The bank giant reported earnings of $2.19 per share for its second quarter
Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) broke out of the slump bank stocks have seen so far during this earnings season by posting second-quarter earnings of $2.19 per share on $19.64 billion in revenue, topping analysts' expectations. The financial giant cited the recent jump in interest rates and upbeat trading results for its successful earnings turnout. The firm did share a 27% drop in profits for its most recent quarter, thanks to weakness in its investment banking business and added reserves for potentially sour loans. Nevertheless, C was last seen up 4.5% at $46.13 ahead of the bell.
Heading into today, C was down 5.7% for the week, pressured lower by less-than-satisfactory quarterly confessionals from both JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Morgan Stanley (MS). Now, C is coming off a 20-month low of $43.44 touched during yesterday's session, though all of the equity's short- and long-term trendlines still loom ahead as a possible ceiling on the charts.
It's worth pointing out that C sports a 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) of 31, which sits just on the cusp of "oversold" territory. This means a short-term bounce could already be in the cards for Citigroup stock.
When we last covered the financial concern just days ahead of its earning event, we noted that analyst sentiment was lukewarm at best. This remains the case today, as the brokerage bunch has yet to chime in, though a round of bull notes could help C distance itself from its aforementioned lows, as nine of the 15 in coverage call it a "hold" or worse, compared to six "buy" or better ratings.
Short interest, meanwhile, has been quietly rising, up 6.9% in the last two reporting periods. However, the 48.90 million shares sold short make up just 2.5% of the stock's available float, or a little over two days' worth of pent-up buying power.