Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS)

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Blue-Chip Bank Stock Declines on Quarterly Earnings
By: Schaeffer's Investment Research | April 15, 2020

• GS is still up 11% in April
• Goldman Sach's Q1 profit was cut nearly in half year-over-year

Earnings season is here, and first up to bat are the big-name bankers. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) is down 4.6% to trade at $170 this morning, after the investment banking company reported adjusted first-quarter earnings of $3.11 per share, lower than Wall Street's estimated $3.35 per share and a 49% drop year-over-year. Though revenue was higher, it was outweighed by weakness in its asset management reporting line, where $868 million losses from lending and debt investments were booked.

Goldman Sachs stock has been rallying on the charts since a seven-year low of $130.85 on March 19, and last week toppled resistance at the 40-day moving average. The equity is up 11% in the past month, but still has a year-to-date deficit of 22.5%.

Analysts are bullish coming into today, with nine out of 14 sporting a "strong buy" or "buy," and the remaining five considering a tepid "hold," so not a single "sell" on the books. Meanwhile, GS' 12-month consensus target price of $209.29 is a lofty 21.6% premium to current levels.

Optimism echoes among short sellers as well, with short interest falling by 19.7% in the last reporting period to make up 5.43 million shares. This accounts for a minimal 1.64% of the stock's available float, and would take a little over a day to cover at GS' average pace of trading.

Lastly, GS' Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) sits at up at 91 (out of 100.) This indicates that the security has tended to exceed options trader's volatility expectations during the past year.

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