Here is what Bullmarket.com said about Citigroup's earnings...
BMR Take: Citigroup has been a real mixed bag in recent years, but it has been
able to beat estimates six of the past seven quarters. The stock, meanwhile, has
risen three of the past four quarters the day following earnings. Seasonally, the
reaction has been mixed the past four years.
Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analyst David Konrad wrote in December, "Despite our
expectations for strong 4Q10 revenues out of corporate finance, continued
sluggish trading volumes and widening credit spreads at international
counterparties are the catalysts behind our lower 4Q10 estimates. We are
lowering our 4Q10 estimate to $0.08 from $0.09 per share, previously. 2010E is
lowered to $0.32 from $0.33."
We think Citi is a very tough call ahead of earnings, and the best way to play it
the past seven quarters has been to generally bet the opposite way it has
performed the week before. As such, if the stock runs up this week ahead of
earnings, we'd lean bearish, but if trends lower or trades near breakeven, we'd
lean bullish.
Outside of earnings, we think Citi is relatively cheap, trading at about 1.1x
tangible book, but that is actually a premium to Bank of America (BAC), which
trades below book and is the beaten-up big bank stock we prefer.
With that being said, Citigroup is running up the last few weeks. Treed carefully.