Citi Losing Ground to Goldman, JPMorgan

Tim Catts

posted: 43 DAYS 2 HOURS AGO

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Corporate dealmaking, securities trading and stock and bond underwriting have powered Wall Street's earnings this year, and that's bad news for Citigroup (C), some analysts say. Citi posted a $101 million profit in the third quarter, excluding dividends on preferred stock and costs related to a debt exchange that gave Washington a 34 percent stake in the company, but it may stand to lose ground to healthier rivals.

"We expect Citi will struggle to hang onto market share as more strongly capitalized players without meaningful operating limitations can respond to market opportunities more quickly," wrote William Tanona, a former Goldman Sachs analyst now with Collins Stewart in New York, in a note to clients Thursday.

Citi said Thursday that revenue from its investment banking and trading divisions fell to $4.9 billion, a drop of 29 percent from the previous quarter. However, Goldman Sachs (GS), which reported a $3.2 billion quarterly profit, had income of nearly $7 billion from those businesses, down just 15 percent. And JPMorgan Chase (JPM) has reported $7.5 billion in investment banking and trading revenues, a 3 percent gain.

2009-10-15 15:17:29