Commentaries

Bank of Goldman

Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs and banker-in-chief of the US/world, didn’t disappoint as his investment firm once again proved that it’s second to none on Wall Street when it comes to printing money and profits.

By now you know the headline news that Goldman generated blowout second-quarter earnings on record net revenues of $13.8 billion. Net revenues from trading and principal investments were $10.78 billion, up 93% from the year ago period.

Remember that trading code theft case with Sergey Aleynikov? No worries here.

The firm exceeded even the most widely optimistic analyst forecasts and demonstrated that the financial crisis, which pushed Goldman’s stock down to $51 last November is a distant memory–for Goldman at least. BTW, Goldman’s stock is now trading around $150. Talk about stock appreciation.

And it looks like maybe Goldman will be able to pay those fat year-end bonuses afterall. In the quarter, compensation and benefits expenses were $6.65 billion. That amount is higher than the second-quarter of 2008 because of higher net revenues. Fatter Goldman bonsues will make all those luxury real estate brokers in Manhattan happy.

But while everyone is singing Goldman’s praises, let me point out a few blemishes–albeit small ones.

First, Goldman continues to do investors no favor by failing to publish a detailed financial supplement along with its earnings release (something every other big bank does) to help decipher its quarterly numbers.