Goldman Sachs posted higher-than-expected first-quarter profit as it took more trading risk and said it planned to raise $5 billion of common shares to help pay back government funds.
The bank also said it lost $1 billion in December 2008, mainly due to trading and investment losses.
The New York-based bank has managed to sidestep most of the worst of the financial crisis, having posted just one quarterly loss since the middle of 2007, even as competitors posted four or more quarters of losses.
For the quarter ended March 27th, Goldman reported net income for common shareholders of $1.66 billion, or $3.39 a share.
Goldman's income came in part because of strong client trading activity in fixed income, currencies and commodities, where the company posted $6.56 billion of revenue.
To some analysts, the results are a clear positive.
"It's another sign that the financial sector has gone through the worst," said Keith Wirtz, president and chief investment officer at Fifth Third Asset Management.
The results do not compare directly with Goldman's fiscal quarter last year, which ended on February 29th, 2008, but in last year's quarter the bank posted net income for common shareholders of $1.47 billion, or $3.23 a share. Goldman and its rival Morgan Stanley switched this year to a fiscal quarter that matches the calendar year.
But the results were not all positive. The bank said its net loss for common shareholders was $1.03 billion in December, a month not included in its fiscal 2008 results and not included in the official results for the first quarter.
"December was a rare opportunity for both Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley," said Brad Hintz, an analyst at Sanford Bernstein.
"A single month, without any comparisons that can be made with any other months, so none of us will ever know what goes into the month of December. It's one of those rare opportunities that CFOs dream about."
Between the December losses and the subsequent profit, Goldman's tangible book value per common share was essentially unchanged from the end of November, at $88.02, the bank said.
Tangible common equity is a measure of the bank's net worth, ignoring intangible assets such as goodwill.