Citi Offers a Bullish Wells Fargo Trade
NEW YORK (
) --
Citigroup
(C) - Get Report
has issued $60.7 million worth of structured notes to
Wells Fargo
(WFC) - Get Report
common stock.
The equity-linked securities (ELKS), whose ticker is "WFC UN" will pay a yield of 4.646% over a period of six months. At that point, investors can either cash out on their initial investment or exchange the securities for a fixed number of Wells Fargo shares.
The trade is one for Wells Fargo bulls who want to juice returns on the stock.
On the upside, the notes offer a guaranteed yield much higher than Wells' current 0.75% dividend payout. The higher the stock goes, the greater a dividend investors receive and the more the underlying investment could be worth. On the downside, if Wells shares go into a freefall, the structures could end up being worthless.
The securities were priced at $10 apiece but come with a "downside threshold closing price" of $21.44. If Wells' stock drops below that level at any time between now and May 25, investors will still receive a yield but their underlying investment will be nil.
"In this worst case scenario, the ELKS will have outperformed the underlying equity on a per annum basis by the difference between the coupon and any dividends paid on the underlying equity," Citi says in an offering statement filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission
.
Wells shares have stayed above the downside threshold since May 2009 and traded in a range of $23.02 to $34.25 over the past 52 weeks. On Tuesday morning, the stock was down 0.5% at $27.07.
-- Written by Lauren Tara LaCapra in New York
.
>To contact the writer of this article, click here:
Lauren Tara LaCapra
.
>To follow the writer on Twitter, go to
http://twitter.com/laurenlacapra
.
>To submit a news tip, send an email to:
.
Disclosure: TheStreet's editorial policy prohibits staff editors, reporters and analysts from holding positions in any individual stocks.
