Citigroup, NTT & UPS Set Up for Strong Second Half

Citigroup is down 16 percent year-to-date due to low rates and weak earnings momentum, but one fund manager says the bank's stock looks likely to rebound.

Author:: Gregg Greenberg
Publish date:: Jul 13, 2016 2:03 PM EDT

Shares of Citigroup (C) - Get Report are down 16 percent year-to-date as low interest rates and a lack of earnings momentum have sent investors elsewhere. Jim Stephenson, portfolio manager for the Nuveen Global Equity Income Fund (NQGAX) - Get Report , says the money center bank is transforming itself and will soon bounce back. 'We see a tremendous ability for Citigroup to not only lower costs, isolate the bad bank within the portfolio and start to return a lot of capital to shareholders,' said Stephenson. 'We think that will be a big catalyst for them going forward.' The Nuveen NWQ Global Equity Income Fund is down 33 basis points thus far in 2016, according to Morningstar. The $53 million fund has returned an average of 7.5 percent annually over the past five years, outpacing 72 percent of its peers in Morningstar's world stock category. The Nuveen NWQ Global Equity Income Fund sports a trailing 12 month yield of 2.1%, according to Morningstar.