Goldman Sachs blows away earnings expectations

By Nicole Goodkind, CNN

New York (CNN) — Goldman Sachs reported a strong fourth quarter earnings report, driven largely by impressive results in their asset and wealth management divisions.

The company announced Tuesday that profit had increased by about 51% from a year ago, to just over $2 billion.

Revenue came in at $11.3 billion and earnings per share were $5.48, blowing away Wall Street expectations. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected revenue of $10.8 billion and earnings per share of just $3.62.

But the majority of the Goldman’s gains didn’t come from investment banking and trading, which are typically the New York-based bank’s strongest divisions.

Revenue from investment banking fell 12% from a year ago to just under $1.7 billion. Trading revenue fell 2.5% to $4.6 billion over the same period.

The investment bank instead said it was focused on simplifying its strategy this year and investing and growing in its asset and wealth management division, which is closely linked to stock market performance.

That appeared to be a winning strategy, with revenue growing within that division by 23% from a year ago.

“This was a year of execution for Goldman Sachs,” said CEO and chairman David Solomon, in a release. “With everything we achieved in 2023 coupled with our clear and simplified strategy, we have a much stronger platform for 2024.”

Last year, the bank narrowed its ambitions in consumer markets and stopped offering new loans on Marcus, its consumer platform. The company is currently trying to end credit card partnerships with Apple and General Motors, as well.

The dissolving of its consumer arm has been costly. Prior to this report, Goldman posted eight consecutive quarters of declines.

Much like its banking peers, Goldman was also assessed a one-time fee by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to help pay for the regional banking crisis last spring. Goldman paid $529 million to help clean up the mess that Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank left in the wake of their collapses.

That’s a hefty fee, but scores less than the largest US banks paid.

JPMorgan Chase paid $2.9 billion to the FDIC, Bank of America paid $2.1 billion and Citigroup paid $1.7 billion.

Morgan Stanley, meanwhile, reported a 32% drop in quarterly profit in its earnings report on Tuesday. Like its peers, the bank saw its earnings depressed by similar one-time fees.

Shares of Goldman were up 1.5% in morning trading. Shares of Morgan Stanley dropped 3.8%.

This story is developing and will be updated.

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