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Citigroup (NYSE: C) Continues Walking the Green Mile to Sustained Profitability

Andrew Montero — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:02:27 +0000

Last week, Citigroup (NYSE:C) showed a net profit of $2.7 billion, or 9 cents per share when they announced Q2 results, which was down from the 49 cents per share profit of Q1. Citigroup revenue was $22.1bn, down $3.4billion from Q1 2010. Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit, was happy with what he termed ‘solid’ figures for the latest quarter. Compared with same period last year numbers, consumer banking revenue rose 9% in Latin America and 10% in Asia, more than offsetting declines of 3% in North America and 5% in the Europe-Middle East-Africa region. On a global basis, consumer banking revenue rose 2% from a year earlier, to $8.03 billion. Trends were similar for transaction services, with revenue rising 5% in Latin America and 6% in Asia and falling 3% in North America and 1% in the Europe-Middle East-Africa region. With that in mind; Citigroup continues walking the green mile to sustained profitability this quarter as the Treasury Department announced it will sell 1.5 billion more shares of Citigroup (NYSE: C) stock over the next couple of months. This is the third tranche sale in the government’s Citigroup bailout fund recovery effort. The proceeds are part of the repayment of funds from Citigroup’s portion of the $700 billion financial bailout. The third tranche of Citigroup stock sales will start immediately and be completed by Sept. 30, according to a spokesperson at the Treasury. The government has already sold 2.6 billion shares for $10.5 billion in the first 2 tranche sales over the course of the last 2 fiscal quarters. Citigroup originally received $45 billion in taxpayer funds through the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Of the $45 billion, $25 billion was converted to a government-ownership stake through shares of common stock with Treasury receiving 7.7 billion shares at a share price of $3.25. At that time, the stake equated to 27 percent of the company. Citigroup repaid the $20 billion unconverted portion of the loan last December. Citigroup stock over the past 52 weeks has ranged in price from a low of $2.56 to a high of $5.43. The Treasury Department has stated its intentions to sell its entire stake in Citigroup by the end of this year. The first tranche of sales, covering 1.5 billion shares, concluded in May. The second, which covered another 1.1 billion shares, ended recently after beginning in June. Once those shares are all sold, I would expect some sort of share repurchase by the company, or perhaps a reverse split to reduce the bloated share count.

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Citigroup (NYSE:C) Remains a Solid if Unspectacular Choice

Andrew Montero — Tue, 18 May 2010 13:38:43 +0000

Citigroup (NYSE:C) shares continue to be volatile. Citigroup shares have began to recover, trading at more than $55 per share in 2007 plummeted to less than $2 in 2009 , reaching more than 5 dollars now in April. Citigroup shares closed below 4 dollars in trading yesterday at $3.86 per share. This is not an unexpected situation for informed investors; as the government owns more than one quarter of Citigroup, and has been unloading roughly 20% of their stake of approximately 7.7 billion shares in the company since late April.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) Remains a Solid if Unspectacular Choice King of All Trades

Citigroup (NYSE:C) Continues to Deleverage and Defend Itself

Andrew Montero — Mon, 10 May 2010 13:12:20 +0000

Citigroup (NYSE:C) said Friday that it will buy back $535.9 million worth of its notes as part of tender offer which was previously announced. The cash tender offer expired at 5 p.m. Thursday. As of the expiration date about $535.9 million aggregate principal amount of notes were validly tendered and not withdrawn or were subject to binding commitments to sell to Citigroup. All of the debt notes being repurchased were scheduled to come due this year and in 2011. The move is part of Citigroup's strategy to utilize available cash to terminate debt nearing maturity and reduce overall interest payments. The tender offer is not expected to impact liquidity, the company said. Citigroup expects to settle all tenders May 11.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) Continues to Deleverage and Defend Itself King of All Trades

Citigroup (NYSE:C) Moves Forward by Moving Away from Weil’s Model

Andrew Montero — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 12:07:45 +0000

This is a perfect example of what Citigroup needs to do to reposition itself and strengthen itself as a Bank first and foremost again. It is also a far cry from recent testimony at Banking related hearings from Charles Prince and others.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) Moves Forward by Moving Away from Weil’s Model King of All Trades

Citigroup (NYSE:C) Still on a Perilous Slope with Recent Revelations

Andrew Montero — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 12:39:47 +0000

As we watch Citigroup (NYSE:C) continue to trade above 4.20 a share, I have to ask investors what they are driving this stock price up on? Certainly with the recent news that the government would like to divest itself of its shares, the price per share of this equity theoretically should drop. Also amid all the recent speculation, we are seeing bits and pieces of a massive fraud and lack of competence among the Mortgage and Banking industries with Citigroup smack dab in the middle of it all.

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Citibank-Citicorp-Citigroup…The History: Part 2

Andrew Montero — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:50:24 +0000

On April 6, 1998, the merger between Citicorp and Travelers Group was announced to the world, creating a $140 billion dollar firm with assets of almost $700 billion dollars. The chairmen of both parent companies, John Reed and Sanford Weill, were announced as co-chairmen and CEOs of the new entity, Citigroup, Inc., although the huge difference in management styles between the two immediately presented question marks over such a setup. Presented as a merger, the deal was truthfully more like a stock swap

Citibank-Citicorp-Citigroup…The History: Part 2 King of All Trades

Citibank-Citicorp-Citigroup…The History: Part 1

Andrew Montero — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:47:48 +0000

By Steve Garcia - As a precursor to covering Citigroup (NYSE: C) stock, I feel a little history lesson is due. The history lesson will help to bring us up to today in terms of where they have been, and where the company is headed in the future. I have been in and out of this stock several times over the years, and have family who have worked for and retired from the company. There was a time when my family lived and breathed First National and Citibank; a time when this company showed genuine care and passion for what it did and its employees did.

Citibank-Citicorp-Citigroup…The History: Part 1 King of All Trades