Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

Jim Cramer called dividend reinvestment plans the place where some big money gets made, but the tax code and the risk of concentration tell a more complicated story about who should actually follow that advice.

A caller asked Jim Cramer something almost every income investor eventually faces during the October 22, 2026 episode of Mad Money: should a brokerage automatically reinvest dividends through a DRIP, or should the cash land in the account so the investor can invest it by hand? Cramer answered: “I am a huge dividend reinvestment plan person. You’ve got to reinvest them. That’s where some big money can be made.”

He has made this case before. In August, Cramer told a caller that his charitable trust must send out its dividends, and he said, “It has really hurt my long-term performance.” For investors still building wealth, the math supports him. The exceptions and the tax bill deserve equal attention.

How a DRIP Puts Every Dividend to Work
A dividend reinvestment plan takes your dividends and uses them to buy more shares of the same stock. Most mutual funds also let shareholders reinvest distributions automatically, according to IRS Publication 550. Most brokerages buy fractional shares, so the whole payout goes back into the position on the payment date.

Each new share then earns its own dividend the next quarter. Take a hypothetical $10,000 position yielding 3%, paid quarterly, with a share price that never moves. An investor who takes the cash collects $9,000 over 30 years and still owns a $10,000 position. Reinvesting every payout grows the position to about $24,514, generating roughly $735 a year in dividends, compared with the $300 the cash recipient still receives. Price gains or dividend raises widen that gap.

On the same episode, Cramer described sending small checks to the Fidelity Magellan Fund for decades: “The power of compounding. I never touched it.”

When Taking the Cash Makes More Sense
Retirees living on portfolio income are the clearest case. If dividends pay for groceries and property taxes, reinvesting them only forces share sales later to raise the same money. Collecting the payout is the plan working as designed. Cramer still wants retirees to keep a mix of assets: “People should always be investing for growth and some for dividend and then some for bonds.”

Manual redeployment also suits investors who want control. A DRIP keeps buying whatever paid the dividend, which can slowly concentrate a portfolio in its biggest payers. Cramer learned the cost of concentration at Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS | GS Price Prediction), remembering that “those who owned nothing but oil stocks, including yours truly” took heavy losses. Collecting dividends lets you send them to an underweight holding or a new idea.

Reinvested Dividends Still Trigger a Tax Bill
In a taxable account, the IRS taxes reinvested dividends in the year they are paid. If you use dividends to buy more stock at fair market value, “you must still report the dividends as income.” If the plan offers shares at a discount, you report the fair market value of the additional stock on the dividend payment date as dividend income. The tax code says the dividend portion of a distribution “shall be included in gross income” (26 U.S.C. § 301(c)(1)). That tax has to come from cash you never actually received.

There is an offset. Every reinvestment creates a new tax lot with its own cost basis, which lowers the taxable gain when you sell. Keep those records so you avoid paying tax twice on the same dividend. In IRAs and 401(k)s, reinvested dividends go untaxed until withdrawal.

Verdict: Who Should Follow Cramer’s Advice
Cramer is right for investors with a long time horizon who don’t need the income: younger savers, mid-career workers, and anyone reinvesting inside a tax-advantaged account. Automatic reinvestment keeps cash from sitting idle and gives compounding decades to work (the same mechanism behind the dividend ladder we laid out in a free guide here: Never Touch the Principal).

Retirees who depend on dividends for living expenses have the strongest case for taking the cash. So do investors whose DRIP keeps adding to an already large position, and taxable-account holders who lack spare cash to pay tax on dividends they never received. Many investors split the difference: reinvest automatically in retirement accounts, take cash in taxable accounts, and redeploy it on purpose.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Last week, the artificial intelligence trade had its roughest week in months, and it was not just one company's problem. A hot inflation report raised the odds that borrowing costs will stay expensive, Goldman Sachs (GS -1.48%) and its CEO warned about debt piling up behind data center build-outs, and the selling spread quickly.

Oracle fell about 9%. Advanced Micro Devices dropped a similar amount. Super Micro Computer lost 23% and was the worst stock in the S&P 500. Palantir Technologies slid into correction territory as AI software names shed roughly $260 billion in value. CoreWeave and its $50 billion in debt made the headlines, but the damage extended to companies with no debt at all.

That is where the opportunity is.

Image source: Getty Images.

Why Astera Labs got caught in the AI sell-off Astera Labs (ALAB -11.12%) fell over 15% last week, and nothing about its business changed. The company makes the connectivity chips that sit between GPUs, CPUs, and memory inside AI servers, the retimers, switches, and cable modules that keep signals clean as data moves faster. If you think of a GPU as the engine, Astera makes the wiring harness. When investors dump anything tied to data center spending, Astera goes with it, even though it has no borrowings and about $1.25 billion in cash and short-term investments.

The sell-off was about who can afford to keep building. Astera is not the one borrowing.

ALAB Astera Labs$257.82-$32.24 (-11.12%)

NASDAQ · As of 4:00 PM ET 10/22/26

What Astera Labs did this fall while the market panicked The reason to buy this dip rather than any other one is what the company shipped in the weeks around it. On Oct. 8, Astera announced Aries 7, which it calls the industry's first full lineup of PCIe 7 signal-conditioning chips spanning both copper and optical links. PCIe 7 is the next-generation standard for moving data between chips, and Astera's parts now cover everything from a few centimeters of circuit board to more than 50 meters of fiber between racks. Intel and AMD, which have both validated Astera's retimers since PCIe 4, are collaborating with the company on the PCIe 7 transition. Samples ship this quarter.

Four days later, at the Open Compute Project summit, Astera unveiled Orion, a rack-scale reference design that lets a cloud provider pick whichever GPU or CPU is cheapest or most available and swap it later without redesigning the rack. It scales to 160 accelerators per pod and is built for neoclouds and enterprises serving AI inference.

Read that again in the context of last week: The market was punishing neoclouds for overcommitting capital to specific hardware, and Astera just launched a product designed to let them deploy with, in the company's words, "significantly lower upfront capex." Orion racks arrive through partners in the first quarter of 2027. In September, Astera also refreshed its Leo memory controllers for agentic AI workloads.

Why November is the month, and some risks This is not a cheap stock. Astera trades at a high trailing earnings multiple; its chairman sold $51 million of shares in September, and revenue leans on a short list of hyperscale customers, per PV Research. If PCIe 7 adoption slips or a big customer pauses orders, the stock will not wait politely. Its 52-week price range is $98 to $499, which tells you everything you need to know about how it trades. Anyone buying here should expect more weeks like the last one and size the position so that does not matter.

Astera reports third-quarter results on Nov. 3. Management said in August that its Scorpio switch family would become the company's largest product line in the third quarter, a quarter earlier than planned. That report lands less than three weeks after a 16% drop driven by someone else's balance sheet. For a company that doubled revenue last quarter, has no debt, and just launched two product lines that every AI rack will need, that setup is as good as it gets. I would buy in November and hold through the next product cycle, not the next headline.

Micah Zimmerman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Goldman Sachs Group, Intel, Oracle, and Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool recommends Astera Labs. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Goldman Sachs (GS - Free Report) could be a solid choice for investors given its recent upgrade to a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). This upgrade is essentially a reflection of an upward trend in earnings estimates -- one of the most powerful forces impacting stock prices.

The Zacks rating relies solely on a company's changing earnings picture. It tracks EPS estimates for the current and following years from the sell-side analysts covering the stock through a consensus measure -- the Zacks Consensus Estimate.

The power of a changing earnings picture in determining near-term stock price movements makes the Zacks rating system highly useful for individual investors, since it can be difficult to make decisions based on rating upgrades by Wall Street analysts. These are mostly driven by subjective factors that are hard to see and measure in real time.

As such, the Zacks rating upgrade for Goldman is essentially a positive comment on its earnings outlook that could have a favorable impact on its stock price.

Most Powerful Force Impacting Stock PricesThe change in a company's future earnings potential, as reflected in earnings estimate revisions, and the near-term price movement of its stock are proven to be strongly correlated. That's partly because of the influence of institutional investors that use earnings and earnings estimates for calculating the fair value of a company's shares. An increase or decrease in earnings estimates in their valuation models simply results in higher or lower fair value for a stock, and institutional investors typically buy or sell it. Their transaction of large amounts of shares then leads to price movement for the stock.

Fundamentally speaking, rising earnings estimates and the consequent rating upgrade for Goldman imply an improvement in the company's underlying business. Investors should show their appreciation for this improving business trend by pushing the stock higher.

Harnessing the Power of Earnings Estimate RevisionsEmpirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock movements, so it could be truly rewarding if such revisions are tracked for making an investment decision. Here is where the tried-and-tested Zacks Rank stock-rating system plays an important role, as it effectively harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions.

The Zacks Rank stock-rating system, which uses four factors related to earnings estimates to classify stocks into five groups, ranging from Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) to Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive externally-audited track record, with Zacks Rank #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>> .

Earnings Estimate Revisions for GoldmanFor the fiscal year ending December 2026, this investment bank is expected to earn $70.89 per share, which is unchanged compared with the year-ago reported number.

Analysts have been steadily raising their estimates for Goldman. Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company has increased 3%.

Bottom LineUnlike the overly optimistic Wall Street analysts whose rating systems tend to be weighted toward favorable recommendations, the Zacks rating system maintains an equal proportion of "buy" and "sell" ratings for its entire universe of more than 4,000 stocks at any point in time. Irrespective of market conditions, only the top 5% of the Zacks-covered stocks get a "Strong Buy" rating and the next 15% get a "Buy" rating. So, the placement of a stock in the top 20% of the Zacks-covered stocks indicates its superior earnings estimate revision feature, making it a solid candidate for producing market-beating returns in the near term.

You can learn more about the Zacks Rank here >>>

The upgrade of Goldman to a Zacks Rank #2 positions it in the top 20% of the Zacks-covered stocks in terms of estimate revisions, implying that the stock might move higher in the near term.

Goldman Sachs (GS - Free Report) is one of the stocks most watched by Zacks.com visitors lately. So, it might be a good idea to review some of the factors that might affect the near-term performance of the stock.

Over the past month, shares of this investment bank have returned -6.8%, compared to the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +0.7% change. During this period, the Zacks Financial - Investment Bank industry, which Goldman falls in, has lost 7.5%. The key question now is: What could be the stock's future direction?

While media releases or rumors about a substantial change in a company's business prospects usually make its stock 'trending' and lead to an immediate price change, there are always some fundamental facts that eventually dominate the buy-and-hold decision-making.

Earnings Estimate RevisionsRather than focusing on anything else, we at Zacks prioritize evaluating the change in a company's earnings projection. This is because we believe the fair value for its stock is determined by the present value of its future stream of earnings.

We essentially look at how sell-side analysts covering the stock are revising their earnings estimates to reflect the impact of the latest business trends. And if earnings estimates go up for a company, the fair value for its stock goes up. A higher fair value than the current market price drives investors' interest in buying the stock, leading to its price moving higher. This is why empirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.

For the current quarter, Goldman is expected to post earnings of $15.54 per share, indicating a change of +10.9% from the year-ago quarter. The Zacks Consensus Estimate has changed +1.5% over the last 30 days.

The consensus earnings estimate of $70.89 for the current fiscal year indicates a year-over-year change of +38.1%. This estimate has changed +1.5% over the last 30 days.

For the next fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $73.91 indicates a change of +4.3% from what Goldman is expected to report a year ago. Over the past month, the estimate has changed +0.9%.

With an impressive externally audited track record, our proprietary stock rating tool -- the Zacks Rank -- is a more conclusive indicator of a stock's near-term price performance, as it effectively harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions. The size of the recent change in the consensus estimate, along with three other factors related to earnings estimates, has resulted in a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for Goldman.

The chart below shows the evolution of the company's forward 12-month consensus EPS estimate:

12 Month EPS

Projected Revenue GrowthEven though a company's earnings growth is arguably the best indicator of its financial health, nothing much happens if it cannot raise its revenues. It's almost impossible for a company to grow its earnings without growing its revenue for long periods. Therefore, knowing a company's potential revenue growth is crucial.

In the case of Goldman, the consensus sales estimate of $17.23 billion for the current quarter points to a year-over-year change of +28%. The $73.38 billion and $74.13 billion estimates for the current and next fiscal years indicate changes of +25.9% and +1%, respectively.

Last Reported Results and Surprise HistoryGoldman reported revenues of $18.68 billion in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +23%. EPS of $17.01 for the same period compares with $12.25 a year ago.

Compared to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $16.87 billion, the reported revenues represent a surprise of +10.75%. The EPS surprise was +31.86%.

The company beat consensus EPS estimates in each of the trailing four quarters. The company topped consensus revenue estimates three times over this period.

ValuationWithout considering a stock's valuation, no investment decision can be efficient. In predicting a stock's future price performance, it's crucial to determine whether its current price correctly reflects the intrinsic value of the underlying business and the company's growth prospects.

While comparing the current values of a company's valuation multiples, such as price-to-earnings (P/E), price-to-sales (P/S), and price-to-cash flow (P/CF), with its own historical values helps determine whether its stock is fairly valued, overvalued, or undervalued, comparing the company relative to its peers on these parameters gives a good sense of the reasonability of the stock's price.

The Zacks Value Style Score (part of the Zacks Style Scores system), which pays close attention to both traditional and unconventional valuation metrics to grade stocks from A to F (an A is better than a B; a B is better than a C; and so on), is pretty helpful in identifying whether a stock is overvalued, rightly valued, or temporarily undervalued.

Goldman is graded C on this front, indicating that it is trading at par with its peers. Click here to see the values of some of the valuation metrics that have driven this grade.

Bottom LineThe facts discussed here and much other information on Zacks.com might help determine whether or not it's worthwhile paying attention to the market buzz about Goldman. However, its Zacks Rank #3 does suggest that it may perform in line with the broader market in the near term.

Zacks' Research Chief Names "Stock Most Likely to Double"

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Sometimes, it's a buyer's market. On other occasions, it's a seller's market. In the exchange-traded funds (ETFs) industry in 2026, it's both.

This year, eight ETF issuers have been acquired or are in the process of being acquired. Three others were purchased in the fourth quarter of 2025, so it's fair to say this is a busy stretch of ETF industry consolidation. Goldman Sachs (GS +1.03%) is participating in that trend.

Goldman Sachs is acquiring NEOS Investments, but alone, that deal won't send the stock back to its all-time high. Image source: Getty Images

Goldman, a top-20 U.S. ETF issuer, accounts for two of those 11 deals, with the most recent being the August announcement of a $2.25 billion bid to acquire privately held NEOS Investments. It's a smart deal for Goldman, but on its own, it may not be enough to return the stock to its all-time high. Let's get into why that may be the case.

The math is tricky
With a market value of nearly $270 billion as of Oct. 16, Goldman is one of the largest financial companies by market cap, so it takes a lot to move the needle on acquisitions.

Additionally, the stock closed at $881.26 on Oct. 16, well below the record closing high of $1,146.65 notched on July 15. So a 30.1% rally is required to get back to that all-time high. It's hard to envision a bolt-on acquisition being the driving force behind a 30% surge by a $270 billion company.

Goldman's bread and butter in terms of revenue and profit generation is investment banking and trading of assets such as bonds, commodities, currencies, and equities. So while Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM), the roof under which the bank's ETF unit resides, manages an impressive $3.3 trillion in assets, the asset and wealth management unit contributed just $5.1 billion of the bank's $18.7 billion in third-quarter revenue.

GS Goldman Sachs Group$884.81+$9.03 (+1.03%)

NYSE · As of 4:00 PM ET 10/20/26

It's reasonable to surmise that if NEOS had been part of GSAM before the end of the third quarter, it would've boosted that unit's revenue, but not by enough to spark a 30% surge, and that may remain true even through 2028.

It's still a smart acquisition
Even if the NEOS purchase isn't the determining factor in sending Goldman shares back to record highs and beyond, the acquisition is likely to prove fruitful over the long term. When it was announced in August, NEOS had $30 billion in assets under management. Still, that figure has since swelled to $36.5 billion, cementing the target's status as one of the fastest-growing ETF issuers.

NEOS's growth is impressive. It's even more so when considering the issuer's initial batch of ETFs is barely more than four years old (it acquired some older funds).

That growth is a testament to the popularity of covered call ETFs, NEOS's specialty. In short order, NEOS has become one of the largest issuers of options income ETFs because many of its funds are adept at delivering high yields and large income streams to investors without subjecting them to erosion of their invested capital.

With dividend yields on broad equity benchmarks low and bond yields too high for comfort, alternative sources of income are all the more attractive, indicating that NEOS is positioned to be a long-term contributor to the broader Goldman Sachs ecosystem even if it doesn't carry the buyer's stock back to old glory.

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Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, but may initiate a beneficial Long position through a purchase of the stock, or the purchase of call options or similar derivatives in GS over the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.

A Goldman Sachs survey found that more than a third of people earning over $300,000 still run out of money before the next paycheck, and for one of them, the gap between his working life and retirement has never actually…

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Many high earners still feel squeezed by the end of the month. In a Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS | GS Price Prediction) retirement survey, 36% of respondents earning above $300,000 said they live paycheck to paycheck.

Take one hypothetical employee in his early 60s. The mortgage, two car payments, a child’s tuition and an insurance premium take most of every deposit. He also has a 401(k) and some savings, so “paycheck to paycheck” tells you more about his cash flow than his net worth. After decades of high earnings, he expects a strong Social Security check. By most standards, he will get one. He just hasn’t set that check next to the paycheck that pays for his life today.

A $25,000 Monthly Paycheck Meets a $4,152 Retirement Check His $300,000 gross salary comes to $25,000 a month. The agency’s published maximum for someone retiring at full retirement age (FRA) in 2026 is $4,152 a month.

It comes to $49,824 a year, which replaces about 17% of his gross pay. Each month, it leaves $20,848 between what he earns now and what the largest possible check pays at that age.

Make sure the comparison is fair: gross income against gross income. That leaves roughly 83% of his former salary for savings, a pension or other sources to replace. How much of that turns into a spending shortfall depends on which expenses disappear when he retires. Payroll taxes stop.

Retirement contributions stop. Commuting and other work costs fall. If he saves heavily today, he already lives on less than his salary.

The $4,152 figure is the 2026 maximum for someone who claims at the standard claiming age. Claiming earlier lowers that maximum, and waiting longer raises it. Treat it as a benchmark, separate from his personal estimate. Benefits do rise with inflation. If the 2027 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) comes in at the projected 3.5%, that would add about $145 a month to a $4,152 check, bringing it to roughly $4,297. That helps, but it barely touches the monthly gap.

Why a Big Final Salary Can Still Fall Short of the Maximum His benefit reflects his whole career of earnings. The system averages his highest 35 years of earnings, adjusted for wage growth, and it only counts pay up to a yearly cap. In 2026, that cap is $184,500. The remaining $115,500 of his salary adds nothing to his benefit.

To reach the maximum, a worker generally has to earn at or above the cap for 35 years. If he only rose to $300,000 in his 50s after years of more modest pay, his check could be well below $4,152.

That’s why the maximum makes a useful yardstick, since even a near-perfect earnings record replaces only a small share of this salary. His real number is online. He can find it in his my Social Security account, and that estimate is the one his plan should use.

What Retirement Will Actually Cost Is the Number That Matters Turning a high-income lifestyle into a retirement budget comes down to three comparisons:

Expected spending. Sort every bill into three groups. Some continue, like property taxes, insurance and groceries, while others disappear, like payroll taxes, retirement contributions and possibly tuition or the mortgage. Some go up, like health insurance before Medicare starts at 65, travel and home repairs. Reliable income. Set his actual Social Security estimate, plus any pension, against the expenses that continue. This is the floor that comes every month whatever the markets do. Savings withdrawals. Whatever the floor doesn’t cover has to come from the portfolio. That includes income taxes on traditional 401(k) withdrawals and occasional big costs like a new roof or a replacement car. For scale, the average American household spent $78,535 in 2024. A maximum benefit would cover about 63% of that typical budget. A $300,000 lifestyle costs far more, and his salary and the survey leave open whether his savings can close the difference. Only his own numbers can answer that.

Earning Power and Retirement Readiness Measure Different Things The hardest mistake to fix is claiming early to cover a cash crunch, because the smaller check stays smaller for life. Build the post-work budget first. Once he has it, his Social Security estimate becomes something he can plan around.

A $300,000 salary tells him what his work earns today. The bills that remain after work ends tell him what his retirement must support. Households vary widely. Debts, savings and health costs differ, so his gap may turn out bigger or smaller than this example suggests.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

ASML and Goldman Sachs just delivered blowout quarters and their stocks got punished anyway. Something in the market has shifted, and it has nothing to do with how these companies are actually performing.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML | ASML Price Prediction) reported third-quarter results on October 14, 2026, that beat forecasts on every major line. GAAP EPS of $14.48 exceeded the $10.66 consensus, and revenue rose 55.2% year over year to $13.1 billion. The stock fell 3.9% that day and has lost 6.8% over the past week. Even after that drop, shares at $1,650.00 are still up 53.9% for the year.

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) shows the same pattern. Its EPS of $17.01 beat the $13.65 consensus, and revenue of $18.7 billion was the firm’s second-highest quarterly total. On CNBC’s Mad Money, Jim Cramer pointed to 39% earnings growth. The shares now trade at $878.72, down 11.1% in a month, and are essentially flat year to date.

Both businesses are performing well. The price investors will pay for that performance is what has changed.

Cramer Calls It a Valuation Reset
On October 14’s Mad Money, Cramer described the move this way: “P/E compression explains this move, not earnings.” On ASML specifically: “The earnings aren’t being crushed. In fact, semiconductor capital equipment maker ASML reported fantastic [numbers] last night. Yet its stock was slammed.” He added, “I think we’re seeing a reset and one that simply can’t be gamed.”

The chip equipment maker‘s guidance makes the correction easier to see. In the 6-K filing, management said planned supply for 2027 and 2028 will not fully meet customer demand, and that some customers want to place orders for 2029 and even 2030. Even so, investors assigned a lower multiple to that demand visibility this week.

JPMorgan’s Call Gave Investors Less to Worry About
JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) reported EPS of $5.57 on revenue of $50.9 billion, which Reuters called a rare profit miss. Cramer found the net interest income outlook unusually positive and said CEO Jamie Dimon “didn’t hit us with his usual dose of doom and gloom. For once the conference call wasn’t a minefield.” The stock is up 4.1% year to date. CFO Jeremy Barnum still noted that “evolving market conditions have recently slowed activity a bit.”

Solomon Describes Ballast While His Stock Slides
In Goldman CEO David Solomon’s on-camera remarks on October 13, 2026, he called AI infrastructure activity “a really good ballast for capital markets activity on a go-forward basis,” while warning that bumps can still happen. Addressing the earnings call that day, he said, “there will be a point in time when this recalibrates, resets, for sure.” So the chief executive is describing a positive environment while Goldman’s shares reprice lower. That disconnect suggests investors are questioning how long these peak conditions will last.

Two Markets Inside One Index
In an October 11, 2026, X post, Jim Bianco of Bianco Research described the S&P 500 as two separate markets: AI-related companies and everybody else. Bianco said the 41 AI-related companies he tracks accounted for 48.68% of the index’s combined market capitalization. With so much weight concentrated in one group, the index can appear calm while individual stocks such as ASML and Goldman are heavily de-rated beneath the surface. (Riding a concentrated rally is fine as long as you plan the exit, which is the whole subject of our free bubble survivor’s handbook.)

Cramer’s Rotation Case Favors Enterprise Software
Cramer has a clear view on the rotation. He believes money is moving out of AI hardware and into enterprise software, because the AI-driven destruction investors feared for those companies never arrived. On October 14, 2026, he said: “The enterprise software companies can keep going higher because their stocks never should have been so low in the first place. After a year where we expected these companies to be destroyed by AI, it never came to pass and never will.”

Looking ahead, at Goldman, the investment banking backlog declined from the prior quarter. JPMorgan has guided fourth-quarter expenses to about $27.5 billion. ASML plans to update its longer-term outlook at its Capital Markets Day on June 10, 2027.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc (NYSE:GS) on Tuesday reported upbeat earnings for the third quarter.

The company posted quarterly earnings of $17.01 per share which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $13.08 per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $18.679 billion which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $16.705 billion.

Goldman Sachs’ Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $5 per common share on Oct. 12, 2026, payable on Dec. 30 to shareholders of record as of Dec. 2, 2026.

Goldman Sachs shares fell 2.2% to trade at $872.79 on Wednesday.

These analysts made changes to their price targets on Goldman Sachs following earnings announcement.

RBC Capital analyst Gerard Cassidy maintained the stock with a Sector Perform and lowered the price target from $1220 to $1010. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analyst Christopher McGratty maintained the stock with a Market Perform and lowered the price target from $1130 to $1100. Considering buying GS stock? Here’s what analysts think:

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CNBC's Kate Rooney and David Solomon, Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO, join 'The Exchange' to discuss earnings going forward, M&A activity, and more.

BERKELEY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) is recognizing Deep Fission, Inc. (Nasdaq: FISN) (“Deep Fission” or the “Company”) Co-Founder and CEO Liz Muller as one of the Most Exceptional Entrepreneurs of 2026 at its Builders and Innovators Summit in Healdsburg, California. Goldman Sachs selected Liz Muller from entrepreneurs across multiple industries to be honored at the two-day event. As Co-Founder and CEO of Deep Fission, Liz leads the development and commercializatio.

Key Takeaways GS posted Q3 earnings of $17.01 per share, beating estimates, as revenues climbed to $18.68B.GS' equities revenues surged 72% to $6.44B, fueled by derivatives activity and robust financing demand.GS sees AI financing opportunities but warns that rising costs and interest rates could hurt returns. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS - Free Report) emphasized expanding financing opportunities, resilient investment banking activity and stronger recurring revenues during its third-quarter 2026 earnings call. Management remained confident about client demand despite higher interest rates and geopolitical uncertainty.

The bank reported earnings of $17.01 per share, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $12.90. Revenues reached $18.68 billion, beating the consensus estimate of $16.87 billion. However, executives acknowledged that market conditions had become more complicated.

GS Sees Resilient Investment Banking DemandChairman and CEO David Solomon described the investment banking environment as favorable despite rising borrowing costs. He characterized capital markets activity as remaining within the top quartile of historical conditions.

Global Banking & Markets revenues increased 32% year over year to $13.46 billion. Investment banking fees rose 21% to $3.22 billion, supported by advisory and underwriting activity.

During discussions with Autonomous Research, Solomon acknowledged that the investment banking backlog had declined but remained robust. He also highlighted potential opportunities from private equity sponsors, eventually monetizing investments, although exits have progressed more slowly than anticipated.

Goldman Sachs Expands Its Financing FranchiseEquities revenues surged 72% year over year to $6.44 billion, driven by derivatives activity and financing demand. Equities financing revenues nearly doubled, supported by prime financing and expansion across Asia.

Chief financial officer Denis Coleman emphasized that financing activities represented more than 40% of combined FICC and Equities revenues year to date. Management views these businesses as contributing to a more durable revenue base.

Responding to BMO Capital Markets, Coleman acknowledged market deleveraging during the quarter. Nevertheless, financing demand continued to exceed industry capacity, supporting pricing opportunities and selective balance sheet deployment.

GS Wealth Growth Supports Fundraising OutlookAsset & Wealth Management revenues increased 14% year over year to $5.05 billion. Management and other fees reached a record $3.59 billion, reflecting higher average assets under supervision.

Solomon highlighted record assets under supervision of $4.1 trillion and $97 billion in quarterly long-term net inflows. Alternative assets reached $491 billion, while year-to-date fundraising totaled $122 billion.

Management now expects approximately $150 billion in full-year alternative fundraising. Solomon also emphasized the planned acquisitions of NEOS and LCN Capital Partners, designed to expand ETF capabilities and private real estate offerings.

Goldman Sachs Balances AI Opportunities and RisksSolomon identified artificial intelligence infrastructure investment as a significant financing opportunity. He discussed substantial capital requirements across data centers, public markets and private credit.

During questioning from BofA Securities, Solomon cautioned that escalating financing requirements and higher interest rates could undermine returns on individual infrastructure projects. He emphasized disciplined underwriting rather than broad predictions about the investment cycle.

Management also highlighted tokenization as an evolving opportunity. Responding to Evercore ISI, Solomon discussed investments in digital asset infrastructure while acknowledging that current activity remains relatively small.

GS Maintains Expense Discipline and Capital FlexibilityOperating expenses totaled $11.31 billion, up 20% year over year. Coleman attributed significant cost growth to transaction-based expenses accompanying stronger client activity.

The year-to-date efficiency ratio improved to 59.4%. Coleman expects the compensation ratio, net of provisions, to remain around 30% for the full year, while the effective tax rate is expected to approximate 20%.

Goldman repurchased $3 billion in shares during the quarter. Coleman emphasized prioritizing client financing opportunities, sustainable dividend growth and returning excess capital to shareholders while maintaining appropriate regulatory buffers.

Goldman Sachs Focuses on Sustainable ReturnsSolomon attributed improved profitability partly to structural changes that expanded the firm's durable revenue base. However, he acknowledged that favorable market conditions were also supporting elevated returns.

Management remains focused on disciplined capital deployment, expanding client relationships and strengthening recurring revenues while monitoring interest rate volatility and financing risks.

GS Zacks Rank and Style Scores Signal CautionGS currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), indicating a neutral near-term earnings revision outlook. Its Value Score of C reflects middling relative valuation characteristics, while the Growth Score of D indicates weaker growth-related attributes.You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The Momentum Score of F and the VGM Score of F further indicate unfavorable combined style characteristics. These readings lack the stronger A or B scores generally favored alongside top Zacks Ranks. The Zacks Rank may change as analysts revise earnings estimates following the latest results.

V Goldman Sachs čekají, že index S&P 500 půjde dál nahoru, na konci roku bude na 8000 bodech. A do roka na 8700 bodech. Dnes se tak podíváme, co za takovým očekáváním stojí. A k tomu opět přidám pár snad zajímavých příběhů a komentářů. Včetně těch o tom, jaks e uvedená očekávání rýmují s nadšením kolem AI.

Predikce banky shrnuje následující graf. Jde o tradiční přístup, kdy se vychází z očekávaného vývoje ziskovosti obchodovaných firem. A na tyto zisky (E) je nasazen odpovídající valuační poměr PE, tedy poměr cen k ziskům. Zde to v praxi znamená následující: V GS čekají, že zisky na jednu akcii v indexu porostou z 275 dolarů v roce 2025 na 375 dolarů v roce 2026. Měly by se tedy meziročně zvýšit o 36 %. Což je významná věc připomínající, že akciový trh letos stál právě vývoji ziskovosti (spolu s pokračujícími AI příběhy a optimismem). Která svým vlivem a silou dokázala eliminovat efekt řady dalších faktorů, které by jinak mohly trh poslat výrazně níž (cla, konflikty ozbrojené, slovní, útoky na centrální banku a její nezávislost, výsledná nejistota…).

Zdroj: X

I letošní rok je už z velké části historie, na trhu se většinou pracuje se zisky očekávanými pro následujících 12 měsíců. GS předpovídá, že dosáhnou 415 dolarů, což by byl oproti roku 2026 nárůst o necelých 11 %. A pro rok 2027 banka čeká 460 dolarů, tedy meziroční růst o dalších cca 11 %. Pokud by pak měl index mít na konci letošního roku hodnotu 8000 bodů, poměr této hodnoty k ziskům očekávaným pro rok 2027 (tedy tzv. forward PE) je 19,2. V GS tedy v kostce počítají s růstem zisků kolem 11 % a PE držícím se kolem současných 19. Výsledkem jsou ony hodnoty indexu prezentované v grafu.

Dnešní druhý obrázek ukazuje předpovědi růstu celé ekonomiky a to opět od GS a také od pomyslného konsenzu. Zase tolik se neliší, v příštím roce dokonce mluví v obou případech o 2,2 % tempu růstu. Což může být docela překvapivé z jednoduchého důvodu: Před nástupem umělé inteligence a masivních investic do ní se většinou odhadovalo, že potenciál americké ekonomiky se pohybuje kolem 2+ %. Tímto tempem tedy podle odhadů mohla ekonomika růst aniž by se přehřívala. Ale také by v ní byly rozumným způsobme využity všechny zdroje. Nadšení z toho, co všechno by AI měla přinést, ale asi není v souladu s tím že by se i v příštím roce potenciál držel stále u 2 %. Je samozřejmě možné, že by už byl výš a s oněmi 2,2 % by jej ekonomika „jen“ nevyužívala. Nejsem si ale jist, že i tak by nebylo cítit určité zklamání.

Zdroj: X

Celkově bych pak poukázal na následující: S hospodářským růstem kolem 2+ % a inflací mezi 2 – 3 % by nominální růst ekonomiky dosahoval 4 – 5 %*. Zisky by tedy podle GS rostly cca dvojnásobným tempem. Pětiletá očekávání jsou přitom nyní podle analytického konsenzu více než dvojnásobná (22 %). Nájezd na takové tempo růstu se tedy minimálně podle GS příští a přespříští rok konat nebude. Což je dost rozpor a v tomto smyslu jsou tedy v této bance dost pesimističtí. Nebos e to alespoň na první pohled zdá:

Nedávno jsem tu rozebíral odhady GS týkající tržních očekávání dlouhodobého růstu zisků. ty jí vyšly na 10 % (ne 22 % očekávaných konsenzem). Své predikce tedy banka nastavila hodně podobně. Ony odhady tržních očekávání na 10 % ale stojí na předpokladu hodně nízkých rizikových prémií (asi 2,5 %). Takže ve výsledku jsou dost optimističtí i v GS. Neprojevuje se to ale v predikcích zisků (a/nebo odhadech toho, co u ziskovosti čeká trh). Ale u rizikových prémií.

*Při tomto nastavení by výnosy desetiletých vládních dluhopisů znatelněji překračující 5 % už posouvaly celkové prostředí do ne moc vlídného. Minimálně ve srovnání s řadou let, kdy byly dlouhodobé sazby naopak znatelně pod nominálním tempem růstu. Růst výnosů nad 5 % bývá přitom někdy spojován s očekávaným zrychlením ekonomiky. Ale GS jej podle uvedených předpovědí v příštím roce nečeká a analytici v průměru také ne. Pokud by měly pravdu, výnosy by rostly ze „špatných“ důvodů – obavy z inflace, chaos v monetární politice a/nebo fiskální a dluhové udržitelnosti.

BEIJING — Equity investors are skeptical of Chinese companies' rapid expansion overseas, according to Goldman Sachs.

The "market wants to look for profitable expansions," Trina Chen, co-head of Greater China equity research at Goldman Sachs Research, said on a podcast that the investment bank published Tuesday.

Sluggish consumer demand in China has pushed many companies, such as electric car brands, to accelerate plans for entering other countries. Automaker Geely is one of the latest Chinese companies to push further abroad, announcing Friday it plans to enter Canada next year.

Chinese companies' overseas market share will likely reach 31% by 2035, up from around 18%, Chen and her team predicted in a Sept. 14 report. Their analysis covered more than 10 sectors, including express delivery, industrial robots and so-called white goods such as air conditioners.

Chinese businesses often find higher profit margins abroad than they would at home, enabling the companies to charge lower prices than local competitors.

Investors need to be convinced the global expansion "does not end up with something similar to involution, where the price actually gets killed because of competition," Chen said Tuesday, adding that geopolitics and market access restrictions also weighs on stock performance.

Involution refers to race-to-the-bottom competition in China, which regulators have attempted to address in recent years.

That uncertainty means Chinese companies have very little of their global expansion opportunity priced into their stocks, Chen said.

But on the flip side, she noted that investors are "ruthless" when incumbent companies lose their market share: A 10% to 15% loss could shrink market capitalization by 50% to 80%.

The Chinese players are not just looking at the U.S. and Europe. Goldman Sachs noted some of the most rapid growth is in emerging markets, as the businesses also pursue areas underserved by competitors.

"Chinese brands are no longer simply market challengers," Euromonitor said in a report last month. "Brands are becoming long-term, embedded competitors capable of reshaping market dynamics across Latin America.

Goldman Sachs, the investment bank and asset manager GS , posted an 18.7% annualized return on common equity for the third quarter, with shares at $907.46, up approximately 1.5%, at 10.25am on October 13. That is a strong quarter. The bigger question is whether Goldman can keep delivering those returns when trading activity loses steam.

Goldman's earnings release reported $18.68 billion in revenue, $5.29 billion in net earnings and $17.01 in diluted earnings per share. The trading engine did plenty of heavy lifting. Reuters reported that equities revenue jumped 72% to $6.44 billion, while fixed-income, currency and commodities revenue slipped 1% to $3.47 billion. Equities powered ahead. The rest of trading barely budged.

The valuation picture leaves less room for disappointment: shares sit 8.36% above the $837.45 GF Value estimate, suggesting the price already reflects some optimism. Goldman can turn busy markets into big profits, but investors should be careful about treating a trading surge as a permanent earnings base. Asset and wealth management could help smooth the ride. The test is whether recurring revenue can sustain strong returns when client activity cools.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) missed earnings estimates for the first time in 17 quarters, with notable softness in commercial and investment banking results. Goldman Sachs (GS) and Citigroup (C) both exceeded Q3 consensus estimates, though markets-related revenues eased from Q2 highs.

Remitly’s September Pullback Tests a Still-Strong Growth StoryThe Goldman Sachs Group NYSE: GS reported third-quarter net revenue of $18.7 billion, its second-highest quarterly total, as record advisory revenue, strong equities financing and continued asset and wealth management growth supported results.

Goldman Sachs posted earnings per share of $17.01, return on equity of 18.7% and return on tangible common equity of 20.5% for the quarter. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer David Solomon said the results included an approximately $450 million accelerated charitable contribution. Excluding that contribution, he said quarterly earnings per share would have been about $18, while ROE and ROTE would have been approximately 20% and 21.5%, respectively.

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5 Dividend Stocks That Combine Income, Earnings Growth, and Wall Street SupportFor the year to date, Solomon said record revenue produced a 20.7% ROE and 22.4% ROTE. He described the operating backdrop as complicated by renewed geopolitical tensions, disrupted energy flows, higher oil prices and rising bond yields, but said the underlying U.S. economy remained solid.

Investment Banking and Markets Results Global banking and markets generated $13.5 billion in third-quarter revenue, also the second-highest quarterly level in the firm’s history. Advisory revenue rose 18% from a year earlier to a quarterly record of $1.7 billion, driven by higher transaction volumes.

Digging for Value: Alpha Metallurgical Resources Insider Buys BigGoldman maintained its top position in announced and completed mergers and acquisitions year to date, advising on $1.5 trillion of announced transactions, according to Solomon. He said the firm’s lead over its closest competitor was approximately $430 billion. Equity underwriting revenue increased 43% year over year to $666 million on IPO and secondary-offering activity, while debt underwriting revenue rose 15% to $904 million, led primarily by investment-grade issuance.

Chief Financial Officer Denis Coleman said the investment-banking backlog remained “very robust,” despite substantial revenue realization during the quarter. Solomon said the current environment remained favorable for capital-markets activity, though less exceptional than it had been earlier in the year.

“I still think for capital markets activity, it is a top quartile environment,” Solomon said, adding that strategic M&A discussions remain substantial. He said some IPOs that did not proceed during September may have reflected issuers’ decisions to wait when expected valuations fell 10% to 15% below prior expectations.

FICC revenue was essentially unchanged from a year earlier. Intermediation revenue fell 7%, as lower mortgage, rates and credit results were largely offset by stronger currencies and commodities performance. FICC financing revenue climbed 14% to its second-highest level, supported by mortgages and structured financing.

Equities revenue rose 72% year over year to $6.4 billion, Goldman’s second-best quarter in the business. Equities intermediation revenue increased 52%, led by derivatives, while equities financing revenue surged 96% to a record, driven by elevated average prime balances and activity in Asia.

Combined FICC and equities financing revenue reached a record $12.7 billion year to date, representing more than 40% of revenue in those businesses. Coleman said financing demand continued to exceed available industry capacity, supporting pricing and allowing the firm to remain selective in deploying resources.

Asset and Wealth Management Growth Asset and wealth management revenue increased 14% year over year to $5.1 billion. Management and other fees rose 22% to a record $3.6 billion, reflecting higher average assets under supervision. Incentive fees totaled $587 million, and Coleman said the firm expects incentive fees to remain elevated in the fourth quarter based on its current outlook.

Total assets under supervision ended the quarter at a record $4.1 trillion, aided by $97 billion of long-term fee-based net inflows. The quarter marked Goldman’s 35th consecutive period of long-term fee-based inflows.

Wealth-management client assets reached $2.1 trillion, with $47 billion of long-term net inflows. Solomon said wealth-management inflows in 2026 were annualizing at 12%, ahead of the firm’s 5% target.

Alternative assets under supervision rose 26% from a year earlier to $491 billion. Third-party alternatives fundraising was $37 billion for the quarter and $122 billion year to date, prompting Goldman to raise its full-year fundraising expectation to roughly $150 billion.

Solomon said the fundraising performance reflected a multiyear effort to expand the platform rather than opportunistic activity. He pointed to the firm’s experience in private credit, where he said institutional investors have recently viewed normalized spreads as an attractive entry point for allocating capital to experienced managers.

Capital, Expenses and Strategic Investments Goldman’s total loan portfolio increased 6% from the previous quarter to $276 billion. The provision for credit losses was $368 million, reflecting portfolio growth and impairments on several individual positions. Coleman said the impairments were idiosyncratic and non-correlated, and that the firm did not view them as signaling a broader deterioration in credit conditions.

Total operating expenses were $11.3 billion, including $6.2 billion in non-compensation expenses, up 30% year over year largely because of higher transaction-based costs. Year-to-date operating expenses were $33.4 billion, resulting in an efficiency ratio of 59.4%, an improvement of 270 basis points from the prior year. The year-to-date compensation ratio, net of provisions, was 30%.

Goldman ended the quarter with a standardized common equity Tier 1 ratio of 12.4%, 100 basis points above its current requirement. During the quarter, the firm repurchased $3 billion of common stock and paid $1.5 billion in dividends.

The firm also announced agreements in August to acquire NEOS, a derivative-income ETF manager with about $35 billion in assets under management at quarter-end, and LCN Capital Partners, a triple-net-lease investment manager. Solomon said the acquisitions are intended to expand product offerings, distribution and investment capabilities in asset and wealth management.

AI Financing and Market Structure Solomon said Goldman sees significant financing opportunities tied to AI infrastructure development, while stressing the need for underwriting discipline. He cited estimates that the U.S. data-center buildout could require more than $10 trillion of investment through 2032.

“There’s a lot of demand for compute at the moment,” Solomon said. “The supply has not come into balance. More is going to get built. More financing is going to be necessary.”

However, he said the ultimate scale and timing of AI capital needs remain uncertain and could be affected by rates, geopolitical developments and project economics. Goldman expects to participate through advisory, underwriting, distribution, balance-sheet financing and its asset-management platform.

Solomon also said the firm is investing in digital-asset and tokenization capabilities, including tokenized bonds and money market funds. He described current activity as small but said the technology could eventually improve efficiency, automation, liquidity and market access across asset classes.

Addressing reports about management succession, Solomon said there is “no succession transition or timeline underway” at Goldman Sachs, and that the board and management remain focused on growing the firm and serving clients.

About The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS)The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc is a global financial services company headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1869, the firm provides services to corporations, financial institutions, governments, individuals and other clients through its investment banking, markets, asset management and wealth management businesses.

Goldman Sachs advises clients on mergers and acquisitions, financing and other strategic transactions, and facilitates trading in equities, fixed income, currencies and commodities.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected].

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SummaryGoldman Sachs delivered another strong quarter, fueled by broad-based strength across trading, investment banking, and asset & wealth management.Management continues to reshape GS into a more diversified franchise, with recurring fee-based revenues becoming a larger earnings driver.Despite improving business quality and earnings power, investors should weigh whether current valuation fully reflects future upside.Looking for a helping hand in the market? Members of iREIT®+HOYA Capital get exclusive ideas and guidance to navigate any climate. Learn More » Dan Totilca/iStock Editorial via Getty Images

Introduction Earnings season opens up with the big banks. In this article, I want to initiate my coverage of Goldman Sachs (GS) since the bank just released its Q3 earnings. The

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Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.

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Goldman Sachs (GS - Free Report) reported $18.68 billion in revenue for the quarter ended September 2026, representing a year-over-year increase of 23%. EPS of $17.01 for the same period compares to $12.25 a year ago.

The reported revenue represents a surprise of +10.75% over the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $16.87 billion. With the consensus EPS estimate being $12.90, the EPS surprise was +31.86%.

While investors closely watch year-over-year changes in headline numbers -- revenue and earnings -- and how they compare to Wall Street expectations to determine their next course of action, some key metrics always provide a better insight into a company's underlying performance.

As these metrics influence top- and bottom-line performance, comparing them to the year-ago numbers and what analysts estimated helps investors project a stock's price performance more accurately.

Here is how Goldman performed in the just reported quarter in terms of the metrics most widely monitored and projected by Wall Street analysts:

Book Value Per Share: $372.64 versus the four-analyst average estimate of $368.73.Assets Under Supervision (AUS) - Total: $4,097.00 billion versus $4,179.41 billion estimated by three analysts on average.Standardized Capital Rules - Common equity tier 1 capital ratio: 12.4% versus the two-analyst average estimate of 12.5%.Supplementary - Leverage ratio: 4.3% versus the two-analyst average estimate of 4.2%.Net Revenues- Asset & Wealth Management- Investments: $50 million versus $68.75 million estimated by four analysts on average.Net Revenues- Asset & Wealth Management- Private banking and lending: $827 million versus the four-analyst average estimate of $701.52 million. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of -21.8%.Net Revenues- Global Banking & Markets- Other: $322 million compared to the $241.25 million average estimate based on four analysts. The reported number represents a change of +28.8% year over year.Net Revenues- Global Banking & Markets- Equities: $6.44 billion compared to the $4.96 billion average estimate based on four analysts. The reported number represents a change of +72.4% year over year.Net Revenues- Global Banking & Markets- Total: $13.46 billion versus $11.69 billion estimated by four analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a +33.1% change.Net Revenues- Global Banking & Markets- Investment banking fees: $3.22 billion versus $2.76 billion estimated by four analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a +21.3% change.Net Revenues- Platform Solutions- Total: $170 million versus the four-analyst average estimate of $213 million. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of -74.6%.Net Revenues- Asset & Wealth Management- Total: $5.05 billion compared to the $4.49 billion average estimate based on four analysts. The reported number represents a change of +14.8% year over year.View all Key Company Metrics for Goldman here>>>

Shares of Goldman have returned -9.6% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +2.1% change. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), indicating that it could perform in line with the broader market in the near term.

Goldman Sachs (GS.N) CEO David Solomon said on Tuesday ​it would be interesting to watch for political volatility around AI centers ahead ‌of midterm elections.

Speaking at an analysts' call for quarterly earnings, he also said as the financing needs for AI projects grow and there is pressure on rates, it could affect the returns and the ​viability of certain projects.

"Localized political volatility around data centers. You know, we've got ​an election coming up. It'll be interesting to see," Solomon said.

"Obviously there's ⁠a lot of political discussion coming into an election, but then you also have ​to see how states and localities act coming out of elections. All these things can ​create you know volatility, and there's uncertainty around them."

Data centers, which provide the computing power needed to train and run AI models, have faced growing opposition from communities across the United States.

Residents have raised ​concerns about their rising electricity demand, the potential for higher utility bills and other ​environmental impacts on local communities.

The artificial intelligence buildout is on track to require a larger share of ‌U.S. ⁠output than the rollout of electricity, railroads, interstate highways or the internet, with an increasingly complicated financial structure that poses potentially systemic risks, according to a new study.

The expansion will consume around 3.6% of gross domestic product annually through 2032, or more than $10 trillion, ​and is using ever ​more intricate financing ⁠arrangements, Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, a finance and real estate professor at Columbia Business School, wrote in a paper prepared for a Brookings Institution ​conference last month.

"There's going to be infrastructure built around it that's ​going to ⁠be quite significant," Goldman's Solomon.

"But we feel very well positioned to bring the full range of services and participate actively, and we still see an enormous amount of activity."

Goldman is ⁠a financial ​partner with Nvidia (NVDA.O), which in August announced it has partnered ​with six major financial institutions to launch compute platforms aimed at raising over $500 billion in third-party capital for ​AI infrastructure.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS) reports third-quarter earnings Tuesday before the bell, with CEO David Solomon facing a question: can Wall Street’s extraordinary trading boom last?

Goldman shares have fallen about 22% from their July high. Analysts expect earnings of about $13 per share on revenue near $16.8 billion, down from $20.98 and $20.34 billion last quarter.

On Polymarket, traders give Goldman a 43% chance of reporting GAAP earnings above $16.41 per share, a fixed threshold well above current forecasts. Goldman beat estimates by 45% last quarter, earning $20.98 against expectations of $14.47.

Meanwhile, traders on Kalshi are betting on which words Solomon and his team will use during the earnings call.

What Kalshi Predicts Goldman Will Say“Uncertainty” leads at 85%, followed by “Tailwind” at 84%. AI infrastructure financing offers a potential tailwind for Goldman, but Solomon warned in September that some financing structures carry greater credit risks than their investment-grade ratings suggest.

“Private Credit” trades at 84%. Goldman Sachs Private Credit Corp. reported withdrawal requests of just 2.03% in Q3 and fulfilled them all, while rival Blue Owl Credit Income Corp. received requests totaling 16.8% and capped withdrawals at 5%. Goldman’s fund also attracted $400 million in gross new subscriptions.

“Capital Solutions” sits at 65%. Goldman created the division last year to connect companies seeking financing with investors providing capital. The business combines Goldman’s investment banking expertise with its growing private-credit operations, allowing the firm to arrange financing without necessarily keeping the loans on its own balance sheet.

“Pipeline” trades at 64%. Solomon acknowledged in September that private-equity dealmaking had recovered more slowly than expected, with firms reluctant to sell investments below their 2020 and 2021 valuations.

“Innovator” sits at 56%. Goldman acquired ETF manager Innovator Capital Management in April, adding approximately $31 billion in assets. Goldman’s planned acquisition of NEOS Investments would make it a top-eight active ETF provider, expanding a business less dependent on trading.

What Kalshi Predicts Goldman Will Skip“SpaceX” trades at 45%. Goldman helped underwrite the record $85.7 billion June IPO of Elon Musk’s space company, but the offering’s underwriting revenue belongs to Q2 rather than the quarter being reported.

“Iran / Middle East” sits at 30%. Volatility surrounding the U.S.-Iran conflict helped Goldman’s equities trading revenue jump 72% year over year last quarter, yet traders largely expect the conflict to go unnamed.

Reading the BoardSolomon warned in September that fixed-income trading was softening and non-compensation expenses would rise by more than $500 million.

Reuters Breakingviews reported Monday that analysts expect Goldman’s trading revenue to grow 30% year over year in Q3, but forecast an 8% decline in the bank’s overall earnings next year.

Benzinga Pro data show options imply a 4.32% post-earnings move in either direction, equivalent to roughly $11.4 billion in market value.

Image: Shutterstock

Kalshi and Benzinga have an existing data collaboration agreement.

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© 2026 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

Goldman Sachs reported a sharp third-quarter earnings beat on Tuesday, giving investors a fresh reason to revisit a stock that has fallen about 15% over the past three months despite strong underlying results.

The Wall Street bank earned $17.01 per share on $18.68 billion of net revenue, comfortably above FactSet expectations for GAAP earnings of $12.86 per share and revenue of $16.83 billion.

Net profit rose 29% from a year earlier to $5.29 billion, while revenue increased 23%. Goldman Sachs shares rose about 1.6% to around $908 in Tuesday’s premarket trading following the results.

The numbers put the focus on whether Goldman’s trading strength can arrest the stock’s recent slide. Shares closed Monday at $893.95 after losing ground as rising Treasury yields and concerns over the durability of capital-markets activity weighed on bank valuations.

The stock had also fallen roughly 23% from its 52-week high, leaving expectations considerably lower than during the summer rally.

Goldman's equities franchise was the standout performer. Revenue jumped 72% from a year earlier to $6.44 billion, driven by sharply higher prime financing, portfolio financing and derivatives activity.

That strength helped Global Banking & Markets revenue rise 32% to $13.46 billion, even as fixed-income, currencies and commodities revenue was essentially flat year on year at $3.47 billion.

The split broadly matched the direction flagged by chief executive David Solomon in September, when he said equities remained very strong while FICC had softened.

Morningstar banking analyst Sean Dunlop told Reuters at the time that the commentary was not particularly surprising because his team had modelled an 11% sequential decline in FICC revenue. He added that “slightly softer” could actually prove more constructive than Morningstar's outlook.

The result was stronger than that cautious setup in equities, although FICC still fell 24% from the exceptional second quarter.

Investment banking fees increased 21% year on year to $3.22 billion, supported by stronger advisory, equity underwriting and debt underwriting revenue.

Advisory revenue reached $1.65 billion as completed merger volumes improved, while equity underwriting benefited from initial public offerings and secondary share sales. Debt underwriting also rose on stronger investment-grade activity.

However, there was a less bullish signal beneath those numbers. Goldman's investment banking fee backlog declined from the end of the second quarter and was slightly below its level at the end of 2025.

That matters because investors are trying to judge whether the recent rise in Treasury yields will delay deals and weaken the next leg of Wall Street's capital-markets recovery.

UBS analyst Erika Najarian said in a note before earnings that investors needed reassurance that capital-markets pipelines remained robust.

Goldman's operating expenses climbed 20% from a year earlier to $11.31 billion, reflecting higher transaction-based expenses and compensation costs. That increase was substantial, but expenses were still 3% lower than in the second quarter.

Return on common equity reached 18.7%, up sharply from 14.2% a year earlier, while book value per share increased to $372.64.

Asset and Wealth Management provided another source of growth, with revenue rising 14% to $5.05 billion. Management and other fees reached $3.59 billion as higher assets under supervision lifted recurring revenue.

Goldman also returned $4.49 billion to common shareholders during the quarter, including $3 billion of share repurchases and $1.49 billion of dividends. The board declared a $5 quarterly dividend.

JPMorgan revealed a rare earnings miss while Goldman Sachs blew past revenue estimates as four of the nation’s top banks reported mixed third-quarter earnings Tuesday.

JPMorgan – the largest US bank by assets and the largest in the world by market cap – reported earnings per share of $5.57, missing estimates of $5.90. It recorded revenue of $50.91 billion, below expectations of $51.22 billion.

The bank’s fixed income trading of $5.4 billion missed estimates by roughly $550 million. Expenses were about $90 million more than expected, as costs grew 12% over the past 12 months and revenue jumped just 8% over the same period – a troubling sign for investors.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon warned of more financial pain if interest rates climb higher. AFP via Getty Images
Meanwhile, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon on Tuesday warned that financial pain across the US would worsen if interest rates rise another percentage point – and traders are largely expecting the Fed to hike rates another quarter point in December.

Goldman Sachs blew past earnings expectations, recording $18.68 billion in net revenue – nearly $2 billion more than estimated.

The bank’s third-quarter earnings beat was largely driven by strong equities trading, as revenue in the division jumped 72% from the year before to $6.44 billion, about $1.42 billion more than expected.

Citigroup also delivered an earnings beat. It reported earnings per share of $2.85, besting estimates of $2.66, and revenue of $23.85 billion, above expectations of $23.72 billion.

Goldman Sachs reported blowout earnings. Bloomberg via Getty Images
Wells Fargo had a mixed quarter, with earnings per share of $1.87 slightly edging out expectations of $1.85, but revenue of $21.87 billion missing estimates for $22.3 billion.

Bank of America and Morgan Stanley – which round out the six largest banks in the nation – are scheduled to report third-quarter earnings on Wednesday.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Goldman Sachs ve třetím čtvrtletí výrazně překonala očekávání trhu díky silnému výkonu obchodování s akciemi a investičního bankovnictví. Přestože výnosy z obchodování s dluhopisy i vyšší náklady zaostaly za odhady, banka vykázala nadprůměrnou ziskovost, výrazný příliv nových aktiv a pokračovala v rozšiřování svého byznysu prostřednictvím akvizic. Akcie v pre-marketu rostou o 3,2 %.

Celkové výnosy banky činily 18,68 miliardy dolarů (meziročně +23 %), přičemž divize Global Banking & Markets vygenerovala 13,46 miliardy dolarů (meziročně +33 %), což výrazně překonalo očekávání trhu ve výši 11,8 miliardy dolarů.

Výnosy z obchodování s pevným výnosem dosáhly 3,47 miliardy dolarů (meziročně -0,0 %) a nestačily tak na očekávaných 3,72 miliardy dolarů. Generální ředitel David Solomon přitom již v září upozorňoval, že třetí čtvrtletí bude pro tuto divizi slabší, když banka, podobně jako její konkurenti, čelí tlaku rostoucích výnosů státních dluhopisů, které zhoršují podmínky pro financování a kapitálové trhy.

Naopak výnosy z obchodování s akciemi vyskočily na 6,44 miliardy dolarů (meziročně +72 %), výrazně nad konsensem 5,09 miliardy dolarů, přesto ale zůstaly pod rekordními 7,42 miliardami dolarů z předchozího čtvrtletí.

Dařilo se také investičnímu bankovnictví. Tržby z této oblasti dosáhly 3,23 miliardy dolarů (meziročně +21,6 %)oproti očekávaným 2,86 miliardy dolarů. Výnosy z poradenství při fúzích a akvizicích vzrostly na 1,65 miliardy dolarů, zatímco emise akcií přinesly 666 milionů dolarů a emise dluhopisů 904 milionů dolarů, v obou případech nad odhady analytiků.

Zisk na akcii (EPS) dosáhl 17,01 USD (meziročně +38,9 %) a návratnost vlastního kapitálu (ROE) činila 18,7 %, výrazně nad tržním očekáváním okolo 14 %. Pozitivně překvapil i ukazatel efektivity banky, když poměr nákladů k výnosům dosáhl 59,4 % oproti očekávaným 65,5 %. Objem aktiv pod správou dosáhl 4,10 bilionu dolarů, zatímco čisté přílivy do spravovaných fondů činily 83 miliard dolarů. Úvěrové portfolio vzrostlo na 276 miliard dolarů.

Generální ředitel David Solomon uvedl, že navzdory současné nejistotě a složité geopolitické situaci zůstává banka ve velmi dobré pozici k dalšímu růstu a obsluze klientů.

Na druhou stranu provozní náklady vzrostly na 11,31 miliardy dolarů a překonaly odhady trhu. Banka uvedla, že za tím stojí především vyšší transakční náklady a růst odměn zaměstnanců související se silnějším obchodním výkonem. Podle Bloombergu by si vrcholoví manažeři banky mohli již tento měsíc rozdělit speciální odměny přesahující 500 milionů dolarů, pokud se akcie udrží na současných úrovních.

Zajímavostí je také prudký nárůst takzvaných incentivních poplatků, které meziročně vzrostly téměř osmkrát na 587 milionů dolarů. Podle Bloomberg News za tím stojí mimo jiné zprostředkování investic pro bohaté klienty do společnosti SpaceX v jejích dřívějších kolech financování. Výnosy z těchto transakcí údajně překonaly i odměnu, kterou banka získala za poradenství při rekordním vstupu jiné firmy na burzu.

Goldman Sachs zároveň pokračuje v rozšiřování své divize správy aktiv. Ve třetím čtvrtletí koupila poskytovatele burzovně obchodovaných fondů NEOS Investments za 2,25 miliardy dolarů a společnost LCN Capital Partners, investora do komerčních nemovitostí, za částku až 410 milionů dolarů.