Monday, July 26, 2010

"Citigroup Continues Walking the Green Mile to Sustained Profitability" While Stock Stagnates (C)

In early pre-market action the stock is off a penny at $4.01.
From King of all Trades:
Last week, Citigroup (NYSE:C) showed a net profit of $2.7 billion, or 9 cents per share when they announced Q2 results, which was down from the 49 cents per share profit of Q1. Citigroup revenue was $22.1bn, down $3.4billion from Q1 2010. Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit, was happy with what he termed ‘solid’ figures for the latest quarter. Compared with same period last year numbers, consumer banking revenue rose 9% in Latin America and 10% in Asia, more than offsetting declines of 3% in North America and 5% in the Europe-Middle East-Africa region. On a global basis, consumer banking revenue rose 2% from a year earlier, to $8.03 billion.  Trends were similar for transaction services, with revenue rising 5% in Latin America and 6% in Asia and falling 3% in North America and 1% in the Europe-Middle East-Africa region.

With that in mind;  Citigroup continues walking the green mile to sustained profitability this quarter as the Treasury Department announced it will sell 1.5 billion more shares of Citigroup (NYSE: C) stock over the next couple of months.  This is the third tranche sale in the government’s Citigroup bailout fund recovery effort.  The proceeds are part of the repayment of funds from Citigroup’s portion of the $700 billion financial bailout.  The third tranche of Citigroup stock sales will start immediately and be completed by Sept. 30, according to a spokesperson at the Treasury.

The government has already sold 2.6 billion shares for $10.5 billion in the first 2 tranche sales over the course of the last 2 fiscal quarters.  Citigroup originally received $45 billion in taxpayer funds through the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).  Of the $45 billion, $25 billion was converted to a government-ownership stake through shares of common stock  with Treasury receiving 7.7 billion shares at a share price of $3.25.  At that time, the stake equated to 27 percent of the company.  Citigroup repaid the $20 billion unconverted portion of the loan last December.  Citigroup stock over the past 52 weeks has ranged in price from a low of $2.56 to a high of $5.43....MORE
Higher lows for the last two months and just a tad above the 20 and 40 day EMAs are modestly positive.
From BigCharts:



We have a lot on Citi, use the "SEARCH BLOG" box, keyword Citigroup or see:
"Citigroup CEO Pandit Expected to Say Citicorp Could Earn $20 Billion By 2012" (C)
  Rochdale's Dick Bove Calls Citigroup His Best Pick (C; GS) 
"Citi: Bove’s Still Bullish; $8.50 in Three Years" (C)
Analyst Audit: Dick Bove of Rochdale Securities on Citigroup (C)
I have Dishonored My Ancestors: "JP Morgan, One of the First Big Banks to Report, Is Setting a Bad Precedent" (BAC; C; JPM; WFC) 
"Ackman Confirms Why Citigroup Could Still Double" (C) 
"KBW Raises Citigroup Outlook, Prefers J.P. Morgan" and "Moody's raises Citigroup's bank-strength rating" (C) 
"Citigroup, Bank of America Up Six Times by 2015 Says Dick Bove" (BAC; C) 
"Why Oppenheimer Now Hearts Citi" (C)
"Phil Falcone's Harbinger Capital Shows Massive New Citigroup Position: 13F Filing" (C)
"Citigroup: The Case for Continued Growth" (C)
"Goldman Analysts Upgrade Citi to ‘Buy" (C; GS)
"Raymond James Starts Citi (C) at 'Strong Buy', Sets $5.50 Price Target" (C)
In a gadda da vida: "Citigroup Inc. Iron Butterfly takes Advantage of a Range (C)