Banking, finance, and taxes
Legal Charges an Even Larger Factor in Citi Earnings
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Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) reported its fourth-quarter results Thursday before the market open as $0.06 in earnings per share and $17.8 billion in revenue. That was against Thomson Reuters consensus estimates of $0.11 in earnings per share and $18.51 billion in revenue. The fourth quarter from the previous year had $0.77 in earnings per share and $17.78 billion in revenue.
The discrepancy in earnings year over year was due to the fact that the company is absorbing $3.5 billion in legal and repositioning charges against its fourth quarter.
The Basel III Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio is 10.5% and the estimated Basel III supplementary leverage ratio is 6.0%.
Citigroup announced fourth-quarter loans were down 3% to $645 billion and deposits slipped even further, down 7% to $899 billion from the same period in the previous year.
Another key metric to note is that the stock trades at less than 0.8 times book value per share and almost 0.9 times tangible book value per share. It trades at roughly 9 times expected 2015 earnings at current prices.
Michael Corbat, CEO of Citigroup, said:
For the first time since its establishment, Citi Holdings was profitable for the full year and we accelerated the utilization of our deferred tax assets. We strengthened our capital planning process and made Citi a safer and stronger institution, as evidenced by the increases to our capital, leverage and liquidity ratios.
On January 8, an analyst call for Citigroup was made by J.P. Morgan that maintained a Neutral rating but slightly lowered its price target to $54. That price target implies an upside of 12% from current prices. However, Barclays had a different view when it maintained an Overweight rating and raised its price target to $65 from $60, just the day before. The Barclays price target implies upside of 35%.
Shares of Citigroup closed Wednesday down 2% at $49.05. Following the release of the earnings report, the initial response in the premarket was negative and shares were down 1% at $48.59.
The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $60.12 and a 52-week trading range of $45.18 to $56.95. Citigroup has a market cap of roughly $149 billion.
ALSO READ: The Bullish and Bearish Case for J.P. Morgan and Big Banks in 2015
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