OptionsXpress posts Q1 income rise

• Revenues of $60.8 million, an 11% increase year-over-year
• Net income of $23.8 million, or $0.38 per diluted share
• Daily average revenue trades (DARTs) of 38,000, a 24% increase year-over-year
• Net new account growth of 14,700 during the quarter, resulting in 277,100 customer accounts, a 24% increase year-over-year
• Industry-leading 62% pre-tax margins
• $5.4 billion in customer assets on March 31, 2008, a 9% increase year-over-year

"We are pleased with optionsXpress' performance during a very challenging quarter for the financial markets as a whole. Our customers showed a lot of resilience in the face of both declining and volatile markets and, as a result, customer activity levels held up well," said David Fisher, Chief Executive Officer of optionsXpress. "Even more encouraging, we had our best new account quarter in almost two years and new asset growth from both new and existing customers was strong, laying the foundation for future growth."

For the first quarter, DARTs were 38,000, up 24% from 30,700 in the first quarter of 2007, and down 8% from record DARTs of 41,500 in the fourth quarter of 2007. Trades per account on an annualized basis were 34, down slightly from 35 in the first quarter of 2007, and 41 in the fourth quarter of 2007. Net revenues increased 11% over the first quarter of 2007 and decreased 12% from the fourth quarter of 2007. Resulting net income was $23.8 million, or $0.38 per share on a diluted basis, a 12% increase from $21.3 million in the first quarter of 2007.

"Even with headwinds from lower interest rates and difficult equity markets, both net revenues and net income were still up over 10% year-over-year," said Adam DeWitt, Chief Financial Officer of optionsXpress. "While we increased our investment in advertising our pre-tax margins remained over 60%, further evidencing the ability of our model to perform at a high level in many different market environments."

During the quarter, optionsXpress announced a dividend of $0.08 per share, a 28% increase from the fourth quarter dividend. The total amount of the dividend was approximately $4.9 million and was paid to shareholders on March 28, 2008.

Outlook

Mr. Fisher concluded, "We remain very optimistic about the future at optionsXpress. Our consistent growth in accounts and assets leaves us well-positioned to take advantage of the secular growth in the options and futures industry as market conditions improve. We believe our culture of persistent innovation and commitment to unsurpassed customer service will continue to result in sustained customer and asset growth in the future."

View the consolidated statements here:

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