By Saeed Azhar and Niket Nishant
(Reuters) -Goldman Sachs' profit beat estimates in the third quarter, fueled by a rebound in bond sales, stock offerings and mergers that sent its shares up more than 3% on Tuesday.
The Wall Street giant's gains echoed those at rival JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) and Citigroup, which also cashed in on debt and equity offerings as clients' economic confidence improved.
"We see significant pent-up demand from our clients," CEO David Solomon told analysts on a conference call. The bank's deal backlog rose in the third quarter, driven by its advisory business, "and we expect our leading investment banking franchise to benefit from the continued resurgence in activity."
Robust U.S. jobs and wage growth have underscored the resilience of the economy, while an interest-rate cut by the Federal Reserve has encouraged companies to pursue transactions.
Investment banking fees jumped 20% to $1.87 billion. Leveraged finance, which refers to loans made to risky ventures like funding buyouts, and investment-grade activity drove a jump in debt underwriting.
Equity underwriting also fetched higher revenue, thanks to a slew of secondary share sales.
Goldman achieved "a powerful revenue beat across all segments, showcasing the rebound in capital markets is underway, and we believe has durability," said Stephen Biggar, banking analyst at Argus Research.
The bank also scored a key victory in the quarter, advising Cheez-It maker Kellanova on its nearly $36 billion acquisition by family-owned candy giant Mars, the biggest deal in the U.S. so far this year.
"We are seeing increased client demand for committed acquisition financing, which we expect to continue on the back of increasing M&A activity," Goldman's Chief Financial Officer Denis Coleman said on a conference call with analysts.
While private equity players were getting more active, they were still lagging expectations, Solomon said.
Goldman also benefited from easier comparisons with the year earlier, when it took sizeable writedowns on the consumer business and real estate investments.
"Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) certainly advanced with a big jump in earnings per share," said Octavio Marenzi, CEO of management consultancy Opimas. It "had a good quarter, but it could have been a brilliant one."
Revenue from fixed income, currency and commodities trading fell 12%, while equities trading jumped 18%.
PROVISIONS WEIGH
Despite the stronger results, the bank booked $397 million in provisions for credit losses, compared with $7 million a year ago. It set more money aside to cover potential losses in its credit card portfolio.
Goldman continues to take writedowns on its ill-fated consumer business two years after stepping back from it. The bank has since shifted its focus back on traditional mainstays of investment banking and trading.
In exiting a credit card venture with automaker General Motors (NYSE:GM), which signed a deal with Barclays (LON:BARC), Goldman took a one-time hit of $415 million that included a writedown related to the transfer of the business to Barclays.
Its card partnership with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is also facing an uncertain future, with JPMorgan in talks to replace Goldman as the tech behemoth's credit-card partner. Executives declined to comment on the status of the card partnership.
Total profit jumped 45% to $2.99 billion, or $8.40 per share, for the three months ended Sept. 30, higher than expectations of $6.89, according to the estimates compiled by LSEG.
Asset and wealth management - the unit that caters to institutions and high net-worth individuals - fetched 16% higher revenue than a year ago.
The bank supervised a record $3.1 trillion of assets in the third quarter. Its headcount was 46,400, compared with 44,300 as of June end and 45,900 a year earlier.