Goldman Sachs earnings beat expectations--again

Goldman Sachs reported 4Q earnings of $7.01 vs. the expected $6.61 a share. Yet another upside surprise. It also beat revenue expectations: $10.7 billion vs. $10.2 billion. For 2007, it had a banner year, setting earnings and revenue records as their competitors flagged. Investment banking was interesting. Advisory work jumped nearly 100 percent. My guess is that a lot of deals need restructuring, and a lot of companies need options now that the deal market has dried up. The firm noted that its transaction backlog has decreased. Proprietary trading slowed a bit, helped by an $800 million gain from the sale of some nuclear energy assets. Prop trading revenues rose only 4 percent year over year and falling 16 percent quarter to quarter. One issue to be addressed is the company's VAR for the 4Q. All in all, the golden streak continues. This year ranks as one of the great all time performances in Wall Street history. But does it have anywhere to go but down in 2008?

For more:
- here's the release
- here's a video analysis

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