March 26 (Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc.'s first-quarter earnings-per-share estimate was cut to a loss of $1.15 by Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Meredith Whitney, who said she was also cutting estimates for other U.S. banks.
Whitney lowered the earnings-per-share estimate on Citigroup, the largest U.S. bank by assets, from a loss of 28 cents, citing estimates for first-quarter mortgage and collateralized debt obligations-related writedowns, according to a note to investors dated yesterday.
Whitney, 38, correctly predicted two months in advance that Citigroup Inc. would slash its dividend to preserve capital. Her downgrade of Citigroup helped spur selling that erased almost $500 billion in value from the nation's stock market on Nov 1.
