Citigroup Inc. C, -1.54 percent saw its stock rise 0.3 percent in premarket trading Wednesday after the moneycenter bank reported a nearly six-fold increase in second-quarter profit, beating expectations, despite revenue falling due to a “normalization” in market activity and lower average card loans. The company’s net income grew to $6.2 billion, or $2.85 per share, from $1.1 billion, or 38 cents per share, in the previous quarter. Earnings per share were expected to be $1.97 by FactSet. Revenue dropped 12% to $17.47 billion, but it was still more than the FactSet expectation of $17.22 billion. Global consumer banking revenue fell 7% to $6.82 billion, missing the FactSet consensus of $7.02 billion, while institutional customers revenue fell 14% to $10.39 billion, falling short of the $10.53 billion forecast. Corporate and other revenue fell 8% to $267 million, but it outperformed estimates of a loss of $47.2 million. Markets and securities services revenue fell 30% to $4.82 billion, with fixed income revenue falling 43% to $3.21 billion and equities markets revenue rising 37% to $1.06 billion. “The global recovery is outpacing forecasts, and consumer and corporate confidence is rising along with it,” said Chief Executive Jane Fraser. “While we must be cognizant of the global recovery’s unevenness, we are optimistic about the future momentum.” Citigroup’s stock has risen 10.9 percent year to date through Tuesday, outperforming the SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF XLF, -1.08 percent, which has risen 24.4 percent, and the S&P 500 SPX, -0.35 percent, which has risen 16.4 percent./n
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