Citizens Financial Group Inc. shares advanced by 2.6% in premarket trades Tuesday after it reported strong-than-expected earnings. The bank said its first-quarter profit fell 33% to $396 million, or 93 cents a share, from $588 million, or $1.37 a share, in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted earnings fell to $1.07 a share from $1.41 a share. Revenue dipped slightly to $1.65 billion from $1.66 billion. Wall Street analysts expected Citizen’s Financial Group to earn 91 cents a share on revenue of $1.64 billion, according to FactSet. Jefferies analyst Ken Usdin said Citizens Financial Group’s 2022 projections imply pre-provision net revenue of about $3.4 billion, which is about 10% above Wall Street projections. The bank is forecasting 2022 earnings of about $4.50 to $4.60 a share, based on Usdin’s analysis. Currently, analysts expect 2022 earnings of $4.17 a share, according to FactSet. Prior to Tuesday’s moves, Citizens Financial shares are down 12.7% in 2022, compared to a 5% drop by the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF and a loss of 7.9% by the S&P 500 .
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