Goldman Sachs’ quarterly profit blows past Wall Street forecasts

Goldman Sachs said second-quarter earnings surged past analyst expectations as dealmaking stays hot and the economy continues its roaring recovery.

The Wall Street giant on Tuesday reported $5.49 billion in profit on $15.39 billion in revenue — far more than the $12.17 billion in revenue bank analysts had expected. Earnings per share were $15.02 compared to an estimated $10.25 per share, according to FactSet.

Goldman’s investment banking group led the growth — bringing in $3.61 billion in fees as more companies are going public, looking at possible mergers and acquisitions and raising capital. It was the second-best quarter for the investment bank ever — just lagging the first quarter of 2021.

The trading business saw a predicted falloff in revenue, with the division bringing in $4.9 billion this quarter compared to $7.58 billion the previous quarter and down more than 30 percent from the second quarter of 2020. The decline was expected as volatility from the coronavirus, which caused huge swings in the market, slowed.

Goldman’s numbers look far better compared to the second quarter of 2020, when the bank was plagued with fallout from the 1MDB Malaysian bribery scandal and forced to shell out $2 billion to the Malaysian government. Investment banking revenue is up 36 percent compared to the same quarter last year when the 1MDB fine trounced the bank’s bottom line.

Goldman stock has surged almost 45 percent since the beginning of the year and shareholders are likely also celebrating the announcement last month Goldman will increase the dividend to $2 a share from $1.25 a share.

Goldman shares were off 1.2 percent at $376.10 in early Tuesday trades.