For Citigroup, Slow And Steady Could Still Win The Race

Even though Citigroup (NYSE:C) has left something to be desired with respect to the pace of its recovery (particularly next to peers like JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM)), the shares’ 48% rise over the past year and 43% rise over the past three years is hardly embarrassing. Although shareholders of JPMorgan, Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), and PNC Financial Services Group (NYSE:PNC) have fared better over that longer time period, Citi has nevertheless outperformed U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB), BB&T (NYSE:BBT), and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC).., and could yet have the opportunity to do meaningfully better in the years to come.

I don’t believe Citi has really earned the benefit of the doubt when it comes to management’s performance targets out to 2020, and I do believe there are some optimistic assumptions in there, but I nevertheless believe that expectations are still relatively low. If Citi could generate long-term earnings growth in the range of 5% a year (a little higher than my base case), the shares would look undervalued on the basis of my discounted earnings model. Likewise, if the company can do better in terms of generating return on tangible equity (or if the Street decides to penalize lower-return banks less than it has), there would be upside on a ROTE-P/TBV basis.

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For Citigroup, Slow And Steady Could Still Win The Race