Citigroup's (C) third quarter 2009 loss from continuing operations of 23 cents per share was in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. This compares favorably with a net loss of 72 cents in the prior-year quarter. Results for the quarter included $8 billion in net credit losses and an $802 million in net loan loss reserve build. GAAP net income in the third quarter of 2009 was $101 million, compared to a net loss of $2.8 billion in the prior-year quarter. On a per share basis, however, the company reported a GAAP net loss of 27 cents per share, based on an average 12.1 billion shares outstanding. This compares to a net loss of 61 cents in the prior-year quarter. Results for the quarter were impacted by an incremental net loss of 18 cents per share related to the completion of Citi’s previously announced exchange offers. ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – July 20, 2009 – Zacks Equity Research highlights IBM Corporation (IBM) as the Bull of the Day and Marriott International (MAR ) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Citigroup (C), Bank of America (BAC) and Goldman Sachs (GS).

Full analysis of all these stocks is available at http://at.zacks.com/?id=2676.

Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:

Bull of the Day:

As a result of its large non-US revenue base, IBM Corporation (IBM) has been better insulated from the recent weakness in the U.S. economy than many of its peers. IBM reported strong 2Q09 results ahead of our and Wall Street expectations.

Profitability in the quarter was fueled by higher gross profit margins as IBM shifted to high-margin software and services business. The company

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Citigroup (C) today reported net income for 2Q09 at $4.3 billion, or $0.49 per diluted share. These results included a $6.7 billion after-tax gain associated with the sale of Smith Barney, which closed on June 1, 2009. Excluding the one-time gain, the operating loss for the quarter was about $0.27 per share, which is better than the analysts’ estimates of a loss of $0.37 per share. Like Bank of America (BAC), the range of the analysts’ estimates for Citi was very wide -- from a loss of 3 cents per share to a loss of 76 cents per share -- thus the consensus does not mean much, in our view. Total revenues were $30.0 billion, up $12.4 billion from 2Q08. Unlike some of the other big banks -- Goldman Sachs (GS), JP Morgan (JPM) and Bank of America, which had strong revenues from ...