Munger Mode rating: 2 out of 5 — Sell. Our own rating from the research report below, on business quality first: moat durability and management, with price separating the top three.
We have spent our lives around banks — owning them, studying them, and occasionally watching them destroy themselves. Citizens Financial Group is not a bank that will destroy itself. It is run by a capable, honest man who has done nearly everything right since he took a neglected orphan of the Royal Bank of Scotland public in 2014. The trouble is simpler than that: this is an average business, in a commodity industry, that the market is suddenly pricing as if it were a wonderful one. The stock has risen from roughly $46 to $73.65 in a year — about 1.9 times tangible book value of $38.29 per share — a valuation the company has rarely if ever commanded in its modern history, and one that already pays management full credit for a 16-18% return-on-tangible-equity target it has never once achieved outside a reserve-release year. We admire the execution.
Recent filings analysed: 10-Q (2026-08-03), 8-K (2026-07-31), 8-K (2026-07-21), FWP (2026-07-21).
Stock screener · Superinvestor 13F holdings · Analyst sentiment · Market valuation