NEW YORK — Goldman Sachs said Tuesday that second-quarter earnings rose 5 percent, to $2 billion, buoyed in part by a more favorable environment for investment banking.
The profit amounted to $4.10 a share, compared with profit of $1.9 billion, or $3.70 a share, in the period a year earlier. Wall Street analysts had been expecting profit of $3.05 a share, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters.
Analysts had been expecting a soft quarter for Goldman Sachs. While the firm may have exceeded analysts’ expectations, it did not buck any important industry trends, said Brad Hintz, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Trading fell as expected, while investment banking remained strong.
Goldman reported net revenue in investment banking of $1.78 billion, 15 percent higher than in the period a year earlier — helping to offset declines in fixed income, currency and commodities, which dropped 10 percent.
The big surprise, according to Hintz, came from the surge in the firm’s investing and lending division. The unit’s profit swelled 46 percent, to $2 billion, in the second quarter, driven largely by “company-specific events and strong corporate performance” in private equity.