Citigroup Surging After Q3 Results

Global financial services giant Citigroup

released its fiscal third-quarter earnings results prior to the opening bell on Monday. Adjusted earnings were better than expected, but the company posted an 88 percent drop in profit, largely as a result of a loss on its sale of the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney joint venture. Net income for the quarter fell to $468 million or $0.15 per share, compared to $3.77 billion in last year's corresponding quarter. This reflected a loss of $2.9 billion on Citi's sale of 14 percent of the Smith Barney joint venture to Morgan Stanley. On an adjusted basis, which is comparable to analysts' consensus, Citigroup reported net income of $3.27 billion or $1.06 per share, versus $2.57 billion last year. This came in ahead of Wall Street analysts' consensus EPS estimates of $0.96. Adjusted revenues in the period were up 3 percent to $19.41 billion. This beat analysts' consensus revenue estimates of $18.35 billion. During Monday's trading session, the stock has been steadily rising in the wake of the third-quarter results. At last check, shares had climbed 4.50 percent to $36.31. Year-to-date, Citi has now jumped nearly 38 percent.