-to-earnings multiple for a broker. At that price, investors are betting on accounts compounding at roughly today’s rate.
2. Schwab’s clients keep bringing in money
True, Schwab adds customers more slowly. Its 40.1 million active brokerage accounts were up 6% year over year at the end of August.
But the money keeps rolling in. Clients brought $64.8 billion in core net new assets (the new money clients bring to Schwab, net of withdrawals and excluding certain unusual flows) to the company in August.
Add July’s $58.1 billion, and the first two months of the third quarter brought in around $123 billion. That total is already near the $137.5 billion Schwab gathered in the entire third quarter of 2025 — a quarter that was itself up 44% year over year.
Those flows are turning into profit. Schwab’s revenue hit a record in the second quarter at $7.1 billion, up 21% from a year earlier. Excluding costs from past acquisitions, non-GAAP (adjusted) earnings per were $1.62, 42% higher than a year before. What’s more, the company’s adjusted pre-tax profit margin rose from 50.1% a year before to 54.3%.
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NYSE: SCHW
Charles Schwab
Premium Feature
Moneyball Superscore
81/100
Today’s Change
(-1.70%) $-1.67
Current Price
$96.70
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$167BMarket cap calculated using publicly traded s outstanding only. Does not include unlisted, private, or dual-class non-traded s. Implied market cap may vary.
Day’s Range
$96.32 – $98.55
52wk Range
$83.96 – $114.53
Volume
7.7M
Avg Vol
8.1M
Gross Margin
85.03%
Dividend Yield
1.27%
Interactive Brokers, Schwab saw trading cool off. Its clients made 9.8 million trades a day on average in August, up 37% from a year earlier but below the second quarter’s record of 11.9 million.
And Schwab’s stock costs much less. It trades at around 12 times next year’s expected earnings, under half Interactive Brokers’ price-to-earnings ratio, even though Schwab’s adjusted earnings per rose faster in the second quarter.
Worth buying before mid-October?
Of course, neither report is a sure bet. Trading that cooled after the second quarter could weigh on both firms’ third-quarter results, and either stock could move sharply when the numbers land.
But one quarter matters less than whether clients keep bringing their money. And on that count, both firms’ latest monthly numbers show they are.
Interactive Brokers is the faster-growing business, with account growth that’s sped up through 2026.
Schwab is arguably the better value. At around 12 times next year’s expected earnings, its stock doesn’t seem to assume much more than steady growth from here.
In the end, I think both stocks are worth considering ahead of their reports. Schwab looks the easier buy at today’s price. Interactive Brokers is one I’d consider buying gradually, given how much growth its higher price already assumes.
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•By Daniel Sparks
About the Author
Daniel Sparks is a contributing Motley Fool stock market analyst covering technology, industrials, financials, and consumer goods. Daniel is the owner and chief investment officer of Sparks Capital Management. He holds a master’s degree in business administration from Colorado State University. The Globe and Mail profiled him and his investing philosophy in an article titled, “This stock picker is outperforming nearly everybody else. Here’s how he is doing it.”
Stocks Mentioned
Interactive Brokers Group
NASDAQ: IBKR
$88.30
(+2.90%)+$2.49
Motley Fool Stock Advisor’s Latest Pick
—% Avg Return
Charles Schwab
NYSE: SCHW
$96.70
(-1.70%)-$1.67
*Average returns of all recommendations since inception. Cost basis and return based on previous market day close.
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