Citigroup shares slide after fourth-quarter profit declines 26%

Earnings

A pedestrian wearing a protective mask walks past a Citibank branch in New York on Friday, April 10, 2020.
Bloomberg

Citigroup is set to report its fourth-quarter results later on Friday.

Here’s what analysts expect from the banking giant’s numbers:

  • Earnings per share: $1.38 estimated, according to Refinitiv
  • Revenue: $16.75 billion expected
  • Net interest income: $10.44 billion expected, according to StreetAccount
  • Noninterest income: $6.34 billion forecast
  • Institutional Clients Group revenue: $9.56 billion forecast
  • Fixed income trading: $2.71 billion expected
  • Equities trading revenue: $839.7 million estimated

Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser has some explaining to do.

Shares of her bank slumped 2% last year, while the KBW Bank Index jumped 37% and all of her big bank peers surged on strong capital markets revenue and expectations for rising interest rates.

But Citigroup, which trades for less than tangible book value (the measure of what a bank would be worth if it were liquidated), has been struggling for years.

When Fraser took over for predecessor Michael Corbat a year ago, her mandate was to improve returns at the third biggest U.S. bank by assets.

To do so, she has opted to exit less profitable parts of the firm’s global empire. Her first major strategic move was to leave 13 retail markets across Asian and Europe; since that April announcement she has disclosed plans to depart South Korea and Mexico. Analysts will be keen to ask her if she’s completed her divestiture project.

Investors were surprised when the bank said last month that it was suspending share repurchases to help it comply with impending regulatory rules. Analysts will likely ask Fraser when buybacks will resume, and at what levels.

Shares of the bank have climbed 11% this year, matching the rise of the KBW Bank Index.

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—CNBC’s Hugh Son contributed to this report.