Stocks
Goldman Sachs profit climbs 29% as equities trading revenue jumps 72%
Goldman Sachs earned $5.29 billion in the third quarter, or $17.01 a share, on net revenues of $18.68 billion, up 23% from a year earlier.
Key points
- Net earnings rose 29% from a year earlier to $5.29 billion; diluted earnings per share were $17.01 against $12.25.
- Equities net revenues jumped 72% to $6.44 billion and investment banking fees rose 21% to $3.22 billion.
- Goldman returned $4.49 billion to shareholders, including $3 billion of buybacks, and its standardized CET1 ratio fell to 12.4%.
Goldman Sachs reported third-quarter net earnings of 5.29 billion dollars on October 13, up 29 percent from 4.10 billion dollars a year earlier. Diluted earnings per share were 17.01 dollars, compared with 12.25 dollars in the third quarter of 2025 and 20.98 dollars in the second quarter of 2026, according to the results the bank filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Net revenues were 18.68 billion dollars, 23 percent higher than a year earlier and 8 percent lower than in the second quarter. Annualized return on average common equity was 18.7 percent for the quarter and 20.7 percent for the first nine months of the year.
Trading drove the increase. Global Banking & Markets produced net revenues of 13.46 billion dollars, up 32 percent from a year earlier. Equities net revenues rose 72 percent to 6.44 billion dollars, while fixed income, currency and commodities revenues were little changed at 3.47 billion dollars. Investment banking fees rose 21 percent to 3.22 billion dollars. Asset & Wealth Management revenues grew 14 percent to 5.05 billion dollars, and Platform Solutions revenues fell 72 percent to 170 million dollars.
Operating expenses rose 20 percent to 11.31 billion dollars. The provision for credit losses was 368 million dollars, compared with 339 million dollars a year earlier and 102 million dollars in the second quarter.
The bank returned 4.49 billion dollars to shareholders during the quarter, including 3.00 billion dollars of share repurchases at an average price of 1,048.73 dollars and 1.49 billion dollars of dividends. On October 12 the board declared a dividend of 5.00 dollars per share, payable on December 30. Goldman's standardized common equity tier 1 ratio was 12.4 percent at the end of September, down from 12.9 percent in June, while the advanced ratio was unchanged at 13.6 percent.
The results followed JPMorgan Chase's third-quarter report the same day, in which the largest US bank earned 15.3 billion dollars and also pointed to strong client activity in markets and investment banking.