We recently published a list of 10 Most Promising Low-Cost Stocks According to Hedge Funds. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) stands against other most promising low-cost stocks.

Inflation Data Hints at a Lower Than 50 bps Cut

The September Consumer Price Index data showed that consumer prices rose way above expectations. On October 10, Omair Sharif, Inflation Insights president, appeared in an interview on Yahoo Finance to discuss his market thesis amid rising consumer prices.

Sharif highlights that while inflation data is higher than expected housing inflation has started to cool down a bit more. He also adds that food prices have come down significantly ever since the outburst after COVID-19, hinting that there are a lot of positives to extract from the current market situation.

Sharif suggests that the market is not up to a point where the Fed will be worried about the status quo, wiping out any hopes for a 50 basis point cut in November. His market thesis is that a 25 basis point cut in November will be the best course of action.

The Bull Market is Turning Two Years Old

As the Street approaches the second anniversary of the bull market, the market is set up for major changes. On October 11, Matthew Palazzolo, Bernstein Private Wealth Management’s senior investment strategist, appeared in an interview on Yahoo Finance to discuss the market outlook.

Palazzolo suggests that the Fed’s monetary policy is probably the biggest risk to the bull market at the moment. He adds that the Fed will continue to cut rates in 2025. While returns are expected to be modest the scenario is expected to be fairly conducive for equity investors.

He adds that the market is expected to broaden out from the magnificent seven and their valuations will increase relatively slowly. Palazzolo highlights that low-cost names will offer greater opportunity. He also suggests that companies beyond the big seven are more in line with their long-term average.

Our Methodology

To find the most promising low-cost stocks according to hedge funds, we used the Finviz stock screener. We set the Forward P/E under 15 to get a list of cheap stocks with a market capitalization of over $2 billion. We then examined the hedge fund sentiment of these stocks as of Q2 2024 and picked the most popular ones. The stocks are sorted in ascending order of the number of hedge fund holders as of Q2 2024 as a primary metric and their Forward P/E as of October 13, as a secondary metric.

Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 85

Forward P/E Ratio as of October 13, 2024: 11.48

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) is an investment banking giant that provides asset management services, risk management services, investment management services, mortgage loans, credit cards, and other banking commodities. Some of its subsidiaries include Citibank, Banamex, and Citicorp LLC, to name a few.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) is present in 90 countries, issues currencies in 144 countries, and has trading floors in 77 countries. The company is strongly inclined to expand by offering commercial banking services in other countries. In addition to that, Citigroup is also leveraging technology to deliver next-gen transaction banking services to its clients. On October 10, the company partnered with Mastercard to enable cross-border payments in 14 receiving markets from across the globe.

In the second quarter of 2024, the company logged $20.1 billion in revenue and $3.2 billion in net income, up from $19.4 billion in revenue and $2.9 billion in net income from Q2 2023. Of this, its investment banking segment showed promising results and increased revenue by 38%.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) is one of the most important names in the banking sector because of its expansive network and strong ecosystem. The company continues to grow due to its extravagant expansion strategy.

Patient Capital Management stated the following regarding Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:

“Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) gained 24.1% in the quarter continuing its uptrend from 4Q. The company is on a multi-year journey to reorganize the business and reach return on tangible common equity of 11-12% by 2026 (and higher further out). Citigroup is finally taking the hard actions necessary, cutting unprofitable departments, taking out middle management layers, and reducing overall headcount. As of early March, the company was 70% done with its business exits and had reduced management layers by 1/4th. We have high confidence Citi will hit its targets. In the meantime, the company is returning cash to shareholders, which could meaningfully increase if the Basel III capital proposal is changed.”

Overall, C ranks 7th on our list of most promising low-cost stocks according to hedge funds. While we acknowledge the potential of C as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than C but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.