Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Seeking Alpha: Citi Earnings Show The Clouds And The Silver Lining

Almost like a game show, with each major bank that reports earnings, the true picture gets a little bit more clear. At this point, it's looking like the fourth quarter was a fair bit better for banks than Wall Street wanted to acknowledge. To what extent this helps Citigroup (C), though, is an open question - while there is still interesting long-range potential here, fourth quarter results highlight both how much further Citi needs to travel and how rocky that path may be.

Fourth Quarter Results - Which Numbers Matter?
When even relatively well-respect banks like JPMorgan (JPM) and M&T Bank (MTB) hand out messy earnings reports, you know it's a fairly common industry issue. Citigroup's earnings were no exception, as they contained the usual melange of charges, special items, and gains.

On the top line, though, Citi missed. Instead of the $18.5 billion that analysts expected, Citi produced about $17.2 billion. Core Citicorp revenue fell 11% (very much due to the trading and banking operations), while the Citi Holdings run-off arm saw reported revenue fall 1%.

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Citi Earnings Show The Clouds And The Silver Lining

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