Goldman Sachs (GS) is set to release its first quarter 2025 financials on April 14. GS stock has declined over 14% year-to-date, primarily due to a continued slowdown in investment banking activity, rising expenses, and concerns about the uncertain economy. Wall Street analysts expect the company to report earnings per share of $12.32, representing a 6.4% increase year-over-year.
Meanwhile, revenues are expected to decrease by 54% from the year-ago quarter to $14.77 billion, according to data from the TipRanks Forecast page.
Analyst’s Views Ahead of Goldman Sachs’ Q1 Earnings
Ahead of Goldman Sachs’ Q1earnings, Morgan Stanley analyst Betsy Graseck downgraded her rating to Neutral from Buy and reduced the price target to $558 from $659.
The analyst noted that Goldman depends heavily on investment banking, which tends to take a hit fast when markets turn shaky. In fact, over 60% of the company’s revenue comes from Global Banking & Markets, making it more sensitive to a slowdown than most big banks. As a result, Graseck now sees Goldman earning a 12% return on equity in 2025 and 13% in 2026, both below the company’s target of 14-16%.
According to Main Street Data, Goldman Sachs’ Global Banking & Markets segment brought in $8.48 billion in revenue in Q4, accounting for approximately 61% of the firm’s total quarterly revenues of $13.87 billion.
Options Traders Anticipate a Minor Move
Using TipRanks’ Options tool, we can see what options traders are expecting from the stock immediately after its earnings report. The expected earnings move is determined by calculating the at-the-money straddle of the options closest to expiration after the earnings announcement. If this sounds complicated, don’t worry, the Options tool does this for you.
Indeed, it currently says that options traders are expecting a 9.77% move in either direction.
Is GS Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, Goldman Sachs stock has a Moderate Buy consensus rating based on nine Buys and seven Holds assigned in the last three months. At $634.13, the average GS price target implies a 29.47% upside potential.
