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Citigroup (C) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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Citigroup (C - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $65.52, moving +0.49% from the previous trading session. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.35%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.03%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.7%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the U.S. bank had gained 3.81% over the past month. This has outpaced the Finance sector's gain of 2.51% and lagged the S&P 500's gain of 5.14% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from C as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be April 15, 2019. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.78, up 5.95% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $18.71 billion, down 0.85% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $7.42 per share and revenue of $74.34 billion. These totals would mark changes of +11.58% and +2.04%, respectively, from last year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for C should also be noted by investors. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.4% lower. C is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

Looking at its valuation, C is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 8.79. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 10.73.

Meanwhile, C's PEG ratio is currently 0.82. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The Banks - Major Regional was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.29 at yesterday's closing price.

The Banks - Major Regional industry is part of the Finance sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 155, which puts it in the bottom 40% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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