Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) beat Wall Street’s expectations for second-quarter results Tuesday with outperformance in its investment banking and trading division.
Earnings for the investment bank giant amounted to $5.81 per share vs. $4.89 per share expected. Revenue was $9.46 billion vs. $8.83 billion forecast by experts
Total investment banking revenue turned out to be $1.86 billion vs. $1.77 billion expected by analysts.
Goldman’s total revenue was down 2% from the second quarter of last year, while investment banking revenue fell 9% year over year, but still beat analysts’ expectations. Earnings per share also fell 2.8% from a year ago.
The bank achieved better-than-expected equities revenue with $2.01 billion in the second quarter, a 6% increase year-over-year and the second highest quarterly performance in four years. Analysts had been expecting $1.80 billion.
The beat was helped by a better market environment with more trading activity compared with the first quarter
Goldman Sachs raised its quarterly dividend to $1.25 per share from 85 cents, which was first announced in June after the bank passed the Federal Reserve’s annual stress test.
Goldman also authorized a $7-billion stock repurchase program, up from $5 billion a year ago.
Net revenues for fixed income, currency and commodities, known as FICC, were slightly below Wall Street’s expectations, coming in at $1.47 billion in the quarter, as opposed to $1.52 billion expected by market watchers.
Shares in GS rocketed $3.00, or 1.4%, to $214.58
