Goldman Sachs beats Q3 estimates, declares $5.00 dividend

Revenue reached $18.68bn against a $17.52bn forecast, a year after the bank posted $15.18bn

Goldman Sachs reported third-quarter earnings per share of $17.01, beating estimates by $1.96. Revenue came in at $18.68 billion, ahead of the $17.52 billion expected. A year earlier, the bank posted EPS of $12.25 on revenue of $15.18 billion, according to an Admiral Markets earnings preview.

The bank declared a quarterly dividend of $5.00 per common share, payable December 30, 2026 to shareholders of record on December 2, 2026.

Ahead of the release, chief executive David Solomon told the Barclays Global Financial Services Conference that fixed income, currencies and commodities trading had softened in the third quarter after a strong first half, while equity trading remained strong, according to Zacks. Initial public offering proceeds in the quarter reached a five-year high on AI and technology listings, Zacks reported, a trend expected to support underwriting revenue even as deal volumes fell from a year earlier. Goldman Sachs shares closed at $895.32 on October 9, heading into the report after having beaten estimates for 12 consecutive quarters, according to Tickeron.

The beat follows a stretch of sell-side skepticism that had left Goldman Sachs shares negative for 2026, after Jefferies cut its price target on the stock to $1,124 earlier this month. The quarter's results arrive separately from unresolved questions about the bank's exposure to AI-linked credit. Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan retained only $1.3 billion of a $5 billion loan to Volta Infrastructure, which is funding a Norway data center with about 36,000 Nvidia GPUs; Anthropic has reportedly signed a six-year computing deal tied to that data center. The dividend declaration adds a concrete capital-return signal at a time when scrutiny of the bank's balance sheet commitments has been building.