GS, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.
Goldman Sachs is a leading global financial institution that delivers a broad range of financial services to a large and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and individuals.
Read top to bottom, the owner's questions in the order an owner asks them: what the business is, whether the record holds, whether it survives and is any good, and what you would be paying. New to the questions? Start with the Method.
The business in brief
read the 10-K →What this business is and what moves its needle, read from the numbers in its filings. The quantitative detail is in the sections below; the verdict is left to you.
- What it is
- A balance-sheet business, read on book value, net interest margin and credit losses rather than an earnings multiple.
- What moves the needle
- Net interest margin, loan losses, and book value. A lender is read on the quality of its balance sheet, not on an earnings multiple.
Every line here is arithmetic from the company's own filings, not a model's opinion, and each figure appears in full in the sections below.
Owner’s Scorecard
Is it a good business?
- Return on equity 14%StrongNet income $17.2B ÷ equity $125.0B
The bank's north star, what it earns on shareholders' capital. Cost of equity is roughly 10%, so a return durably above that builds value and below it destroys it. One year is noisy; the durability across a full credit cycle is what counts.
- StrongNet income ÷ (equity − goodwill $5.9B − intangibles $842M)
The cleaner return, stripping out the goodwill paid for past acquisitions. This is the number a buyer of the whole bank actually earns on the hard capital.
- Efficiency ratio 64%EfficientNoninterest expense $37.5B ÷ (net interest income + fees)
The share of revenue eaten by running costs; lower is better, and below about 60% marks a genuinely efficient operation. A low ratio held for years is the operational side of a moat.
Is it sound?
- Capital (equity / assets) 6.9%ModestEquity $125.0B ÷ assets $1809.3B
A plain-English leverage read: how much of the balance sheet is the owners' own money. This is a rough proxy; the regulatory figure is the CET1 ratio, which is risk-weighted and reported in the filing. The point is the same, how much loss the bank can absorb before depositors are at risk.
- Deposit funding 28%Leans on wholesale fundingDeposits $501.4B ÷ assets $1809.3B
Low-cost, sticky deposits are a bank's real moat, the cheap raw material it lends out at a spread. A bank funded mostly by deposits earns more durably than one that rents its money in the wholesale market.
- Credit cost (provision / NII) -8%Net reserve releaseProvision for credit losses ($1.1B) ÷ net interest income $13.6B
What the bank set aside this year against loans going bad, as a share of its lending income. This swings hard with the cycle, low in good years and spiking in recessions, so read it across the record, not in one year. Disciplined underwriting shows up as low, stable provisions through a downturn.
Solvent is not the same as cheap; growing is not the same as good. These are vital signs, not a verdict, the judgment is yours, and the filing is one click away.
What the price implies
reverse-DCFA bank / financial isn't read on an owner-earnings DCF, its economics live on the balance sheet (book value, the return earned on it, and the cash the assets throw off). We don't force this lens where it doesn't belong.
What the filing emphasizes, FY2025
read the 10-K →Each year a 10-K must name what could go wrong, in the company's own words. Here are the ones Graham and Buffett would stop on, each set against the figure from the same filings that bears on it, anchored to a period you can find in the record above. We point; the judgment is yours.
- Pricing power & competitionBusiness
Whether the company sets its price or takes it. Durable pricing power is the surest mark of a moat; price competition is the surest mark there isn't one.
“Efforts by our competitors to gain market share have resulted in pricing pressure in our investment banking, market-making, wealth management and asset management businesses.”
A judgment, not a number, weigh it against the filing yourself. - Debt terms & refinancingMD&A
The fine print behind the debt. Covenants and near-term maturities decide who is really in control when a year goes badly.
“Nonetheless, we analyze the refinancing risk of our secured funding activities, taking into account trade tenors, maturity profiles, counterparty concentrations, collateral eligibility and counterparty rollover probabilities.”
From the recordBalance sheet (latest)$191.7B meaningful net debt · interest covered 1.3× - Litigation & contingenciesMD&A
Claims an owner inherits. Most disclosure is boilerplate; this fires only on an actual matter, a named suit, a settlement, a contingency, a number.
“Net provisions for litigation and regulatory proceedings were $215 million for 2025, compared with $166 million for 2024.”
A judgment, not a number, weigh it against the filing yourself. - Cyclicality & demandBusiness
How the business behaves when the economy turns. A cyclical earns its keep across the whole cycle, not at the peak.
“For Group Inc., the capital conservation buffer requirements consist of a 2.5% buffer (under the Advanced Capital Rules), a stress capital buffer (SCB) (under the Standardized Capital Rules), and both a countercyclical buffer and the G-SIB surcharge (under both Capital Rules).”
A judgment, not a number, weigh it against the filing yourself. - Regulation & policyBusiness
Rules that can rewrite the economics, tariffs, antitrust, data, export controls.
“The Dodd-Frank Act requires U.S. financial regulators, including the FRB and SEC, to adopt rules on incentive-based payment arrangements at specified regulated entities having at least $1 billion in total assets.”
A judgment, not a number, weigh it against the filing yourself.
Peers, Capital markets
The same industry, side by side on the bank lens, compare, don't rank by a single number.● marks best in the group.
| Company | Revenue | ROE | ROTCE | Efficiency | Net int. margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MSMorgan Stanley | $34.3B | 15% | 19% | 68% | 0.7% |
| BLKBlackrock, Inc. | $24.2B | 10% | — | — | — |
| SCHWSchwab Charles Corp | $23.9B | 18% | 29% | 106% | 2.4% |
| RJFRaymond James Financial Inc | $15.9B | 17% | 20% | 81% | 2.4% |
| HOODRobinhood Markets, Inc. | $4.5B | 21% | 22% | — | 4.0% |
| GSThe Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. | — | 14% | 15% | 64% | 0.7% |