Buffett Brain · Research note
Score updated 29 Oct 2026 · analysis from 2 Jun 2026
C· Financial Services
Citigroup
Citigroup is a sprawling global bank earning a barely-there 0.6 percent return on capital while shrinking its own earnings.
Buffett fit
Weak fit
Owner
26
Durability
60
Management
45
Price
39
Score updated 29 Oct 2026 · analysis from 2 Jun 2026
Buffett's checklist
Each number against Buffett's bar, and where it ranks among Financial Services stocks in our database.
How much profit the business makes on each dollar invested in it. Higher is better.
What is left of each sale after the cost of making the product. A high number often means pricing power.
The cash the business earns for its owners, compared with the price of the whole company.
How fast sales grew each year over the last five years.
How many years of today's profit you pay for at today's price. Lower means cheaper.
How much the company owes compared with what it owns outright. Lower is safer.
The four pillars
How the business measures up on each of Buffett's four tests.
If I owned all of Citigroup, I would be unhappy. The company earned a return on capital of just 0.59 percent over the trailing year and 1.9 percent over five years, which is less than a savings account pays.
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The bank will surely exist in twenty years, and its scale gives it a durability score of 60, the one bright spot.
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Management gets a middling 45. They have shrunk the share count by 2.7 percent a year, which I like in principle, but buying back stock while return on capital sits at 0.59 percent is rearranging deck chairs.
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There is no here. The owner-earnings yield is negative 34.7 percent, meaning the business consumed cash rather than generated it for owners, and EV to of 47 is the price of a fast grower, not a no-growth bank.
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For and against
The strongest points on each side, with the numbers behind them.
In its favor
6- 1Massive global scale gives a durability score of 60, the highest of its five marks, and a franchise that will persist for decades.
- 2Revenue compounded at 20.5 percent, showing the top line is not the problem.
- 3Management has reduced the share count by 2.7 percent a year, returning capital to owners.
- 4 of 45.5 percent indicates the core spread business still has room before costs.
Concerns
7- 1The stock is expensive where it counts: owner-earnings yield is negative 34.7 percent and EV to is 47, a price that makes no sense for a bank earning almost nothing.
- 2Return on capital is a dismal 0.59 percent trailing and 1.9 percent over five years, well below what idle cash earns.
- 3The financial-health score is a flat 0, with interest coverage of just 0.26 and a current ratio of 0.05.
- 4 is extreme at 3.55 debt to equity and net debt 30 times EBITDA, leaving no cushion for trouble.
Price history
$126+87.7%· 5-year return
Weekly closing prices. Touch or hover the line for a date.
The business
How the business works
Citigroup earns money the way every large bank does, by borrowing cheaply and lending dearly, plus fees from cards, treasury services, and trading. The of about 12.8 percent looks thin for the risk it carries, and revenue that grew 20.5 percent has not turned into profit, since earnings per share actually shrank 8.3 percent a year. It is a business that takes in a great deal and keeps very little for the owner.
How this analysis has moved
The call has held across 6 reviews.
Sep 27, 2026 → Oct 29, 2026
What other investors would say
The same company, judged by three other documented playbooks.
Keep researching
Similar companies in Financial Services
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