Cramer Sets $12 Price Target For Citigroup

The financial sector has been battered recently. Morgan Stanley (MS: 20.44 0.00%), Charles Schwab (SCHW: 12.45 0.00%) and Goldman Sachs (GS: 116.15 0.00%) are all trading at 52-week lows. It almost seems as though the summer of 2010 is becoming a replay of the fall of 2008.

The financial reform bill has certainly caused some consternation among the financial stocks. Wall Street always hates uncertainty and the ambiguity of the 2,000 pages of the financial reform bill has caused plenty of it.

Yesterday, the Dow close down 268 points in what Jim Cramer described as a “horrible, stinking bad day” that was reminiscent of “Stalingrad or Verdun.” Well, maybe not quite that bad.

After looking at the carnage of the financial sector there is one stock that Cramer feels offers investors lots of upside.

Cramer describes Citigroup (C: 34.23 0.00%) as a “pitiful giant”. The stock has suffered from a mishandled attempt by the Treasury to sell their stake in Citi. These strong selling pressures have pushed Citi’s stock price down and there’s more still to come.

However, on a technical basis it appears that Citi is oversold. The Street.com technical analyst Tim Collins believes that the current prices provide a good entry point. He predicts that the stock could rise to $4.60 – $5.00 in the short term.

Cramer is even more positive on the fundamentals. He has faith in CEO Vikram Pandit and likes the firm’s mix of domestic and international business. Most importantly, Cramer believes that Citi has little exposure to housing which is once again become a huge problem area.

Cramer set a $12 price target for Citigroup over the long term. He recommends that investors buy Citi at its current levels.