Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (The) (GS) Q2 2026 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good morning. My name is Katie, and I will be your conference facilitator today. I would like to welcome everyone to the Goldman Sachs second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. On behalf of Goldman Sachs, I will begin the call with the following disclaimer. The earnings presentation can be found on the investor relations page of the Goldman Sachs website and contains information on forward-looking statements and non-GAAP measures. This audio cast is copyrighted material of the Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., and may not be duplicated, reproduced or rebroadcast without consent. This call is being recorded today, July 14th, 2026. I will now turn the call over to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer David Solomon and Chief Financial Officer Denis Coleman. Thank you. Mr. Solomon, you may begin your conference. Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone. I know it's a busy morning with all the reports and so we appreciate you being on our call. Thank you for joining us. We delivered record results for the second quarter and year to date. In the quarter, we generated record revenues of $20.3 billion, record earnings per share of $20.98, and an ROE of 23.5% and an ROTE of 25.5%. Our performance reflects the strength of our global franchise, the depth of our relationships, and our ability to harness the power of one Goldman Sachs in a very strong operating environment. Momentum across our franchise has accelerated as clients continue to pursue greater scale to invest and compete more effectively. This desire for scale has driven a significant increase in strategic deal-making activity, with large-cap corporate M&A volumes up 90% through the first half of 2026. At the same time, the AI investment cycle is expanding capital needs beyond core technology into infrastructure, ene...