Thread: Goldman Sachs shows profit of $3.46 billion in first quarter

Goldman Sachs shows profit of $3.46 billion in first quarter

The earnings, which beat analysts’ expectations, come from the period before the bank was hit by an SEC fraud lawsuit.

By Nathaniel Popper, Los Angeles Times
April 20, 2010 | 7:22 a.m.
Reporting from New York

Goldman Sachs Group had an unexpectedly good quarter in the three months before it was hit by a lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Goldman announced Tuesday morning that it earned a profit of $3.46 billion in the first quarter of 2010, or $5.59 a share. That is up from $3.39 a share in the first quarter of 2009, and it was stronger than the $4.14 a share that analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had expected.

The results are from the months immediately before the SEC sued the firm for securities fraud last Friday.

Goldman is the latest of the big banks to report a strong quarter, thanks largely to the trading of bonds and other fixed-income instruments. David Viniar, the firm's chief financial officer, was upbeat about the economy.

"Economic growth throughout the world remained the single most important driver of our performance," Viniar said in a conference call.

Goldman emerged from the financial crisis stronger than almost any other financial firm, but it has been buffeted by public criticism, and now the SEC lawsuit.

The company took the unusual step of including the general counsel, Greg Palm, on the earnings call with investors. Palm expanded on the defense the company has already put forward, denying any wrongdoing.

"We would never intentionally mislead anyone, certainly not our clients," Palm said.

The SEC collected material from Goldman Sachs in the months before it brought the case, but Viniar said the firm had no warning of the lawsuit on Friday.

"We were somewhat surprised on Friday morning that this was a filed case. No one had told us about it in advance," Viniar said.

When asked about whether the controversy was affecting the company's results, Viniar said the firm's clients are primarily interested in results.

"You can see from our results last quarter that our clients still support us," Viniar said. "As long as we continue to perform for our clients, they will be happy with us. And if we stop performing for them, they won't."

In early morning trading, Goldman Sachs shares were down 1.3%, or $2.17, to $161.15, after rising on Monday.

nathaniel.popper@latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-g ... 0349.story

PROFIT FROM WHAT? What is it that Goldman Sachs makes anyways? NADA
They are a massive PARASITE on the U S and must be removed. GET RID of Goldman sachs and the cost of living will be reduced in the U S considerably.

Originally Posted by Tbow009

PROFIT FROM WHAT? What is it that Goldman Sachs makes anyways? NADA
They are a massive PARASITE on the U S and must be removed. GET RID of Goldman sachs and the cost of living will be reduced in the U S considerably.

Do you want to get rid of ALL companies that don't "MAKE" something.
Lots of companies and lots of people don't "MAKE" anything. They provide a service, like tax preparers, airline pilots, taxi drivers, banks, insurance companies, etc.

Goldman Sachs
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is a global investment banking and securities firm which engages in investment banking, securities services, . . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldman_Sachs