Shares of Citigroup (C +1.77%) were up nearly 5% today, beating analysts' expectations for both the top and bottom line. Non-adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.30 compared with consensus estimates of $1.14, and revenue for the quarter was $20.1 billion, compared to an estimated $19.7 billion.
While this is definitely good news for the bank, Citigroup hasn't had an easy time of things lately. In this year's round of banking stress tests conducted by the Federal Reserve, Citigroup passed in terms of its capital ratios, but the Fed came down hard on the bank for its approach to managing risk, and denied the bank's requests to return more capital to shareholders in the form of dividends and share buybacks.
So is the boost today a sign that Citigroup is back on the right track? In this video from Monday's Stock of the Day, Motley Fool analyst Jamal Carnette says he's still staying away. Jamal sums up the business of banking, saying that banks quantify and price risk accordingly. Since the Federal Reserve still believes that Citigroup is doing a poor job of that, Jamal sees several other more attractive buys in the sector, which he highlights in the video.
