C Citigroup Inc

By David Benoit and Ben Eisen 

Citigroup Inc. on Tuesday said its third-quarter profit rose 6% and beat expectations.

The New York bank posted a net income of $4.91 billion, or $2.07 a share, compared with $4.62 billion, or $1.73 a share, a year earlier. Analysts had expected $1.95 per share, according to FactSet.

Revenue rose to $18.57 billion from $18.39 billion a year earlier. Analysts had expected $18.54 billion.

The consumer operations posted revenue of $8.66 billion and profit rose to $1.58 billion. The corporate bank's revenue climbed to $9.51 billion and its profit increased to $3.16 billion

The bank hit a key promise by getting its return on tangible common equity to 12.2% for the quarter and up to 12% for the whole year. Analysts had raised some questions about whether it would hit the 12% mark this year.

Citigroup's stock has been the best performing of the big banks for the year so far, up 35%, far outpacing rivals in the KBW Nasdaq bank Index and the broader market as it has steadily pushed profits higher. Still, unlike most of its rivals, Citigroup's stock trades below book value, or its net worth.

The shares were down slightly in premarket trading.

Write to David Benoit at david.benoit@wsj.com and Ben Eisen at ben.eisen@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 15, 2019 08:33 ET (12:33 GMT)

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