Latest news with #StephenBiggar
Business Recorder
5 days ago
- Business
- Business Recorder
Goldman's profit tops estimates as market turbulence powers record equities revenue
NEW YORK: Goldman Sachs' second-quarter profit exceeded Wall Street expectations, as turbulent markets raised revenue in its equities division to a record, and a pickup in dealmaking boosted investment banking. The results capture a growing trend of market turmoil boosting trading desks across Wall Street as investors rebalance their portfolios to manage tariff-related risks. Goldman's equities revenue rose 36% to $4.3 billion, higher than the $3.6 billion analysts were expecting, according to estimates compiled by LSEG. Fixed income, currencies, and commodities business hauled in $3.47 billion, 9% higher than a year ago. Financing revenue in both equities and FICC hit a record. While shifting tariff risks kept some companies on the sidelines, pent-up demand for dealmaking triggered a flurry of acquisitions. Still, trade policy uncertainty in recent weeks has revived concerns about how long the momentum would last. Goldman's peers JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup reported strong growth in investment banking fees, while Morgan Stanley and Bank of America posted declines. 'A narrowed range of outcomes on trade and the overall economy has helped CEO confidence and increased their willingness to transact. We've seen a pickup in momentum with both strategic and sponsor clients,' Goldman CEO David Solomon said. Goldman's investment banking fees stood at $2.19 billion, rising 26% from a year ago. Analysts were expecting a nearly 10% jump. The bank remained the top adviser by deal value on mergers and acquisitions globally in the second quarter, according to Dealogic data. It advised Holcim on the spinoff of its North American business Amrize, now valued at $28 billion. It also worked with Informatica, which was bought by Salesforce for about $8 billion. 'The well-above consensus rise in investment banking was (a surprise), with a lot of analysts snookered into thinking that macro uncertainty would hold back this line item more than it did,' said Stephen Biggar, director of financial services research at Argus Research. Advisory fees were significantly higher due to strength in the Americas and Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, the bank said.
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
'IPO window is open' & it's good news for Big Bank investors
With bank earnings underway, Citizens JMP Securities CEO Mark Lehmann and Argus Research director of financial services research Stephen Biggar join Opening Bid with Brian Sozzi to discuss the dealmaking environment for the second half of 2025. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Opening Bid here. But JP Diamond yesterday called out a recovery in investment banking, certainly saw a bit of that or a lot of that in Goldman Sachs out today. What's your outlook for the investment banking business for the back half of this year? Uh thanks for having me on. It's definitely improving. Uh the IPO window is open. Uh the question is not whether it's open, it's how many people want to go through the window. And I think you're starting to see that acceleration like we saw in May and June, and you'll see in the back half of the year. So I would consider this uh a good back half backdrop, and the biggest way to predict that, of course, is what happened in the first half of the year, and most of those deals that came out are working spectacularly well. So my hunch is where you have more of a demand than supply, that gets to equilibrium, that means there'll be more IPOs in the back half and going into 26. Mark, what are these private companies waiting for? I mean look at you know, markets are at records, uh the regulatory backdrop appears to be easing. What do they need to see to come public? Uh it's a great question. I think certainly. I'm sorry. Yes, I think there's a couple things. One is they want to the path to profitability, they want visibility on their earnings over the next four to six quarters. Secondly, I think they really want to make sure that the investors that they have are supportive of the deal. And again, there was a bunch of unicorns that priced offerings in 2021 on the private side that are still not at those valuations. So that kind of denial phase, I think is getting closer to behind us and the acceptance phase of what the market has is in front of us. Go ahead. Steven, I'm looking for red flags. I don't want to sit up here and hype bank stocks. No quarter is perfect out of any company. As you sifted through these, really, uh Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo was wasn't that great, but what stood out to you in terms of things that investors should be worried about? Well, you know, clearly, the back half is uh there's still some concerns about tariff related uh you know, turmoil. We get these kind of on again, off again uh uh tariffs and and of course the company managements have have talked about that. I think the um you know, there's those the certainly bank stocks have had a a big head of steam here uh coming into the quarter. And uh so valuations are, you know, a bit on the upper side, although, you know, universally we raised target prices yesterday on companies that came out because earnings are strong and they mostly guided a bit higher. Uh so it's hard to find a lot of fault uh in these, other than, you know, the valuations are are a bit stretched unless uh we do get that investment banking rebound in in the second half. And I you know, I think we're we're a bit counting on that uh as well as some uh regulatory um softness as as well, uh softening some of the capital requirements uh in the back half. I think by the end of this year we might have some of that. Uh so that that could be another catalyst for bank shares on the upside, but um at this point, you are we are factoring in uh you know, quite a bit of improvement uh across the board. Related Videos Powell isn't the only Fed hawk: Williams keen to hold rates Earnings highlights & Fed rate cut odds: What to know Trump vs. Powell, earnings, retail sales data: 3 Things Get Used to a Higher Degree of Volatility, Says BofA's DeMare Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
CNBC
14-07-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Fed's extended rate hike campaign is expanding banks' net interest margins, says Argus Research's Biggar
CNBC's "Closing Bell" team discusses what to expect from upcoming bank earnings with Stephen Biggar, director of financial services research at Argus Research.
Business Insider
18-06-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Argus Research Reaffirms Their Buy Rating on BlackRock (BLK)
Argus Research analyst Stephen Biggar maintained a Buy rating on BlackRock (BLK – Research Report) yesterday and set a price target of $1,090.00. The company's shares closed yesterday at $969.18. Confident Investing Starts Here: Easily unpack a company's performance with TipRanks' new KPI Data for smart investment decisions Receive undervalued, market resilient stocks right to your inbox with TipRanks' Smart Value Newsletter Biggar covers the Financial sector, focusing on stocks such as Truist Financial, Charles Schwab, and Apollo Global Management. According to TipRanks, Biggar has an average return of 13.7% and a 63.20% success rate on recommended stocks. BlackRock has an analyst consensus of Strong Buy, with a price target consensus of $1,056.25, implying an 8.98% upside from current levels. In a report released on June 16, Bank of America Securities also assigned a Buy rating to the stock with a $1,078.00 price target. BLK market cap is currently $152.2B and has a P/E ratio of 23.86. Based on the recent corporate insider activity of 123 insiders, corporate insider sentiment is negative on the stock. This means that over the past quarter there has been an increase of insiders selling their shares of BLK in relation to earlier this year. Last month, Laurence Fink, the Chairman & CEO of BLK sold 16,485.00 shares for a total of $15,119,577.04.
