Slim Pickings

For the most part, the seven major online brokerages still offer precious few stock reports produced by firms that don't do any investment-banking work. And what they do offer tends to be fairly narrow in scope. TD Waterhouse and Fidelity provide the widest array of independent research, though neither's could be described as overwhelming. (Click here for a listing of independent research found at various online brokers.)

Consider the paltry offerings at E*Trade Group (ET), the nation's third-largest online brokerage, which bills itself as a diversified online financial-services firm. It's true that E*Trade customers can buy not only stocks and mutual funds online, but also certificates of deposit from the broker's online subsidiary E*Trade Bank. Yet when it comes to independent stock research, all E*Trade supplies its customers is free access to stock and market reports from Standard & Poor's, one of the big three corporate credit-rating agencies. An E*Trade spokeswoman says customers can also get financial advice by subscribing to E*Trade Financial Advisor, a joint venture with the accounting firm Ernst & Young. But that service costs $149 a year for customers with less than $100,000 in assets. And much of that advice is geared toward issues like asset allocation or tax planning, not picking stocks.

In the wake of Enron's (ENRNQ) collapse and the mushrooming investigation into the conflicts of interest between stock research and investment banking on Wall Street, there's a growing cry coming from Main Street for more and better independent stock analysis. Will the online brokers rush in to fill the gap? Don't bank on it. As we pointed out recently, most independent research shops charge so much for their reports — often five and even six figures — that only institutional investors or wealthy individuals can afford to buy them. And online brokers aren't willing to dip into their own pockets to boost their research offerings. The seven we contacted for this story either wouldn't comment on that prospect or said they had no current plans to do so. For the time being, then, here's what they offer: