Citi Profits Down as Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates

July 16, 2010 at 08:00 PM
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Citigroup's profit fell 37% to $2.7 billion in the second quarter of 2010 from $4.28 billion a year ago, the company reported early today, July 16.

This beat analyst estimates and — excluding a gain last year from the sale of Smith Barney – put Citi into the black.

"Although economic conditions remain challenging and global regulatory frameworks are uncertain, we believe these results demonstrate that the difficult decisions made by our management team have put in place all the elements for sustained profitability," said CEO Vikram Pandit in a press release.

Citi reported a profit of $0.09, down from $0.49 last year, when the company had a $6.7 billion gain from the Smith Barney sale. It had revenue of $22.07 billion, just shy of what analysts had expected.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had most recently forecast earnings of $0.05 cents a share on $22.16 billion in revenue.

In the second quarter of 2009, Citi had $11.1 billion in revenue associated with the sale of Smith Barney and the establishment of the Morgan Stanley joint venture and total revenue of $29.97 billion.

Standard & Poor's equity analyst Matthew Albrecht had forecast earnings per share of $0.12, but maintains a buy rating on the stock.

"We project lower banking-fee income due to new rules, but the firm's global footprint should help mitigate the impact," he wrote in an earnings note. "We are lowering both '10 and '11 estimates by $0.03, to $0.46 and $0.47, respectively, and cutting our target price by $0.50 to $5.50, in line with book value."

Citi's shares were down about 5.5%, and the shares traded just under $4 on July 16, when Bank of America's shares dropped more than 8%.

Citi Holdings generated a $1.2 billion loss, compared with a $1.2 billion gain a year earlier, when it divested Smith Barney through a joint venture with Morgan Stanley.

Morgan Stanley, with over 18,000 advisors, is set to report earnings on Wednesday, July 21.

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