Boston, MA 10/21/2013 (wallstreetpr) – Third largest American bank and diversified global financial services company Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) has come out with its latest quarterly results for three months ending 30 September, 2013. And considering the current global economic scenario, the results can least be referred to as quite decent if not spectacular. Against a consensus estimate of Earning per Share (EPS) of $1.06, Citigroup has declared an EPS of $1.00. The stock markets have taken the result in their stride and company has not shown any significant movement on either side.
The bank has produced a net income of $3.2 billion, which is down 17% since last year third quarter results. If one considers revenue growth, the bank seems to have done well with a growth of almost 30%. From $13.7 billion in Q3 2012, the revenues have grown to $17.9 billion in last quarter.
The analysts too were not very positive about Citi’s results as their estimates for the bank had continued to fall all through third quarter. It started with $1.16 and eventually came down to $1.06, which the bank failed to meet. The primary reason why company has failed to meet analyst’s expectations is due to the poor state of American and global mortgage industry. Even company’s CEO was of the view that apart from the sorry state of mortgage industry, government shutdown is also to be blamed for reducing company’s revenues and earnings.
After this result, there are talks on street about Citigroup reinstating its dividend policy sometime early in next financial year. The bank has been paying a quarterly dividend of one cent since mid 2011. If investors are to be believed, there is more than decent probability that Citigroup would start paying a dividend of close to 25 cents every quarter from financial year 2014. So for investors looking to buy stocks paying decent dividends, Citi might be a stock to accumulate for next few quarters.
