Goldman Sachs Earnings Rise 39% to $17.01 a Share as Equities Revenue Surges 72%

Goldman Sachs reported third-quarter net revenues of $18.68 billion and diluted earnings of $17.01 a share on Tuesday, well ahead of Wall Street expectations, as a 72% surge in equities revenue more than offset essentially flat fixed-income trading.

The beat was not close. Diluted earnings of $17.01 a share were up 39% from $12.25 a year earlier and compared with a FactSet consensus of $12.86 a share compiled by Barron's, while net revenues of $18.68 billion were up 23% from a year earlier and compared with consensus of $16.83 billion. Net earnings were $5.29 billion, and annualized return on common equity was 18.7%.

Equities did the heavy lifting

Equities net revenues were $6.44 billion, 72% higher than a year earlier, on significantly higher revenues in both halves of the business. Equities financing rose to $3.37 billion, driven by prime financing and portfolio financing, and equities intermediation rose to $3.08 billion, driven primarily by derivatives, the company said.

Fixed income, currency and commodities told a different story. FICC net revenues were $3.47 billion, essentially unchanged from a year earlier, as lower intermediation revenues in mortgages, credit and interest-rate products were offset by higher currencies and commodities revenues and higher financing revenues from mortgages and structured lending.

Banking fees rose while the backlog shrank

Investment banking fees were $3.22 billion, 21% higher than a year earlier. Advisory revenues were $1.65 billion on higher completed merger volumes, equity underwriting was $666 million on stronger initial public offerings and secondary offerings, and debt underwriting was $904 million on stronger investment-grade activity, the company said.

The forward signal was softer than the quarter itself. Goldman said its investment banking fees backlog decreased compared with the end of the second quarter and decreased slightly compared with the end of 2025 — a reminder that a strong completed-deal quarter does not by itself guarantee the next one.

Fees steadied the other half of the firm

Asset & Wealth Management net revenues were $5.05 billion, 14% higher than a year earlier and 10% higher than the second quarter. Management and other fees were $3.59 billion on higher average assets under supervision, incentive fees were $587 million on fund distributions, and assets under supervision ended the quarter at $4.10 trillion.

Platform Solutions remained the drag. Net revenues there were $170 million, 72% lower than a year earlier, primarily reflecting net markdowns related to the Apple Card loan portfolio, which was transferred to held for sale in the fourth quarter of 2025, the company said.

Costs and credit moved the other way

Operating expenses were $11.31 billion, 20% higher than a year earlier, reflecting higher transaction-based expenses and higher compensation on improved performance, plus significantly higher charitable contributions to Goldman Sachs Gives. The provision for credit losses was $368 million, up from $339 million a year earlier and $102 million in the second quarter, primarily reflecting impairments related to wholesale loans.

Goldman returned $4.49 billion to common shareholders in the quarter, including $3.00 billion of share repurchases — 2.9 million shares at an average cost of $1,048.73 — and $1.49 billion of dividends. The board declared a $5.00 quarterly dividend payable December 30 to shareholders of record on December 2. Book value per share rose 1.4% in the quarter to $372.64, and headcount rose 3% to 47,500 on campus hires.

What to watch next

The questions from here are whether equities financing can hold anything close to this pace, whether the shrinking banking backlog rebuilds into year-end, and what management says about trading and dealmaking on the 9:30 a.m. ET call. Bank of America and Morgan Stanley report Wednesday, which will show how much of Goldman's equities strength was firm-specific and how much was a market-wide tide.

A note on sourcing: the revenue, earnings, segment, expense, capital and dividend figures are Goldman Sachs' own words in its October 13 release. The consensus estimates are FactSet figures compiled by Barron's before the release.