Goldman Sachs on Monday reported better-than-expected first-quarter results, jumping over Wall Street’s lowered bar and reassuring investors. Revenue in the three months ended March 31 rose 6% year over year to $15.06 billion, topping the consensus estimate of $14.81, according to LSEG. Earnings per share (EPS) jumped 22% on annual basis to $14.12, well ahead of the $12.35 estimate, LSEG data showed. GS YTD mountain Goldman Sachs’ year-to-date stock performance. Goldman shares, which entered the week down sharply from its highs of the year, rose roughly 1% in response. The stock, however, was still down 22% year to date versus the S & P 500 ‘s decline of 8% so far in 2025. Bottom line Goldman’s results confirmed the widely expected state of play in the first quarter: Weaker investment banking revenue due to a slower-than-expected rebound in dealmaking and initial public offerings (IPOs), but a strong performance from its trading desk, thanks to plenty of market volatility in recent months. The primary force behind both realities is heightened uncertainty about the outlook for the economy due to President Donald Trump ‘s unpredictable and evolving tariff policies. In the two weeks since Goldman closed the books on its first quarter, that has not improved at all — if anything, it has become more pronounced, with many companies pausing their IPO plans in early April after Trump announced his “reciprocal” tariffs. While Goldman had some big investment banking announcements in the first quarter — advising on Alphabet ‘s Google $32 billion deal to buy cybersecurity startup Wiz and Walgreen s’ $24 billion go-private transaction — it also had some disappointments. Fintech firm Klarna last month and ticketing platform StubHub this month pulled their IPOs. Goldman has a hand in each. “What Goldman excels at is helping clients in a time of turmoil and they did great there,” Jim Cramer said Monday. “But .. when you take a look at investment banking, they’re just not making a lot of money.” To see a material rebound in investment banking, we’ll need to see more clarity on tariff policy. However, it’s hard to say when that will arrive. That’s the unfortunate news. Goldman Sachs (GS) Why we own it: Goldman Sachs is our bet on a rebound in dealmaking as the regulatory environment once President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House next week. Initiation date: Dec. 19, 2024 Most recent buy: March 19, 2025 Competitors: Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citigroup The encouraging news is that, in the first quarter, Goldman’s trading teams delivered in a big way to help offset the challenging environment for investment banking. Revenue on the equity trading side totaled $4.19 billion, up 21% from the final three months of 2024 and 27% from a year ago. That was roughly $546 million above analysts’ expectations, according to FactSet. Meanwhile, its fixed income, currency, and commodities (FICC) desk delivered $4.4 billion in revenue, up…
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