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| "Goldman Sachs has not had half the problems other Wall Street firms have had and Blankfein deserves credit for that. Why should he be under any pressure to step down now?" |
Goldman Sachs’s first-quarter earnings beat analyst expectations. The firm reported revenues of $11.9 billion for the quarter and earnings per share of $1.56, exceeding some estimates by $2 billion and 40 cents respectively. However, results were down on the first quarter last year and the firm’s stock performance continues to disappoint. In 2011 to April 20, Goldman Sachs stock dropped 8.63%, compared with the S&P500, which was up 5.83%, and JPMorgan, which was up 4.8%.
It’s a quandary for the investment bank, which cannot shake public sentiment that it has not been punished enough for its role in the credit crisis. In early April Goldman was once again the subject of headlines as a Senate subcommittee published a 635-page report on the crisis alluding to the fact that the firm had positioned itself against clients without their knowledge. The conclusion of the two-year examination claims that Goldman recommended CDOs to its clients without "fully disclosing key information about those products".
