Goldman Sachs Posts Higher Quarterly Net Income and Diluted EPS Year-Over-Year, With Wider Operating Cash Use

Bottom line

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. filed its quarterly report under 10-Q for the three-month reporting period the three months ended March 31, 2026, and on a quarter-over-prior-year basis both net income attributable to the parent and diluted earnings per common share were higher. For the prior-year comparative period the three months ended March 31, 2025, the firm reported net income attributable to parent of $4,738,000,000 USD and diluted earnings per share of $14.12 per diluted share USD/SHARES, both of which were profit figures. For the current reporting period the three months ended March 31, 2026, net income attributable to parent was $5,630,000,000 USD and diluted earnings per share were $17.55 per diluted share USD/SHARES, again both profit figures, and both were reported as higher than the prior-year comparative. The authorized transition for both metrics is therefore profit to profit, with the authorized direction being an increase from the prior-year comparative. The filing evidence does not attribute this change to any single cause.

The reporting period identity is anchored by the filing's own header data: the registrant is GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC, the form type is 10-Q, the fiscal period covered is period-ended-2026-03-31, the Central Index Key is 0000886982, the ticker is GS, and the filing's accession number is 0000886982-26-000118. The accompanying notes to the consolidated financial statements are an integral part of those statements, as stated on the cover page.

The source scope for this section is the unaudited consolidated financial statements included in the 10-Q filing itself, together with the firm-provided disclosures on the cover page and in the Description of Business, Basis of Presentation, and Earnings Per Common Share sections. The earnings-per-share figures referenced above are drawn from the consolidated statements of earnings and related disclosures in the filing, while the segment context — three reportable segments called Global Banking & Markets, Asset & Wealth Management, and Platform Solutions, together with the described transition of the Apple Card program to another issuer — is drawn from the Description of Business in note_one, and the basis-of-presentation context that these interim statements are unaudited and should be read with the most recent Annual Report on Form referenced is drawn from note_two. No external datasets, peer filings, or third-party benchmarks are part of this section's source scope, and The filing evidence contains no peer or industry comparison. applies to any cross-issuer comparison that a reader might be tempted to draw from the headline figures alone. Readers can verify the headline characterisation in Goldman Sachs Group Inc Posts Higher Net Income and Diluted Earnings Per Share in Interim Filing on Both a Quarter-Over-Prior-Year and Year-to-Date Basis before acting on it.

Financial performance

- Reported figures For the three-month reporting period, GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC posted Earnings Per Share, Diluted of $17.55 per diluted share USD/SHARES, higher than the prior-year comparative figure of $14.12 per diluted share USD/SHARES captured in the three months ended March 31, 2025. Net Income (Loss) Attributable to Parent for the three months ended March 31, 2026 came in at $5,630,000,000 USD, up from $4,738,000,000 USD in the year-ago quarter. Both periods are profitable on a consolidated basis, and the filing is the interim report identified by 10-Q for period-ended-2026-03-31, filed under accession 0000886982-26-000118 for CIK 0000886982 with ticker GS.

- Accounting context The consolidated statements are prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles and are unaudited interim figures, intended to be read alongside the most recent Annual Report referenced in the basis-of-presentation footnote. Management notes interim results may not be indicative of full-year outcomes, and certain reclassifications have been applied to prior-period amounts to conform to the current presentation. The accounting policies material to these results are summarised under Note 3 (Significant Accounting Policies) and include the measurement frameworks described in Note 4 (Fair Value Hierarchy), Note 5 (Trading Assets and Liabilities), Note 6 (Derivatives and Hedging Activities) and Note 7 (Investments), as well as lending and funding treatments in Note 8 (Loans), Note 9 (Fair Value Option), Note 10 (Collateralized Agreements and Financings) and Note 11 (Deposits). Capital and per-share mechanics flow through Note 18 (Shareholders' Equity), Note 19 (Regulation and Capital Adequacy) and Note 20 (Earnings Per Common Share). Consolidation policy under Note 1 (Basis of Presentation) distinguishes voting interest entities from variable interest entities and applies the fair value option for non-controlling investments over which the firm has significant influence.

- Comparison baselines On a quarter-over-prior-year basis, the diluted earnings per share line moved from a profit to a higher profit, and net income attributable to parent likewise moved from a profit to a higher profit. No peer or industry comparison is provided within the filing evidence. The filing evidence contains no peer or industry comparison.

- Counter-evidence and unknowns The interim disclosure at this stage does not provide segment-level breakdowns for these two profitability dimensions within the filing evidence reviewed. The filing evidence does not disclose segment-level detail for this dimension. The filing does not attribute the year-over-year movement in either diluted EPS or net income to any single cause. The filing evidence does not attribute this change to any single cause. No forward-looking guidance figures are reproduced within this section's filing evidence.

For broader context on how diluted earnings per share and net income compare across recent bank and exchange filings, readers can cross-check the parallel write-up covering Goldman Sachs Group Inc Posts Higher Net Income and Diluted Earnings Per Share in Interim Filing on Both a Quarter-Over-Prior-Year and Year-to-Date Basis.

Operating drivers and segments

The firm manages and reports its activities across three business segments: Global Banking & Markets, Asset & Wealth Management, and Platform Solutions, as described in the cited note. Global Banking & Markets spans strategic advisory, equity and debt underwriting, market-making in fixed income, equity, currency and commodity products, exchange-based clearing, prime and portfolio financing, corporate lending, structured mortgage and asset-backed lending, resale-agreement financing, transaction banking, and related investments.

Asset & Wealth Management covers institutional and individual asset management, wealth advisory, brokerage, wealth-management lending, Marcus by Goldman Sachs and private-bank deposits, and investments held directly and through consolidated investment entities, substantially all of which are engaged in real estate investment activities. , which is being transitioned to another issuer. Segment-level revenue, expense, and pre-tax earnings detail for the three-month reporting period is not separately presented in the quoted excerpts, so a margin-by-segment read on the period is unavailable here.

Management frames the firm as a leading global financial institution delivering a broad range of services to corporations, financial institutions, governments, and individuals, headquartered in New York with offices in all major financial centers, and structures its reportable activities around the three segments named above. Management highlights the segment-realignment step taken in the fourth quarter of the prior year to narrow the strategic focus of Platform Solutions around consumer-related activities, and flags the agreement reached in December of the prior year to transition the Apple Card program to another issuer.

Management also notes that the unaudited interim statements reflect all adjustments considered necessary for a fair interim presentation, that interim operating results may not be indicative of full-year results, and that certain prior-period amounts have been reclassified to conform to the current presentation. The filing evidence does not attribute this change to any single cause. Net Income (Loss) Attributable to Parent was $4,738,000,000 for the prior-year three-month comparative and $5,630,000,000 for the current three-month reporting period, with the authorized direction showing an increase and the authorized transition running from a profit to a profit; counter-evidence on segment mix is not present in the quoted excerpts, and The filing evidence contains no peer or industry comparison..

Reader-facing cross-checking on the higher reported net income and diluted earnings per share for GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC can be set against Goldman Sachs Group Inc Posts Higher Net Income and Diluted Earnings Per Share in Interim Filing on Both a Quarter-Over-Prior-Year and Year-to-Date Basis before treating the segment narrative as confirmed.

Cash flow and capital

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. reported, for the three-month period covered by the 10-Q filed under accession 0000886982-26-000118, cash provided by operating activities of -$31,868,000,000 USD, a wider use of cash than the -$37,230,000,000 USD used in the prior-year three-month period; both quarters are outflows, and the authorized year-over-year relation records an increase on this negative base. The investing line used -$56,307,000,000 USD during the quarter, modestly less cash than the -$22,747,000,000 USD used in the prior-year quarter, while the financing line provided $104,294,000,000 USD, ahead of $42,826,000,000 USD a year earlier. The filing does not separately narrate what produced the wider operating outflow or the lighter investing outflow. The filing evidence does not attribute this change to any single cause.

The consolidated balance sheet carried cash and cash equivalents of $179,530,000,000 USD at the balance sheet date of March 31, 2026, a level that management has not, in the cited notes, tied to any single funding or liquidity driver. The statement of cash flows sits within the consolidated financials the firm presents under the accounting basis described in the cited notes on significant accounting policies and basis of presentation; the unaudited interim disclosure for the three months ended March 31, 2026 does not expand on the composition of the quarter's investing or financing movements beyond the line captions reproduced here. Capital expenditures, captured as payments to acquire property, plant and equipment, ran at $565,000,000 USD for the quarter versus $499,000,000 USD in the prior-year three-month period, indicating a higher spending pace year over year on this positive base, though the firm does not link the change to any specific technology or real estate program in the cited text. The filing evidence does not attribute this change to any single cause.

Returns to shareholders through dividends totaled $1,588,000,000 USD during the quarter, higher than the $1,115,000,000 USD paid in the prior-year quarter, while payments for repurchase of common stock reached $5,000,000,000 USD, also above the $4,360,000,000 USD of the prior-year period. The authorized year-over-year relations record both as higher on their respective positive bases. The narrative notes reviewed for this section do not disclose the share-count effect of the buyback, the per-share dividend rate, or the average price paid, leaving the precise capital-return arithmetic to the cited shareholders' equity and earnings-per-common-share notes. The broader context for the firm's financing and capital adequacy framework sits in the cited regulation and capital adequacy note, which the filing presents alongside the equity and per-share disclosures. A wider view of the quarter's income statement, including the higher net income and diluted EPS frame discussed in the related Goldman Sachs Group Inc Posts Higher Net Income and Diluted Earnings Per Share in Interim Filing on Both a Quarter-Over-Prior-Year and Year-to-Date Basis insight, helps situate these distributions relative to period earnings, even though the cash-flow evidence itself does not bridge the two. The filing evidence does not attribute this change to any single cause.

Peer and historical context

- For the three-month reporting period at the three months ended March 31, 2026, the firm reported Net Income (Loss) Attributable to Parent of $5,630,000,000 USD, up from $4,738,000,000 USD in the three months ended March 31, 2025. Both periods were profitable, and the move was a profit-to-profit transition that confirmed the headline that this filing was a stronger quarter than the prior-year comparable. - For the same windows, Net Cash Provided by (Used in) Operating Activities was -$31,868,000,000 USD in the current three-month period versus -$37,230,000,000 USD a year earlier. Both periods registered cash use rather than cash generation, yet the current figure was less negative, so the gap between operating cash and reported earnings remained a recurring feature of the quarter rather than a one-off.

- The GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC period-ended-2026-03-31 under accession 0000886982-26-000118 does not list same-quarter or full-year figures for any peer, and The filing evidence contains no peer or industry comparison. applies for this section. - A direct cross-firm read alongside a marketplace venue such as the CME Group Posts Higher Revenue, Operating Income, and Diluted EPS Year-Over-Year in Interim Filing insight is therefore not possible from the filing evidence, and a like-for-like with REINSURANCE GROUP OF AMERICA INC Posts Higher Revenue and Net Income in the reporting period Filing cannot be completed either, because that disclosure sits outside the perimeter of the 10-Q filed by GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC. - Segment-level numbers for Investment Banking and Investment Management are not reproduced in the quoted note section, so the firm’s own line-of-business mix over a multi-quarter horizon is The filing evidence does not disclose segment-level detail for this dimension.. - The recurring pattern — earnings up while operating cash stayed in use, with the magnitude of cash use narrowing — is consistent with prior-year reporting by GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC, but The filing evidence does not attribute this change to any single cause. governs any attempt to attribute that pattern to working capital, compensation timing, or trading-asset movements.

Scenario analysis

GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC reported net income attributable to parent of $5,630,000,000 USD for the three-month reporting period the three months ended March 31, 2026, compared with $4,738,000,000 USD in the prior-year quarter the three months ended March 31, 2025, continuing the profit-to-profit trajectory the authorized comparison allows. The base scenario assumes that the revenue mix, cost base, and credit experience observed in this interim filing extend through the remainder of the year without a meaningful shift, leaving earnings roughly aligned with the current quarter's reported run-rate.

Upside scenario: a firmer capital-markets backdrop, narrower credit spreads, and elevated client activity in investment banking and trading desks would support incremental net revenues, while incentive fees that crystallize as fund performance becomes less reversible could add a further lift. The disclosed policy that incentive fees are recognized "when it is probable that a significant reversal of such fees will not occur" leaves room for catch-up recognition in periods when market-value fluctuations subside, and the firm's remaining performance obligations tied to investment management fees based on committed capital would translate into recognized revenue over the multi-year horizon described in the cited note. Under those conditions, the base-run-rate could expand, though the filing does not quantify the upside.

Downside scenario: weaker underwriting activity, wider credit spreads, or mark-to-market reversals in the investment portfolio would compress net revenues. Because incentive fees recognized during the period may relate to performance obligations satisfied in previous periods, a downturn in fund NAVs could trigger the return of fees previously distributed, mechanically reducing current income. Rising operating costs, larger credit-loss provisions on customer and other receivables, or a deterioration of remaining performance obligations tied to financial advisory mandates whose revenue cannot be determined until transaction outcomes would also weigh on results. The filing does not disclose segment-level outcomes for these dimensions, so the magnitude of any downside cannot be sized from the filing evidence.

Across all three scenarios, the firm retains flexibility through the discretionary nature of performance fee recognition, the long-tail revenue stream from committed-capital management fees, and the multi-year horizon over which remaining performance obligations amortize. Readers evaluating the same set of conditions in related intermediaries can compare patterns of fee-recognition timing and NAV-linked exposure in the coverage of REINSURANCE GROUP OF AMERICA INC Posts Higher Revenue and Net Income in the reporting period Filing. The filing evidence does not attribute this change to any single cause. The filing evidence contains no peer or industry comparison. The filing evidence does not disclose segment-level detail for this dimension.

Risks and what to watch

- Reported facts: Net Income (Loss) Attributable to Parent was $4,738,000,000 USD for the prior-year three-month comparative and $5,630,000,000 USD for the three-month reporting period, as filed by GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC in 10-Q for period-ended-2026-03-31 under accession 0000886982-26-000118. - Management explanations: The filing describes how transfers of financial assets are recognized, how cash and customer receivables are classified, and how contract assets and payables are treated, but it does not separately discuss drivers of the quarter-over-prior-year movement in net income.

- Analyst inference: Net Income (Loss) Attributable to Parent moved from one profit figure to a higher profit figure on a quarter-over-prior-year basis. The filing evidence does not attribute this change to any single cause. - Counter-evidence: No counter-evidence is presented in the cited excerpts; the firm does not flag specific risk concentrations or losses that would undercut the period result, and no peer comparison is available.

The filing evidence contains no peer or industry comparison. - Unknowns: The excerpts do not disclose which segment — for example the divisions addressed in the cited note on business segmentation — contributed most to the period, leaving the segment picture incomplete. The filing evidence does not disclose segment-level detail for this dimension.

- Legal and regulatory exposure: The reader-facing items reference legal proceedings and other information but the body of those items is omitted from the quoted excerpts, so the size and scope of contingent liabilities tied to litigation, guarantees, or commitments cannot be assessed from the material. - Capital adequacy context: References to the cited note on regulation and capital adequacy appear in the source narrative, yet the underlying ratios, buffers, and stress metrics are not quoted, leaving the regulatory cushion for GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC uncertain in this section.

- Credit and concentrations note likewise appears by reference without quoted figures, so exposure to specific counterparties, sectors, or geographies cannot be evaluated here. - Metrics to watch next period: - Net Income (Loss) Attributable to Parent trajectory between the three months ended March 31, 2026 and the three months ended March 31, 2025, since the filing establishes a higher year-over-year base that subsequent quarters will need to defend. - Diluted earnings per share movement, which the filing ties to the same underlying earnings stream and which investors are likely to read alongside the Goldman Sachs Group Inc Posts Higher Net Income and Diluted Earnings Per Share in Interim Filing on Both a Quarter-Over-Prior-Year and Year-to-Date Basis coverage already in this publication.

- Operating, investing, and financing cash-flow profiles, which the authorized comparisons identify as shifts from prior-year levels but without a stated driver. - Capital ratios, liquidity coverage, and any disclosed movement in regulatory metrics tied to the cited regulation and capital adequacy note. - Movement in allowance for credit losses on customer and other receivables, given that substantially all of those balances are amortized-cost net of that allowance.

- Disclosure of segment-level results in the business segments note, which is currently absent from the quoted evidence and is a likely focus of the next filing.