Citigroup’s first-quarter earnings topped analysts’ estimates on both the top and bottom line as the bank’s institutional business posted double-digit sales growth across almost all business lines.
Citigroup reported Thursday that net income for the first quarter rose 17% year over year to $4.1 billion, while revenue increased 3% to $18.1 billion. Earnings per share rose to $1.35 from $1.10.
Analysts had predicted earnings of $1.24 per share on revenue of $17.7 billion.
“The momentum we saw across many of our businesses towards the end of last year carried into the first quarter, resulting in significantly better overall performance than a year ago,” Citigroup CEO Michael Corbat said in a news release, citing revenue increases in both consumer and institutional lines of business.
On the institutional side, fixed income trading revenues rose 19% to $3.6 billion, reflecting strength in rates and currencies as well as spread products, and equities trading revenues jumped 10% to $769 million, driven by an improvement in derivatives. Investment banking revenues surged 39% to $1.21 billion.
Across the entire institutional clients group, first-quarter profits were $3 billion on revenues of $9.1 billion, up 61% and 16% year on year, respectively.
Consumer banking revenues increased 1% to $7.82 billion but net income fell 16% to $1.0 billion as the higher revenues were more than offset by higher cost of credit.
On news of the earnings, Citigroup shares fell 0.6% to $58.16. “Bank stocks surged following the election last year of Donald Trump, but have come under pressure since the start of March after the failure of the administration’s healthcare legislation threw into doubt expectations of regulatory relief and pro-growth policy initiatives,” The Financial Times noted.
Citi CFO John C. Gerspach said on an earnings call he believes Trump will stick to promises of “looking to catalyze growth in the economy.”