With Citigroup (C) reporting earnings of 8 cents a share earlier in the week, beating the estimates from Wall Street analysts, many investors are wondering if it may be time to go long on the stock. After watching the mess the company found themselves in in 2008, investors are expected to be cautious when it comes to Citigroup, or the banking sector in general. They watched a $300 billion corporation, in 2006, drop to a corporation with a market cap of just $6 billion by 2008. Now that Citigroup seems to be on the mend, reporting profitable quarter after profitable quarter, and having seen it’s market cap move over the $100 billion mark, long term investors wonder if it may be time to jump in.

The banking sector, although facing many unknowns, will likely, over the long run be a beneficiary of profits that could approach those seen before the massive economic collapse of ’08. Being that the company’s stock is still very volatile, a good way to establish a position in Citigroup stock is to use a dollar cost average method. Dividends will eventually pick back up, likely by 2012, and as long as we don’t see another major recession over the next two years, the market cap of the entire banking sector should rise as the housing market slowly brings itself out if the rut it has been in.