Citigroup: Financial Winner
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Citigroup (C) was the winner among the largest U.S. banks on Thursday, with shares rising 2% to close at $42.80.
The broad indexes ended mixed, despite positive economic news, as shares of Apple (AAPL) dropped over 12% to close at $450.50, after the company on Wednesday after the market close reported fiscal first-quarter earnings of $13.81 a share, which was ahead of the consensus estimate of $13.47, while fiscal first-quarter revenue totaled $54.5 billion, rising from $46.33 billion a year earlier, but missing the consensus estimate of $54.73 billion, among analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
Oppenheimer analyst Ittai Kidron reiterated his "outperform" rating for Apple, but lowered his 12 to 18 month price target for the shares to $600 from $800, saying the company "delivered in-line results and like last quarter provided disappointing guidance," and that "the high-end smartphone/tablet
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"This is pushing Apple's growth and mix downward to international markets/mid-tier and pressuring margins," Kidron said, adding that "We'd buy the shares after the dust settles as we still see room for top-line/EPS growth, but multiples will likely be permanently hurt as Apple starts to look more like a typical high-performing consumer-tech company."
Turning to financials, the KBW Bank Index (I:BKX) was up slightly to close at 53.95, with all but five of the 24 index components rising for the session, following two pieces of good economic news.
The Department of Labor announced that initial unemployment claims fell by 5,000 during the week ended Jan. 19 to 330,000, from the previous week's unrevised figure of 335,000. Economists were expecting an increase to 355,000, according to Briefing.com. The four-week moving average was 351,750, a decrease of 8,250 from the previous week's average of 360,000.
Continuing jobless claims for the week ended Jan. 12 fell by 71,000 to 3.157 million, down from the prior week's upwardly revised level of 3.228 million.