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

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Citigroup (C - Free Report) closed at $62.72 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.24% move from the prior day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.1%. At the same time, the Dow added 1.05%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 1.32%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the U.S. bank had lost 13.22% over the past month. This has lagged the Finance sector's loss of 6.43% and the S&P 500's loss of 5.05% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from C as it approaches its next earnings report date. On that day, C is projected to report earnings of $1.98 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 13.79%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $18.59 billion, up 1.07% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $7.64 per share and revenue of $74 billion, which would represent changes of +14.89% and +1.58%, respectively, from the prior year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for C should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.01% higher. C currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note C's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 8.1. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 10.38, which means C is trading at a discount to the group.

It is also worth noting that C currently has a PEG ratio of 0.66. 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 1.25 at yesterday's closing price.

The Banks - Major Regional industry is part of the Finance sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 229, putting it in the bottom 11% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our 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.

To follow C in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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