After Billions of Dollars of Support, Citi Makes 7 Cents Per Share!

As I write this this morning, the market is very slightly on the positive side. The Buy List is mostly doing well. Reynolds American (RAI) is at a new 52-week high, thanks to its dividend increase and stock split news. Both Eli Lilly (LLY) and Fiserv (FISV) are inches away from new 52-week highs.

The big news the market is digesting this morning is Citigroup’s (C) earnings. I’m not a terribly big fan of Citigroup’s stock right now (which, by the way, you and I own about one-eight of as taxpayers). The shares are cheap by many measures but I think the investment is far from a sure thing. I never like to take chances I don’t need to take.

Similar to JPMorgan (JPM), Citigroup is doing better due to loan-loss reserves. All told, the bank made $2.2 billion last quarter which is seven cents per share. The Street was expecting six cents, so I guess that’s good. Lower trading brought revenues down 10% to $20.7 billion.

The stock is up over $4 per share. I wish I could like Citi more than I do. Perhaps if the stock was lower or if the company paid out a decent dividend, then I might be more interested. JPM is a much better buy.

Posted by on October 18th, 2010 at 11:26 am


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