Bill Ackman discussed with Aaron Task of Yahoo! Finance on his bullish case for Citigroup. The fund manager recently announced he has built a large position in Citigroup. Here is an excerpt from Yahoo! Finance:
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"If you had asked me a year ago ‘could I conceive of owning Citi 12 months later?', I couldn't conceive of owning the company," he says. "It was hard for me to even look at it in light of a year ago."
Upon further review - and while admitting "there are still question marks" -- Ackman determined Citi was attractive based (in part) on the following:
- Money Talks: Thanks in large part to the government's conversion of its preferred stake in Citi to common stock in 2009, Citigroup is "probably one of the best capitalized banks today, ironically," Ackman says.
- Free Money Is Even Better: Because Ben Bernanke has kept the fed funds rate effectively at zero, banks like Citigroup "effectively they've got free money," Ackman says. Furthermore, "it's a great time to make loans - they can earn attractive spreads" because collateral values are down and lending standards are up.
- Franchise Value: Despite hits to its reputation in recent years, Citigroup still has a "great deposit franchise" and a "very well capitalized balance sheet," the fund manager says. In addition, he notes off camera Citi has less exposure to home equity loans than most of its big competitors.
In sum, "it's really a great time to be in the banking business," Ackman says.
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