It has been tough to call earnings, when it comes to investment banks. The fact that they all did a lot of proprietary trading, for one thing, made earnings hard to model, among other things. Historically, the top investment banks have always had low PEs. When it came to Goldman Sachs, the consensus was way too low, $3.48 vs. the actual $4.93.

Meredith Whitney, star analyst that she is, was the closest with her $4.65 prediction. She thinks the stock has lots of room to run, notes Fortune. Goldman, in her mind, will surf the economic woes now roiling the country. Goldman is a top underwriter of municipal bonds and the No. 1 underwriter of Build America Bonds. "These are a new type of municipal bond, part of the Obama administration's $787 billion stimulus plan. Cities, states, universities and government entities use BABs, as they're known, to finance infrastructure projects. This is a potential $50 billion annual market, Whitney says, and Goldman currently holds a 25 percent share," reports a Fortune article.

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