Goldman Sachs’ Earnings ON HORIZON

S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, July 17, 2012. Goldman Sachs is a global investment banking and securities firm that specializes in investment banking, trading and principal investments, asset management and securities services.

Goldman Sachs Group Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average estimate of analysts is for net income of $1.38 per share, a decline of 25.4% from the company’s actual earnings for the same quarter a year ago. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved down from $2.68. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved down. It also has dropped from $2.36 during the last month. Analysts are projecting profit to rise by 134.4% versus last year to $10.57.

Past Earnings Performance: The company has beaten estimates the last two quarters and is coming off a quarter where it topped the forecasts by 37 cents, reporting profit of $3.92 per share against a mean estimate of net income of $3.55. In the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year, the company exceeded forecasts by 38 cents with profit of $1.84 versus a mean estimate of net income of $1.46.

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A Look Back: In the first quarter, profit fell 22.9% to $2.11 billion ($3.92 a share) from $2.73 billion ($1.56 a share) the year earlier, but exceeded analyst expectations. Revenue fell 13.5% to $11.8 billion from $13.64 billion.

Stock Price Performance: Between April 16, 2012 and July 11, 2012, the stock price fell $22.60 (-19.2%), from $117.73 to $95.13. The stock price saw one of its best stretches over the last year between June 26, 2012 and July 3, 2012, when shares rose for six straight days, increasing 8.3% (+$7.57) over that span. It saw one of its worst periods between December 9, 2011 and December 19, 2011 when shares fell for seven straight days, dropping 13.6% (-$13.75) over that span.

Wall St. Revenue Expectations: On average, analysts predict $6.51 billion in revenue this quarter, a decline of 10.6% from the year-ago quarter. Analysts are forecasting total revenue of $31.2 billion for the year, a rise of 8.3% from last year’s revenue of $28.81 billion.

Key Stats:

On the top line, the company is hoping to use this earnings announcement to snap a string of four-straight quarters of revenue decreases. Revenue fell 9.3% in the second quarter of the last fiscal year, 47.9% in third quarter of the last fiscal year and 22.7% in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year and then fell again in the first quarter.

Analyst Ratings: There are mostly holds on the stock with 12 of 20 analysts surveyed giving that rating.

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(Company fundamentals by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

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