Banking, finance, and taxes

What to Expect From Goldman Sachs on Tuesday

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Some of the major banks have already reported earnings, but come Tuesday morning perhaps the most popular investment bank steps up to the plate. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) will be reporting its first-quarter financial results before the markets open on Tuesday.

The consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters call for $5.58 in earnings per share (EPS) on $8.74 billion in revenue. The same period of last year reportedly had EPS of $5.15 and $8.03 billion in revenue.

During this quarter, Goldman Sachs confirmed its succession plan. The bank announced that Harvey Schwartz, the firm’s president and co-chief operating officer, has decided to retire effective April 20. David Solomon will serve as sole president and chief operating officer of the firm upon Harvey’s retirement.

The key takeaway from this is that the move also paves the way for David Solomon to take over CEO duties from Lloyd Blankfein when he eventually decides to step down.

In its most recent earnings report, management said that it expected the global economy to ramp up with the help of U.S. tax reform. However, this has not been the case. It will be interesting to see how Goldman Sachs will update its perspective on the global economy and what it sees coming next.

At that time, Blankfein had this to say:

Last year, we delivered higher revenue and stronger pre-tax margins despite a challenging environment for our market-making businesses. With the global economy poised to accelerate, new U.S. tax legislation providing tailwinds and a leading franchise across our businesses, we are well positioned to serve our clients and make significant progress on the growth plan we outlined in September.

Excluding Monday’s move, Goldman Sachs has more or less kept pace with the broad markets over the past 52 weeks with its stock up 13%. In just 2018 alone, the stock was up less than 1%.

A few analysts weighed in on Goldman Sachs ahead of the report:

  • Sanford Bernstein has an Outperform rating with a $300 price target.
  • Wells Fargo has a Buy rating with a $330 target price.
  • JPMorgan has a Buy rating and a $280 price target.
  • Morgan Stanley has an Overweight rating and a $302 target.
  • Bank of America has a Buy rating with a $300 price target.

Shares of Goldman Sachs were last seen up over 1% at $259.23, with a consensus analyst price target of $271.96 and a 52-week range of $209.62 to $275.31.

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