Citigroup (C) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

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Citigroup (C) closed the most recent trading day at $64.90, moving -1.04% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.22%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.11%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.25%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the U.S. bank had gained 0.18% over the past month. This has lagged the Finance sector's gain of 4.85% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.57% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from C as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be January 15, 2019. On that day, C is projected to report earnings of $1.65 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 28.91%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $17.95 billion, up 4.05% from the year-ago period.

C's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $6.69 per share and revenue of $73.73 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +25.52% and +3.19%, respectively.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for C. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. C is currently a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that C has a Forward P/E ratio of 9.81 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 11.55, which means C is trading at a discount to the group.

Meanwhile, C's PEG ratio is currently 0.86. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. C's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.18 as of yesterday's close.

The Banks - Major Regional industry is part of the Finance sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 94, which puts it in the top 37% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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