Citigroup (C) matched the Zacks Consensus Estimate for its fiscal fourth quarter reported this morning at a loss of 33 cents per share. The company suffered an incredibly bad fourth quarter of 2008, so year-over-year comparables are very favorable. So favorable, in fact, they are devoid of much meaning. A year ago, Citigroup lost $3.40 per share in the quarter. Revenues dropped 4.2% from the year-earlier level to $5.41 billion.
The quarterly loss would have been a much narrower 6 cents per share if we exclude the $6.2 billion in TARP repayments. The company recently paid back $20 billion that it owed the government. However, the government still owns more than a quarter of the bank’s equity. Another positive data point in the report was the decline in the company’s loan-loss provisions, both sequentially as well as year over year.
Analysts had been trending downward in earnings estimates overall for the past month. Whereas 30 days ago the Zacks Consensus Estimate was a loss of 29 cents per share, the loss of 33 cents hit Citigroup’s numbers right on the head.
But more important than the quarterly numbers would be management’s outlook. JP Morgan‘s (JPM) inability to provide a clear outlook was the primary reason for the market’s tepid response to the much better numbers from that bank.
We will have a more in-depth review of Citigroup’s earnings numbers within the next couple hours.
Read the full analyst report on “C”
Read the full analyst report on “JPM”
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