David Solomon expects a soft landing

The macro psyche is evolving or breaking a little bit more to the positive...  I think the sentiment is softening a little bit and the view that the chance of a softer landing, both in the U.S. and Europe, is actually increasing.  Our economics team has been pretty "soft landing" over the last 6 months...  Our economics team, even last weekend, went and said that they are now not calling for recession in Europe.  The improvement in the energy situation, the reopening in China, they actually see as a little bit more positive. 

~ David Solomon, Goldman Sachs CEO, CNBC interview in Davos, 6:40 mark, January 18, 2023

Iam Bremmer on why Big Business favors government intervention

I believe that if you go and ask a chief executive of a Goldman Sachs or a BP, and they answer you honestly they want monopolies, they want government subsidies, they want preferences - they're not interested in free markets.

~ Iam Bremmer, "The West Should Fear the Growth of State Capitalism," interview with James Quinn, www.telegraph.co.uk., July 10, 2010

Goldman Sachs strategist ready to buy the dip on Omicron variant scare

We think a broad risk recovery may be impeded in the near term by the need to digest the prospect of a more hawkish Fed and a less consistent cyclical tailwind.  Ironically, the Omicron scare itself may now create the best possibilities for relief in the coming weeks, either because incoming news is better than feared or because it prompts monetary policymakers to take a more cautious stance toward tightening.

~ Dominic Wilson, Goldman Sachs strategist, client note, November 29, 2021

Katie Koch on high retail investor participation in the stock market

We're pretty excited about the increased participation of retail investors in the equity market.  Deeper market participation with more views being expressed is very good for active management, so we like bigger retail participation.  I also think it's interesting that people dismissed this as just a pandemic phenomenon, but that's clearly not true now because the world's reopening and the retail investor is still very engaged in ETFs, but also in these meme stocks.  And the activity remains elevated.  We invest in some of the brokers that cater to retail investors and volumes are still up 4x vs. pre-pandemic...  If you believe that this activity will continue, you should be focused on the beneficiaries of that retail activity and that would include things like exchanges, brokers and actually social media.

~ Katie Koch, Co-Head of Fundamental Equity, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Bloomberg interview, 5:30 mark, June 11, 2021

Philip Grant on how Wall Street thinks the $1.9 stimulus bill is bullish for the economy and stocks

Owing to last week’s $1.9 trillion stimulus bill, economists at Goldman Sachs now pencil in a heady 8% year-over-year growth in fourth quarter GDP.  That would be the highest rate since 1951, when nominal annual output footed to about $350 billion, compared to about $21 trillion last year. 

Then, too, already-buoyant asset markets can expect another jolt, as suddenly flush retail hordes prepare to deploy their $1,400 check.  According to a late February survey from Deutsche Bank, respondents reported that they plan to allocate 37% of their stimulus payout into the market.  “Retail sentiment remains positive across the board, regardless of age, income or when the investor began trading,” wrote Deutsche Bank strategist Parag Thatte.  “Retail investors say they expect to maintain or add to their stock holdings even as the economy re-opens.”

~ Philip Grant, Almost Daily Grant's, March 15, 2021

Jon Miltimore on news that Goldman Sachs is considering moving its HQ to Florida

On Sunday, news broke that the multinational financial services company Goldman Sachs, one of the largest companies in the US, is considering a plan to move its headquarters to the South. 

[...]

Goldman’s announcement could not come at a worse time for New York City, which currently “has the most office space available since the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attack,” according to Bloomberg. Goldman Sachs has an estimated market value of $71 billion and employs more than 38,000 people worldwide.

[...]

The reality is the coronavirus exacerbated New York’s economic plight, but it’s not the source of it. The city’s fundamental problem is an open hostility to markets and freedom. From policies such as universal pre-K and mandated paid sick leave to the city’s $15 minimum wage, rent-controlled housing, and oppressive tax climate, New York’s political class has shown a disdain for capitalism, private property, and business concerns, and a troubling affinity for central planning.

[...]

A departure from Goldman Sachs would signal that New York City’s days as the financial capital of the world are over. In some ways, the only surprise is that it took so long.

~ Jon Miltimore, "Goldman Sachs Eyes Florida Exit as Financial Exodus from New York Continues," FEE.org, December 8, 2020

Goldman Sachs admits that part of ESG investing is to "avoid government censure"

At the core of ESG investing is the belief that companies that embrace better business ethics, respect for human dignity and environmental responsibility will over time attract better employees, develop tighter relationships with customers and avoid government censure and thus be able to create more economic value in the long term.

~ Goldman Sachs Research, "Sustainable ESG Investing: Turning Promise into Performance," July 7, 2020

David Kostin on IPO performance over the past 25 years

Most IPOs underperform, but some new offerings outperform dramatically.  [A]n investor that purchased $100 of every US IPO completed during the past 25 years would have generated a 0.6 percentage point annualized excess return versus the Russell 3000 index. In contrast, the typical IPO completed during the same period has lagged the market during the first 12, 24, and 36 months as a public company.

~ David Kostin, Goldman Sachs analyst, "Investors beware: The typical IPO stock is a dud, says Goldman Sachs" MarketWatch.com, September 5, 2019

Lloyd Blankfein on how regulation creates a barrier to entry

There are some parts of our business where it's very hard for outside entrants to come in, disrupt our business, simply because we're so regulated.  In some cases, the burdensome regulation acts as a bit of a moat around our business.

~ Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs CEO, 2015 podcast

Kyle Bass: Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley would've failed without Fed bailouts

I think they made a really significant error during the crisis.  I don't think that there was enough of a flush of bad activity and bad investing back then, and the point is when the banks and investment banks came to the Fed and wanted the Fed to bail them out, the taxpayers ended up bailing out the bankers.  Goldman Sachs exists today because they were made a bank holding company and so does Morgan Stanley.  Back then, I don't think they would've made it if not for the Fed stepping in.

~ Kyle Bass, Wall Street Week interview, 6:29 mark, posted January 3, 2016

Bearing on shorting Goldman Sachs

Goldman is nothing more than a glorified hedge fund taking massive bets with taxpayer subsidies. As more market participants realize this conflict of interest the business should contract rapidly.

"Bearing on shorting Goldman Sachs", Business Insider, Augest 20, 2010

Value investor Michael Price is bullish on GS

Some of the ugly ducklings, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, people hate, they're in the press -- negative press -- never leave Goldman alone. Goldman more or less bottomed at $50 but was $80 or so during the real crunch. You know what Goldman's earned since mid-'08? Thirty-five bucks a share. The stock's $150 they're earning twenty bucks, right? Book is $130, we own Goldman, we buy Goldman on dips.

I think Goldman's a great, large cap financial value-guys' stock. Same thing with B of A.

I'm a sum of the parts guy, smart guy's running it. I hated the Senate report, the investigation report. Some of it read very poorly. But it's given them a lot of religion about how they treat clients and how they appear in the press. I'm a sum of the parts guy, you've got three or four distinct divisions. They're all over-capitalized. Great asset management business, amazing investment bank. I think more powerful than GreenHill, and you look at GreenHill's multiple. So you apply a normal 18 P/E on their asset management business, maybe a 25 or 30 P/E versus GreenHill's 40 on the M&A advisory business, and you're sitting on the broker-dealer for nothing. With excess capital.

Okay, see that dip [in the crash of '08]? That was an aberration. But you look in the middle of the dip, it was 80 or 90, they've earned thirty-five bucks a share since. I don't think the dividend is the story here. I think it's just an earnings-driven story in this expanding economy where the world needs financiers like a Goldman.


~Michael Price, president of MFP Investors LLC, Bloomberg's "Surveillance Midday", May 3, 2011

Charlie Munger speaks out against his own investment in GS

Wall Street to some extent is deliberately trying to profit from sin, and I think it’s a mistake. Why should an investment banker go to Greece to teach them how to pretend their finances are different from what they really are? Why isn’t that a perfectly disgusting bit of human behavior?

~Charlie Munger, Vice-Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway, "Wall Street Bankers Share Blame for Europe Crisis, Berkshire’s Munger Says", Bloomberg, May 2, 2011

Laszlo Birinyi on Goldman Sachs

Goldman is interesting because Warren Buffett owns so much of it. He went through a somewhat similar circumstance with Salomon Brothers, so he has experience with the government agencies. Goldman has a franchise, and -- again we are talking about for your grandchildren, not for your family's Christmas presents -- I think that this will be a very positive stock to own.

~ Laszlo Birinyi, "Invest Like It's 1982," Barron's Online, June 22, 2010

Warren Buffett on the integrity of Goldman Sachs' leadership

I think Lloyd Blankfein has done a great job of leading Goldman Sachs. I've known the people that run Goldman Sachs ever since Gus Levy, everyone one of them. Goldman has had a history of picking first class people to run the business, the sort of people who you'd feel fine having married to your daughter and who are plenty smart about running a business.

~Warren Buffett, Goldman Sachs investor, "The Buffett Express", CNBC's Squawk Box, May 3rd, 2010

Lloyd Blankfein on financial regulation

Clearly the world needs more regulation.

~ Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs CEO, testifying before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation, April 27, 2010

Ken Heebner on Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs is one of the greatest corporations in the world. Their franchise has been strengthened by the disappearance of competitors. They earned at a $32-rate in the December quarter.

Here's a company that's going to grow strongly for the next couple years. It's going to earn over $25 next year. It's only 7x the minimum estimate and it's one of the greatest companies in the world.

~ Ken Heebner, portfolio manager, Capital Growth Management, CNBC, March 9, 2010

Charles Gasparino on the Goldman Sachs spin machine

When the Fed report came out and basically showed that their whole line for the past year has been that they did not get bailed out, that they did not need bailout money, that they just accepted the money, that Fed report that came out about AIG showed that if AIG went under, Goldman Sachs was in serious trouble. It just gave credence to what everybody believed and what they won't admit, what Lloyd Blankfein won't admit, this sort of absurdity that he's trying to promote, this fantasy that Goldman wasn't bailed out. When that report came out it just underscored the fact that they were, to me, and that everything he's been saying is a joke and it's going to keep dogging the firm.

What they've been trying to create is this sort of fantasy-- that they weren't bailed out, that they don't have sharp elbows, their clients come first. He [Blankfein] makes these public statements all the time that this is true, and yet all you have is evidence built upon evidence that that's not the case, that they were bailed out and that, by the way, they are a pretty aggressive, sharp-elbowed firm where the clients don't come first, they come first.

They have no qualms about sticking an elbow in a client's face.

~ Charles Gasparino, Market Watch Media Matters Interview, April 19, 2010

Jim Cramer on Goldman Sachs as victim in Abacus fraud

I have information, that leads me to believe that Goldman, was an investor IN, not against, but IN Abacus, and I think that's a game-changer when it comes to what the case is and what we've heard all day. [...] If this were an open-and-shut case, believe me, this is the way it works: Goldman Sachs says, 'You know what? We're sorry we did this. We're gonna throw over this guy, he's a 31-year-old-guy, he didn't know what he was doing, he was poorly supervised, we're also going to take out his supervisor, we're gonna take him out and shoot him because we understand the way the law works.' They are not doing that. Why are they so confident? Because my understanding is they were an INVESTOR, NOT shooting against the client, and that's a very important piece of... that's a very important FACT.

~ Jim Cramer, stock-pumper and GS-apologist extraordinaire, CNBC Street Signs, April 16, 2010

Goldman Sachs as the American Dream Factory

They're an American Dream Factory at Goldman Sachs [...] someone's gotta straighten out the PR problem there more than the SEC problem, frankly. [...] Like it or not, perception is 90% of reality on Wall Street. This firm, for 150-plus years, had a fantastic, client-centric position and reputation. For whatever reason, it's gone from client-centrism to where clients feel that they are potentially a counter-party to Goldman Sachs. I don't think anybody inside Goldman Sachs feels that way, but they've certainly done a horrific job of expressing that client-centrism. [...] This is really a public relations problem, this is one securities-infraction on a 30,000 person employee base... $12 billion [of lost market-cap on GS] is way overblown. [...] Listen, if you've worked on a trading desk on Wall Street you know someone can hide a ticket in a drawer. I don't care how much compliance you have, I don't care how much intensity you have in the supervisory process, it could happen to anybody. And so, I think probably people didn't know about it. You can knock Goldman for being arrogant, you can knock Goldman for being bad in PR, ya can't knock Goldman for a lack of ethics or compliance-centrism. That's been a hallmark of this organization forever. [...] Guys, you sound like a bunch of media-types trying to start a populist fire. Let's not try to start a populist fire, let's look at this clinically: you had a rogue inside this organization. You don't think there's rogues there? There's rogues everywhere.

~ Anthony Scaramucci, managing partner, Skybridge Capital, and ex-Goldman Sachs employee, CNBC, April 16, 2010