Goldman Does It Again With Profit Beat

Updated from 2:02 p.m. EDT

Goldman Sachs(GS) posted sliding second-quarter profits Tuesday, but easily topped Wall Street's expectations tempered by the lingering credit crunch.

The firm earned $2.09 billion, or $4.58 per share, for the second quarter, vs. $4.93 per share for the second quarter of 2007 and $3.23 for the first quarter of 2008. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected a profit of $3.42 a share.

While Goldman's stock was flat in trading Tuesday, the firm, which had thus far escaped the credit crunch relatively unscathed, appeared to have dodged another bullet.

"Given the difficult market conditions, we are particularly pleased to be able to report strong results for the second quarter," Chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein said.

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. The SIV was run by British hedge fund Cheyne Capital.

Goldman's results, however, come as its competitors face much deeper struggles. On Monday, Lehman Brothers (LEH), as it had warned a week earlier, reported a loss of $5.14 per share.

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.