In Goldman We Trust

6/18 - "Unlike widget makers or commodity stocks, there is very little analysis I can do with an investment bank - they are opaque black boxes with moving parts we will never know about. But in Goldman we trust, one way or the other they always find a way to profit. Best of breed in a very lousy neighborhood. 10% year over year profit drop is nothing compared to peers in the financial world - heck that would be considered "high growth" to most."

"The company reported a profit of $2.05 billion, or $4.58 per share, for the three months ended May 30 compared to $2.29 billion, or $4.93 per share a year earlier. Revenue fell 7 percent to $9.42 billion from $10.18 billion a year earlier. The latest results easily surpassed Wall Street expectations for a profit of $3.42 per share on $8.74 billion of revenue"

"Rumors that the firm was preparing big writedowns to leveraged loans hit the stock last week, but the losses did not materialize. Reports did surface on Tuesday that the firm is close to bailing out a $7 billion structured investment vehicle, or SIV, which may have weighed on the stock."

"Richard Bove, analyst at Ladenburg Thalmann, said earlier today on CNBC that Goldman "may be the only firm in the world that really understands risk." Explaining his statement to TheStreet.com, Bove said Goldman spends more on its computer systems, has more historical data and dedicates more resources to the task of creating and analyzing computer models that assess risk. "They've got more IT people than they do traders," he said. (risk - what a concept; it's been long lost in the greed of the US financial system)"