Solid Citigroup Earnings, With Discount to Book Value

Banking, finance, and taxes

Published: October 14, 2014 9:15 am

Last Updated: October 14, 2014 9:43 am

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Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) is trying to stage a continued recovery as its earnings and revenues both grew in the third quarter. The net income was $3.44 billion, versus $3.23 billion a year ago. Earnings per share after items came in at $1.15, above the Thomson Reuters consensus estimate of $1.12 per share. Revenue was $19.6 billion, or $19.98 billion adjusted, well above the $19.06 billion that was expected.

The big news in Citi’s report was that it is exiting retail bank operations in several nations. These include a confirmed exit in Japan, as well as Costa Rica, Peru, Panama, Czech Republic, Egypt, Hungary and several other smaller countries. Citi is disbanding Banamex after results of its Mexico fraud investigation found illegal activities.

Citigroup shares closed at $49.90 ahead of earnings, with a 52-week range of $45.18 to $55.28. Citi showed that its book value per share was $67.31 (versus $66.76 in the second quarter of 2014 and $64.49 in the same quarter a year ago), and the tangible book value per share was $57.73 (versus $56.89 in the second quarter of 2013 and $54.52 in the same quarter a year ago).

Other data released with earnings were as follows:

Basel 3 Tier 1 common equity ratio was 10.7%.
Return on common equity was 6.5%.
Allowance for loan losses was $16.9 billion.
Net credit losses were $2.1 billion.
Net interest margin was 2.91%.
Legal and related expenses were $951 million.

Citi shares were indicated up 2% at $50.95 ahead of the opening bell on Tuesday morning. The consensus analyst price target prior to earnings was $59.13.

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