Goldman Soars on Earnings Beat

The shaky credit markets also took its toll on investment banking in the quarter. Goldman said revenue from investment banking dropped 32% to $1.17 billion from fewer M&A deals in the quarter, as well as less revenue from the firm's underwriting business.

Debt underwriting dropped 43% from a year earlier to $337 million from soured leveraged finance and mortgage-related activity as a result of the difficult market conditions.

Equity underwriting dropped 35% to $172 million, reflecting a lack of initial public offerings in the quarter. The first quarter has been one of the slowest periods in years for IPOs, as a result of the volatile markets.

Investors anxiously were awaiting the beginning of brokerage earnings this week, in light of the collapse of Bear Stearns(BSC Quote - Cramer on BSC - Stock Picks) Friday and subsequent fire sale to JPMorgan Chase(JPM Quote - Cramer on JPM - Stock Picks). Lehman Brothers'(LEH Quote - Cramer on LEH - Stock Picks) quarterly earnings also dropped as a result of the tough markets. The brokerage firm reported profit sank by 57% to $489 million, or 81 cents a share, in the first quarter.

Still, Lehman's stock was rising more than 35% on Tuesday as the firm beat estimates. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected a profit of 72 cents a share.

Goldman reiterated that it does plan to take advantage of distressed opportunities, but when asked by an analyst during the call, Viniar stopped short of saying it was interested in Bear Stearns.

"That has never been on our radar screen," Viniar said.

Know What You Own: Goldman Sachs operates in the financial services industry, and some of the other stocks in its field include Citigroup (C Quote - Cramer on C - Stock Picks), Morgan Stanley (MS Quote - Cramer on MS - Stock Picks) and Merrill Lynch (MER Quote - Cramer on MER - Stock Picks). These stocks were recently trading at ($19.44, +4.40%), ($38.85, +6.79%) and ($43.46, +5.54%) respectively. For more on the value of knowing what you own, visit TheStreet.com's Investing A-to-Z section.

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