"Citigroup (NYSE: C) used to be the world’s #1 bank; it is now ranked #15 after the financial crisis," points out long-standing investing and trading expert Mark Skousen.
Despite the financial institution's troubles, the advisor ranks the bank as a speculative buy in his premium Hedge Fund Trader service. Here's his review.
"The stock fell to $1 a share from $40 a share two years ago. But now Citigroup is showing some breathing room after selling Smith Barney to Morgan Stanley (MS) for $6.7 billion and pushing revenues up to $34 billion.
"Last month, Citigroup reported a 6% rise in total deposits to $805 billion, with the best results coming in the Institutional Clients Group, which earned $2.8 billion.
"But with $620 billion in debt, Citigroup is still far from recovery, and is struggling to maintain market share compared to other U.S. banks (Chase, Bank of America (BAC)). Citigroup has no chance of repaying TARP money anytime soon.
"On the positive side, CEO Vikram Pandit reports significant progress in recent quarters. Plus, the company just got approval from the Chinese to be a market maker in China's interbank bond market, the second foreign lender to get approval (JPMorgan/Chase was the first).
"The news is sufficiently bullish that Chairman Richard Parsons, new Citibank head Eugene McQuade, and Manuel Medina-Mora, the chief executive of Citigroup's Latin America and Mexico business, recently bought 1 million shares of stock apiece.
"The buy from Mr. Medina-Mora follows a nicely timed $1.86 million purchase in March, when he paid about $1.24 a share."
