Bad loan portfolio looms over ETrade's earnings

Investors are anxious as they await ETrade Financial Corp.'s (ETFC) earnings report after the bell today.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect ETrade Financial to post a loss of 39 cents a share on $17 million in revenues. The online broker lost 20 cents per share a year ago on revenues of $316.2 million.

Investors are hoping the company will post a better-than-expected loss, but signs are that the company's banking subsidiary, which has reported heavy loan losses due to mortgage defaults, may be in more trouble than the company has let on.