Banking, finance, and taxes

Citigroup Posts Big Miss, Shares Fall

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Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) shared its fourth-quarter and full-year 2012 results before markets opened this morning. The bank reported adjusted diluted quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.69 on revenues of $18.66 billion. In the same period a year ago, it reported adjusted EPS of $0.41 on revenues of $17.2 billion. This morning’s results also compare to the consensus estimates for EPS of $0.96 on revenues of $18.82 billion.

For the full year, Citigroup reported adjusted EPS of $3.86 on revenues of $77.1 billion. A year ago the company reported EPS of $3.30 on $76.3 billion in revenue. The consensus estimate called for EPS of $3.97 on revenues of $72.15 billion.

The bank’s CEO said:

Our bottom line earnings reflect an environment that remains challenging — with businesses working through issues like spread compression and regulatory changes — as well as the costs of putting legacy issues behind us. However, we did make progress on several fronts. … It will take some time to work through the challenges of the current environment but realizing our core earnings potential, as well as improving our returns on assets and tangible equity, are critical goals going forward.

Although charges for lawsuits and restructuring were not as large as those at Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC), Citigroup’s first quarter under new CEO Michael Corbat saw the bank take a $2.3 billion hit. The bank’s unadjusted EPS totaled just $0.38.

Shares are down more than 3% in premarket trading this morning, at $41.14 in a 52-week range of $24.61 to $43.25. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of around $47.40 before today’s results were announced.

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