Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) opened with a gap up and ended the session with a respectable gain of 1.52% after it reported the first quarter results and mostly beat the analysts’ expectation. As usual on a result day, the volume surged and reached 38 million, more than double the daily average of 16.5 million. Considering that the rally yesterday took the stock just 5% away from the 52-week high, the inability of the stock to register a new high for 2015 seems striking.
The street was expecting Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) to report earnings of $1.39 per share on an adjusted revenue of $19.8 billion but the company reported earnings of $1.52 per share on an adjusted revenue of $19.8 billion. Against the last year’s EPS of $1.23, the GAAP earnings came at $1.51 per share this time, and GAAP revenue at $19.7 billion. On a y-o-y basis, a 7% drop was seen in the banking firm’s deposits, coming down to $900 billion. The bank’s allowance for loan losses was $14.6 billion at the end of the quarter with the cost of credit falling by 3% to $1.9 billion. The total loan amount at $621 billion saw a 7% decline at the end of the March quarter. A 2% decline was seen in the revenue of $8.7 billion of the Global Banking Consumer segment and a similar 2% decline was visible in the revenues of Citicorp too, at $17.9 billion.
Technically, the stock price formed a Doji candlestick yesterday, suggesting indecision and not particularly a lot of strength. As evident from the chart attached, the price has just hit a trendline resistance and unless some very bullish news emerges right now, it looks unlikely that the stock will run above $55. The possibility of the stock trading in the range of $50-$55 looks very strong at the moment.
