Earnings Call Insights: Citizens Financial Group (CFG) Q1 2026 Management View "We're pleased to start the year off strong, notwithstanding geopolitical tensions and uncertainty in the macro environment. We delivered good financial performance in a seasonally soft quarter with year-over-year EPS growth of 47%, positive operating leverage of 7% and NIM expansion of 24 basis points." (CEO & Chairman...
Earnings Call Insights: Citizens Financial Group (CFG) Q1 2026 Management View "We're pleased to start the year off strong, notwithstanding geopolitical tensions and uncertainty in the macro environment. We delivered good financial performance in a seasonally soft quarter with year-over-year EPS growth of 47%, positive operating leverage of 7% and NIM expansion of 24 basis points." (CEO & Chairman of the Board Bruce Van Saun) "The Private Bank and Wealth business showed further growth in customers, balance sheet and profitability, now accounting for roughly 10% of our pretax income while delivering an ROE in excess of 25%." (CEO & Chairman of the Board Van Saun) "Reimagine the Bank is off to a solid start, and we reaffirm our $450 million P&L target by the end of 2028. We estimate about $100 million in 2026 exit run rate benefits at this point." (CEO & Chairman of the Board Van Saun) "We delivered EPS of $1.13 for the first quarter with ROTCE of 12.2%. Results were paced by strong NII, reflecting both continued net interest margin expansion and solid loan growth." (Executive VP & CFO Aunoy Banerjee) "We also delivered our best-ever first quarter fee results, led by strong performance in our commercial bank." (Executive VP & CFO Banerjee) "We're the #1 originator in the United States in home equity lending with an incredibly strong risk profile, low LTVs, strong FICO scores, all depository relationship customers." (President and Head of Consumer, Private Banking & Wealth Brendan Coughlin) Outlook The company’s EPS and revenue guidance comparison to analysts’ estimates was not included because the provided estimates data did not use the transcript-required quarter format. "We provide our outlook for the second quarter. We expect net interest income to be up in the range of 3% to 4%, driven by continued expansion in net interest margin and earning asset growth." (Executive VP & CFO Banerjee) "Noninterest income is expected to be up 3% to 5%, led by Capital Markets with...
A mix of both gold and bitcoin increased the efficiency of a bond-and-equity portfolio over the last 10 years, according to a study by Citi. Bitcoin has become known as "digital gold" but with the popularity of spot bitcoin ETFs continuing to grow, the flagship cryptocurrency's price action has more consistently started to move in tandem with other risk assets, rather than acting as a hedge. The a...
A mix of both gold and bitcoin increased the efficiency of a bond-and-equity portfolio over the last 10 years, according to a study by Citi. Bitcoin has become known as "digital gold" but with the popularity of spot bitcoin ETFs continuing to grow, the flagship cryptocurrency's price action has more consistently started to move in tandem with other risk assets, rather than acting as a hedge. The analogy is forcing investors to question how to allocate to the two assets in a portfolio. Instead of choosing one versus another, Citi suggests investors could hold some of both in small amounts. "A 5% allocation to gold demonstrably increases portfolio efficiency. Splitting this allocation between gold and bitcoin further enhances performance," Citi analyst Alex Saunders said in a note Thursday. "This combined approach shows improvements in bond-bull scenarios relative to a traditional 60/40 portfolio and better performance in bear-steepening which post-2020, has coincided with fiscal fears and increasing inflation risk-premia which is an environment we anticipate is likely to endure," he added. "The relative popularity of gold investments relative to BTC also makes the mix more attractive tactically in our view." Citi also pointed out that when bond markets are weak or unstable, bitcoin can and has performed better better than gold, pointing to recent fiscal fears and equity weakness amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Bitcoin is up 9% over the past two months, compared with spot gold, which has fallen 4%. —CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed reporting.
subman The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ended a consent order against JPMorgan Chase ( JPM ) on Thursday that had been placed on the bank in 2024. The regulator said the order was no longer needed due to the safety and soundness of the bank and its compliance with laws and regulations. The consent order (AA-EC-2023-50) said JPMorgan Chase's ( JPM ) trade surveillance program had "cert...
subman The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ended a consent order against JPMorgan Chase ( JPM ) on Thursday that had been placed on the bank in 2024. The regulator said the order was no longer needed due to the safety and soundness of the bank and its compliance with laws and regulations. The consent order (AA-EC-2023-50) said JPMorgan Chase's ( JPM ) trade surveillance program had "certain deficiencies that have compromised its effectiveness" and led to "unsafe or unsound practices." Specifically, the OCC said JPMorgan ( JPM ) had failed to "surveil billions of instances of trading activity on at least 30 global trading venues." Under the order, the bank was required to appoint a compliance committee and an examiner-in-charge to monitor and oversee the bank's compliance with the order. It also was required to submit an action plan to remediate the deficiencies and to provide progress reports on a quarterly basis. Furthermore, the order restricted JPMorgan from joining new trading venues until the examiner-in-charge provided it with a determination of no supervisory objection. JPMorgan Chase ( JPM ) stock rose 1.0% in Thursday afternoon trading. More on JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Q1: The Banking Giant Still Offers Relative Safety And Potential Long-Term Returns JPMorgan Chase: The Warning May Be More Important Than The Earnings JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript Bessent: Banks must be prepared to collect customers' citizenship data Banks' trading revenues soar amid war-driven market volatility
Star Group ( SGU ) declares $0.1975/share quarterly dividend , 6.8% increase from prior dividend of $0.1850. Forward yield 6.3% Payable May 6; for shareholders of record April 27; ex-div April 27. See SGU Dividend Scorecard, Yield Chart, & Dividend Growth. More on Star Group Star Group, L.P. Common Units (SGU) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript Star Group signals continued EBITDA growth amid colder ...
Star Group ( SGU ) declares $0.1975/share quarterly dividend , 6.8% increase from prior dividend of $0.1850. Forward yield 6.3% Payable May 6; for shareholders of record April 27; ex-div April 27. See SGU Dividend Scorecard, Yield Chart, & Dividend Growth. More on Star Group Star Group, L.P. Common Units (SGU) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript Star Group signals continued EBITDA growth amid colder temperatures and operational focus Dividend scorecard for Star Group Financial information for Star Group
JHVEPhoto/iStock Editorial via Getty Images In this article, I will be updating on Marsh & McLennan ( MRSH ), a company where I consider I have given a very accurate and valid sort of PT and fair value estimate. I can say this because in my last article on the company , I made a case for the company not being cheap enough just yet, and a $170/share price was the share price that you'd want to inve...
JHVEPhoto/iStock Editorial via Getty Images In this article, I will be updating on Marsh & McLennan ( MRSH ), a company where I consider I have given a very accurate and valid sort of PT and fair value estimate. I can say this because in my last article on the company , I made a case for the company not being cheap enough just yet, and a $170/share price was the share price that you'd want to invest in. The company broke through $170 a few days ago from the time of writing this piece and traded for a day around $168/share, marking it a "Buy." As I am writing the article, the company has risen again, up to $181/share today as of 1Q26 earnings. Seeking Alpha RoR Marsh & McLennan It's time to update my (correct) assessment for the company and see if it's finally time to upgrade this PT a bit. MRSH is a qualitative company with a very attractive set of business operations. But the company has unfortunately been chronically overvalued for over 15 years, as I see it. No company growing at 6%-9% per year should trade above 20x P/E - and this company has seen valuations of above 25x. This is especially true when its end market is so dependent on the market correlations we're seeing and when the entire market it serves (insurance) is under what I would consider quite problematic trends. The downside I forecasted based strictly on valuation was, in my mind, an inevitability. F.A.S.T. Graphs MRSH Valuation And that's what I have been trying to communicate with you, dear readers. That MRSH is in fact a superb company - but that even superb companies like this one can't trade at any valuation and be called "fair" or accurately valued. In this article, I will update my October thesis in light of the changing landscape in insurance brokering and the company's new growth rate. Part of the company's premiumization journey has, in fact, been justified by a very solid double-digit growth rate in EPS for several years. That is now over. The current estimated growth rate for 2026 is onl...
Dmitry Vinogradov Shares of Whitehawk Therapeutics ( WHWK ) spiked on Thursday after Citizens launched its coverage of the cancer drug developer with a Market Outperform rating ahead of upcoming early-stage data for its drug candidates licensed from WuXi Biologics ( WXXWY ) ( WXIBF ). Analyst Reni Benjamin’s bullish view came as Whitehawk ( WHWK ) plans to release three preclinical abstracts highl...
Dmitry Vinogradov Shares of Whitehawk Therapeutics ( WHWK ) spiked on Thursday after Citizens launched its coverage of the cancer drug developer with a Market Outperform rating ahead of upcoming early-stage data for its drug candidates licensed from WuXi Biologics ( WXXWY ) ( WXIBF ). Analyst Reni Benjamin’s bullish view came as Whitehawk ( WHWK ) plans to release three preclinical abstracts highlighting its next-gen antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) candidates next week at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. The readouts for HWK-016, HWK-007, and HWK-206 “should drive investor interest going into clinical results expected in 1H27,” Benjamin wrote, adding that the Morristown, New Jersey-based biotech with a cash position of $145.7M indicates an attractive valuation. The analyst sees mid-to-long-term potential in Whitehawk’s pipeline and sets an $8 target for the stock based on a methodology that combines a comparable market capitalization analysis and a discounted M&A/licensing deal analysis across the ADC space. More on Whitehawk Therapeutics Seeking Alpha’s Quant Rating on Whitehawk Therapeutics Historical earnings data for Whitehawk Therapeutics Financial information for Whitehawk Therapeutics
A new version of OpenAI's Codex desktop app reaches users today. It brings a smorgasbord of new features and changes, ranging from new developer capabilities to expansion into non-developer knowledge work to laying the groundwork for the company's "super app." The most interesting for the moment is the ability to perform tasks on your PC in the background; OpenAI claims it can do this without inte...
A new version of OpenAI's Codex desktop app reaches users today. It brings a smorgasbord of new features and changes, ranging from new developer capabilities to expansion into non-developer knowledge work to laying the groundwork for the company's "super app." The most interesting for the moment is the ability to perform tasks on your PC in the background; OpenAI claims it can do this without interfering with what you are doing on your desktop. OpenAI explained the update in a blog post : Read full article Comments
Ellie Kildunne is named on the wing, rather than in her regular full-back role, as part of a much-changed England line-up to face Scotland in the Women's Six Nations on Saturday.
Ellie Kildunne is named on the wing, rather than in her regular full-back role, as part of a much-changed England line-up to face Scotland in the Women's Six Nations on Saturday.
Intel Corp. , trying to break into the outsourced chip manufacturing business, has hired Samsung Electronics Co. executive Shawn Han to help with a push to win customers. Han, an executive vice president at the South Korean company, will join Intel next month and report to Naga Chandrasekaran , the head of the chipmaker’s foundry division. Han will become general manager of foundry services, accor...
Intel Corp. , trying to break into the outsourced chip manufacturing business, has hired Samsung Electronics Co. executive Shawn Han to help with a push to win customers. Han, an executive vice president at the South Korean company, will join Intel next month and report to Naga Chandrasekaran , the head of the chipmaker’s foundry division. Han will become general manager of foundry services, according to a statement Thursday. Building up Intel’s foundry — a business that makes chips for outside clients — is a cornerstone of a turnaround plan under Chief Executive Officer Lip-Bu Tan . The foundry market is currently dominated by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. , with Samsung coming in as a distant second. For decades, Intel used its factory network exclusively to make its own chips. But the company’s internal chip-design business can no longer support the enormous cost of maintaining and expanding the facilities. That means Intel has to persuade other chipmakers, many of whom are competitors, to let it become their manufacturer. But that hinges on Intel showing it has a technological edge — something the company lost in recent years. “The hire reflects Intel Foundry’s continued emphasis on close customer engagement and customer-driven execution,” Chandrasekaran said in the post. “Shawn brings more than 10 years of commercial foundry leadership experience from his time at Samsung Foundry.”
tongstock/iStock via Getty Images The following segment was excerpted from the Longleaf Partners Global Fund Q1 2026 Commentary . Notable Contributors & Detractors FedEx ( FDX ) – Global logistics company FedEx was a contributor for the quarter. The stock responded to another quarter of strong execution, led by continued momentum at the Federal Express (FEC) segment, where volume growth, yield gro...
tongstock/iStock via Getty Images The following segment was excerpted from the Longleaf Partners Global Fund Q1 2026 Commentary . Notable Contributors & Detractors FedEx ( FDX ) – Global logistics company FedEx was a contributor for the quarter. The stock responded to another quarter of strong execution, led by continued momentum at the Federal Express (FEC) segment, where volume growth, yield growth, and cost control again translated into meaningful profit growth. FEC delivered its most profitable peak holiday season ever, with margins expanding for a sixth consecutive quarter as more volume flowed through Network 2.0-optimized facilities and management continued to move the business toward higher-value B2B verticals. FedEx Freight remains on track to be spun off on June 1st and will be well positioned to benefit from a recovery in industrial demand as an independent company. Even after the stock price move, we continue to believe the market underappreciates the earnings power of the core parcels business and the value that can be unlocked through the Freight separation. Glanbia ( GLAPY ) – Irish nutrition, ingredients and dairy company Glanbia contributed for the quarter. Shares held up well in a difficult market environment, though the stock continues to trade at undemanding multiples relative to global food and beverage staples peers. Full year 2025 was the last set of results burdened by the dilutive drag from the SlimFast and Body & Fit businesses before they were divested, and the business now enters 2026 with a better growth rate and more focus. Strategic optionality remains with the potential for the company to monetize its non-core dairy business. Rayonier (RYC)/PotlatchDeltic (PCH) – Timberland companies Rayonier and PotlatchDeltic completed their merger in the quarter to become our largest single position in the Fund. While the combination of the pre-merger-close price move up in PotlatchDeltic and the post-merger-close price move down in Rayonier did no...