Citi Trading Below Book

Citigroup (C) stock fell below book value Tuesday - which is either despite or because of a long series of write-downs which served to lower that very value. Citi's market capitalization is now $115 billion, which compares to, say, $177 billion for Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). More to the point, Citigroup has just two thirds of the value of Bank of America (BAC), and only 87% of the value of JP Morgan Chase (JPM). I'm not saying it's a buy at these levels, but I am having difficulty seeing a scenario where Bank of America maintains that kind of lead over the long term.

Comments

[Zyx007:]

Agree with your assessment.

2008 Mar 06 04:59 AM

[Greg Pinelli:]

How do YOU know what Citi's "Book Value" is? How do you KNOW (and I don't mean kind of know) their "book value" won't be lowered even further next Tuesday because of writedowns or writeoffs that have slammed them up against reality one more time? Are you at all concerned about persistent rumors concerning off the book "parking spaces" for non performing and/or non marketable assets?

Nice picture up top, anyway.

2008 Mar 06 07:18 AM

[BlackSwan:]

Write-downs are not losses.

2008 Mar 06 08:48 AM

[jimsep:]

1. CITI's book value is a rapidly moving target--- downward.
2. You are probably right about Bank of America-- that stock will crash.

2008 Mar 06 11:27 AM

[kurt walter:]

Citicorp book value is unknown at this point. With all the lousy loans and investments who really knows the value of this dog?

2008 Mar 06 12:39 PM