Barclays PLC plunged 5% in pre-market trading on Thursday, despite reporting solid fourth-quarter results and beating revenue expectations.
The British bank posted a pretax profit ahead of consensus, with revenue surpassing estimates. It also announced a £1 billion share buyback program, meeting market expectations. However, Barclays' guidance for 2025 was broadly in line with consensus, while its 2026 targets were simply confirmed, according to analysts at Citi.
Citi highlighted that despite the solid results, there was "little new to get excited about," considering Barclays' strong share price performance over the past year. The lack of significant positive surprises and the stock's recent run-up may have led to profit-taking, contributing to the pre-market sell-off.