Citigroup Inc. (C-N)

The banks are down today after reporting, but he doesn't see anything wrong with the sector. The economy has slowed, but the banks should do fine when the Fed cuts rates. Part of today's selling has been profit-taking, because the sector has performed this year. Projected expenses for Citi are only a touch higher than expected. More importantly, share buybacks this quarter will be $1 billion, alight number due to ongoing problems with the regulators. They beat earnings and revenues though. The stock is cheap.

He doesn't understand why Citi is down. The CEO's plan is coming together. He's not concerned about their slightly higher expenses. They just reported a beat. 

He just added more. Until 9 months ago, CIti was a dog as the street wasn't giving the new CEO the benefit of the doubt in her turnaround plan. But that's changed. Will know more in next week's earnings. Last week's bank stress tests were important. Citi will slightly raise its already-high dividend, but will buy back a lot of shares.

They passed the recent stress test and having been buying back shares. He expects even more of the latter.

US banks surprisingly underperforming a bit in the last month or so. Chart sideways since May, say around $56 to $64. Bank earnings will be in about a month, so perhaps investors are waiting to see the direction for the sector.

On Tuesday, they will hold an analyst day devoted to their services business, the most consistent yet least promoted part of the bank. He thinks this meeting will move the stock.

BAC has shown recent strength with a rally, with their Merrill Lynch franchise helping earnings and is better than Citi. Citi is a turnaround story as they reduce staff and streamline. Citi have risen recently though.

Dead weight for a long time. Sweeping progress last year should continue and drive stock higher. Cheap, trades at 8x 2025 earnings, growing at 24%. More positive on US than Canadian banks. Pays decent dividend of 3.69%.

He is bullish the big banks, including this. He is bearish the regional ones.

Was upgraded today. That's a long-time coming. The new CEO is cutting costs and raising profits. So, shares should keep climbing, It's trading at 65% tangible book value.

They've struggled the most among the big U.S. banks. The CEO is carving out their weaker businesses. If he can execute this well, there is upside. Overall, a solid holding.

Citi trades at only 0.6x book value, cheapest among peers, but there may be something wrong with that. Trades at a low 10x PE. Last September, they announced a major restructuring, like cutting jobs and executive layers, and they already dropped many of their international businesses. Wall Street is excited by the many job cuts, but he thinks the growth is questionable. It's the only major bank expected to grow earnings in 2024 at 5.2%. He hopes they make a comeback, but will believe it when he sees it.

Likes the CEO, though the market didn't give her credit for 18 months when she started. Now, she's cutting unprofitable business and expenses. It's becoming lean and analysts are noticing it.

Laggard. Checkered past. Market's not that confident in the stock. CEO is getting good marks in righting the ship. Lots of catchup to the rest of the banks. Lots of risk. He'd need to see more positives before stepping in.

Stock has not been performing well. However, business has opportunity to pickup market share. Believes company has turned corner on performance. Revenue and EPS both up. Growth in institutional and personal banking lines. Currently trading at fair value and would recommend buying.