Citigroup (C) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know
Citigroup (C) closed the most recent trading day at $70.08, moving +0.86% from the previous trading session. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.03% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 0.13%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.11%.
Coming into today, shares of the U.S. bank had gained 9.56% in the past month. In that same time, the Finance sector gained 5.13%, while the S&P 500 gained 4.17%.
Investors will be hoping for strength from C as it approaches its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.97, up 13.22% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $18.59 billion, up 1.07% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $7.62 per share and revenue of $74 billion. These totals would mark changes of +14.59% and +1.57%, respectively, from last year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for C. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.19% lower. C is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Digging into valuation, C currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 9.12. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 11.47, which means C is trading at a discount to the group.
We can also see that C currently has a PEG ratio of 0.75. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Banks - Major Regional industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.43 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 181, which puts it in the bottom 30% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. 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.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
Citigroup Inc. (C) : Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
