Goldmine $achs

When J.P. Morgan formed U.S. Steel in 1901, Henry Adams said that he was “apparently trying to swallow the sun.” Now it looks like Goldman Sachs has swallowed the galaxy.
Goldman’s second-quarter earnings report was staggering. From April through June, Goldman earned $3.44 billion. That works out to $4.93 a share which is head and shoulders above Wall Street’s consensus of $3.53.

Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein made Goldman Sachs the highest-paying Wall Street firm in history before last year’s credit freeze led him to convert to a bank, accept government funds and report the first quarterly loss as a public company. This year Goldman Sachs has issued new stock, repaid the U.S. Treasury and reaped fees from selling stocks and bonds.
“Goldman’s got a sweet spot in here, they were the go-to players,” said Peter Sorrentino, a senior portfolio manager at Huntington Asset Advisors in Cincinnati, which oversees $13.8 billion including Goldman shares, before earnings were released. “For the time being, they’ve got kind of an open playing field all to themselves.”

The stock is down slightly this morning, but that’s following its big day yesterday.

Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on July 14th, 2009 at 10:02 am

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