Goldman Sachs reported a 15% profit growth in the first quarter of 2025, bringing its investors $14.12 per share.
Goldman Sachs topped Q1 expectations, earning net revenues of $15.06 billion (6% growth year-on-year) and net earnings of $4.74 billion (15% growth) in the first three months of 2025.
Diluted earnings per common share (EPS) were $14.12 in the reporting period, illustrating robust growth compared to $11.58 in Q1 2024 and $11.95 in Q4 2024. This indicator significantly exceeded the expected $12.35 per share. The forecast for the company’s revenues was also lower than actual figures ($14.81 billion).
In the first quarter of 2025, Goldman Sachs earned an annualised return of 16.9% on average common shareholders’ equity and 18.0% on average tangible common shareholders’ equity. Upon the publication of strong financial results, the bank’s shares rose 2.2% at market opening.
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon attributed the strong performance to customer trust in the institution’s economic resilience amid the global and national turbulence. “Our strong results this quarter have demonstrated that in times of great uncertainty, clients turn to Goldman Sachs for execution and insight. While we are entering the second quarter with a markedly different operating environment than earlier this year, we remain confident in our ability to continue to support our clients,” he said.
Truly, volatile market conditions drove a sharp rise in the bank’s equity trading income, which jumped 27% to a record $4.2 billion. Meanwhile, trading income from fixed-income securities, foreign exchange, and commodities also grew, increasing by 2% to $4.4 billion.
However, not all the performance indicators showed positive developments. In Goldman’s asset and wealth management division, revenue dropped 3% year-over-year to $3.68 billion, slightly below the $3.69 billion estimate. The firm attributed the decline to “significantly lower” returns from investments in areas like private equity, public equities, and debt. Similarly, the platform solutions division saw a 3% dip in revenue, falling to $676 million, just under the projected $677.5 million.
Nevertheless, at the end of the quarter, the bank managed record assets of $3.17 trillion. Overall, the given results marked the third-best quarterly performance of the 150-year-old firm.
Goldman Sachs’ highest quarterly net income was $6.71 billion in Q1 2021. Then the firm’s profits saw growth of 498% from a year earlier and revenues more than doubled on a year-over-year basis. In Q2 2021, the net income was $5.35 billion.
The robust performance of that period was largely driven by heightened market activity and volatility amidst the ongoing at that time pandemic, leading to increased trading revenues and investment banking fees. Today, global markets share similar conditions as trade tariff roller coaster leaves no certainty for the future of international commerce.
