The Citizens Financial (CFG) story of late, a story I think has been underappreciated, has been about what the company can do from improved efficiency and balance sheet optimization. Management has been delivering, and the market has noticed with the shares up more than a third from my last write-up. While I think a fair bit of that move has been more about the macro environment, a win is a win.
I still have a few lingering concerns about Citizens' reserves, but it's not a major issue and I still believe these shares are meaningfully undervalued. Likewise, Citizens' core markets aren't the hot markets in banking, but that's arguably not such a bad thing, as it means less incoming competition. Low single-digit long-term core earnings growth can still support a fair value in the $30s, though relatively low levels of ROTCE could constrain the near-term upside, and I still think this is a bank worth buying and owning.
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