Goldman Sachs Q4 Profit Falls But Beats Estimates (GS)

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS), earlier today, released its fourth-quarter financial results, posting a decline in earnings. However, the company’s fourth-quarter earnings beat analysts’ expectations, pushing shares higher in early trading.

The New York City-based company reported fourth-quarter earnings, excluding one-time items, of $1.84 per share, compared with $3.79 per share reported for the same period in the previous year. The sharp decline in fourth-quarter earnings was mainly due to a drop in investment banking revenue.

Goldman’s fourth-quarter revenue, meanwhile, came in at $6.05 billion, down from $8.64 billion reported for the same period in the previous year.

Analysts had forecast the Wall Street giant to report earnings of $1.24 per share and revenue of $6.55 billion.

For 2011, Goldman Sachs reported earnings of $4.51 per share, significantly below the $13.18 per share reported in 2010. The sharp decline was mainly due to weak performance from the trading and investment banking units, especially in the third quarter and fourth quarter of 2011. Goldman’s revenue for the full year was $28.81 billion.

Lloyd C. Blankfein, Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, said that the past year was dominated by global macro-economic concerns which significantly affected the bank’s clients’ risk tolerance and willingness to transact. Blankfein said that while the bank’s results declined as a consequence, he is pleased that it retained its industry-leading positions across its global client franchise while prudently managing risk, capital and expenses. He added that as economies and markets improve, the bank is very well positioned to perform for its clients and its shareholders.

Goldman Sachs shares rose to an intra-day high of $100.47 in early trading today, and at last check, the stock was up 2.75% to $100.37 on volume of 1.96 million. Goldman shares are up more than 11% in the last one month.

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Post Written By: Ed Liston Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.