Jim Cramer Says ‘The Street’s Fallen In Love With The Stock Of Citigroup Inc. (C)’

Oct 15, 2024
jim-cramer-says-‘the-street’s-fallen-in-love-with-the-stock-of-citigroup-inc.-(c)’

We recently compiled a list of the Jim Cramer is Talking About These 14 Stocks Before Earnings. In this article, we are going to take a look at where  Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) stands against the other stocks Jim Cramer is talking about before earnings.

As earnings season kicks off, Jim Cramer of Mad Money offered insights on what investors should watch in the coming week on Wall Street. He highlighted the anticipated reports from several major banks, along with a few other companies, as key events to monitor.

Cramer expressed optimism about the current market conditions, noting that the situation aligns with his previous predictions that the market would thrive once the Federal Reserve began reducing interest rates while the economy remained strong. He remarked on the spectacular earnings reported by some major banks on Friday, emphasizing that this positive news is particularly impactful now, as opposed to previous instances when the Fed was tightening, causing good news to go largely unnoticed. Cramer believes that with the Fed now supportive of the market, there is potential for more favorable times ahead.

Looking to Monday, Cramer predicted that the focus will shift away from earnings reports due to other significant developments over the weekend. He mentioned the anticipated unveiling of a Chinese stimulus package and noted that although the rally in China has stalled, it could regain momentum if the Chinese government injects substantial funds into real estate and the stock market.

“Now, on Monday, we won’t be focused on earnings. There’s a lot of other stuff happening over the weekend. For instance, I think we’ll be parsing the Chinese stimulus package that’s going to be unveiled. The China rally is stalled, but it can get rolling again if the Chinese Communist Party keeps throwing tens of billions of dollars for the stimulus at real estate, at the stock market.”

Cramer warned that the financial sector will face a significant test on Tuesday, as different banks will be reporting their earnings. Cramer reminded investors that we are just at the beginning of one of the year’s four reporting periods, which can be chaotic and open to various interpretations.

“We’re at the beginning of one of the year’s four reporting periods,” he said. “They’re jumbled. They’re open to a lot of interpretation. They’re fast. So listen to the calls, ponder a moment, and only then should you pull the trigger.”

Our Methodology

For this article, we compiled a list of 14 stocks that are slated to release earnings this week and were discussed by Cramer during his episode of Mad Money on October 11. We listed the stocks in ascending order of their hedge fund sentiment as of the second quarter, which was taken from Insider Monkey’s database of more than 900 hedge funds.

Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).

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Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 85

While Cramer does not share the enthusiasm around Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C), he mentioned that CEO Jane Fraser has been leading the company rather well.

“The Street’s fallen in love with the stock of Citi. Rather amazing under the leadership of Jane Fraser. Sometimes I think she could say anything and the analysts would praise her. She’s turning Citi around. Not an easy task. Hard to remember the last time I saw so much confidence in this institution. I don’t share it yet because I like so many of the other banks.”

Citigroup (NYSE:C) is a leading global financial services company that provides an extensive range of financial products and services. It includes cash management, trading, investment banking, retail banking, and wealth management. On October 10, the company made significant advancements in its service offerings with the announcement that Citi Token Services for Cash transitioned from a pilot phase to a fully operational solution. It allows the facilitation of multimillion-dollar transactions for institutional clients, marking a key step in the company’s effort to deliver next-generation transaction banking services.

Moreover, Citi Token Services for Trade also reached an important benchmark by successfully executing pilot transactions with shipping agents CB Fenton and GAC Panama Shipping. In the second quarter, Citigroup (NYSE:C) reported revenues of $20.1 billion, a 4% increase compared to the previous year. This growth was widespread across various business segments, particularly in Banking, US Personal Banking, and Markets. The revenue growth included an approximate $400 million gain from the completion of the Visa B exchange during the quarter.

Additionally, the company’s net income reached $3.2 billion for the same period, up from $2.9 billion a year earlier. This rise in net income was supported by increased revenues and reduced expenses. By the end of the quarter, its deposits stood at about $1.3 trillion, which points to a solid foundation of client trust and engagement.

Overall C ranks 5th on our list of the stocks Jim Cramer is talking about before earnings. While we acknowledge the potential of C as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than C but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

Read Next: $30 Trillion Opportunity: 15 Best Humanoid Robot Stocks to Buy According to Morgan Stanley and Jim Cramer Says NVIDIA ‘Has Become A Wasteland’.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.

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