Does Goldman Sachs Stock Support Rising Prices?

With shares of Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) trading around $160, is GS an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE or STAY AWAY? Let's analyze the stock with the relevant sections of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework:

T = Trends for a Stock’s Movement

Goldman Sachs is engaged in investment banking, securities, and investment management. It provides a range of financial services to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments, and high net worth individuals. The company operates in four segments: investment banking, institutional client services, investing and lending, and investment management. Through its segments, Goldman Sachs provides invaluable investment services to consumers and companies worldwide.

As a major piece in the expanding world economy, Goldman Sachs is poised to see increased activity as developing countries continue to grow and companies continue to flourish. On Tuesday morning, Goldman Sachs reported earnings and beat the mean earnings per share analyst estimate by a significant amount. The company also beat the average revenue estimate.

T = Technicals on the Stock Chart are Strong

Goldman Sachs stock has been flying higher over the past year. The stock is now trading near key price levels, where it may need some time before its next move. Analyzing the price trend and its strength can be done using key simple moving averages. What are the key moving averages? The 50-day (pink), 100-day (blue), and 200-day (yellow) simple moving averages. As seen in the daily price chart below (source: Thinkorswim), Goldman Sachs is trading slightly above its rising key averages, which signals neutral to bullish price action in the near term.

Taking a look at the implied volatility and implied volatility skew levels of Goldman Sachs options may help determine if investors are bullish, neutral, or bearish.

	Implied Volatility (IV)	30-Day IV Percentile	90-Day IV Percentile
Goldman Sachs Options	24.13%	0%	0%

What does this mean? This means that investors or traders are buying a minimal amount of call and put options contracts as compared to the last 30 and 90 trading days.

	Put IV Skew	Call IV Skew
August Options	Flat	Average
September Options	Flat	Average

As of Tuesday, there is an average demand from call buyers or sellers and low demand by put buyers or high demand by put sellers, all neutral to bullish over the next two months. To summarize, investors are buying a minimal amount of call and put option contracts and are leaning neutral to bullish over the next two months.

E = Earnings Are Increasing Quarter-Over-Quarter

Rising stock prices are often strongly correlated with rising earnings and revenue growth rates. Also, the last four quarterly earnings announcement reactions help gauge investor sentiment on Goldman Sachs’s stock. What do the last four quarterly earnings and revenue growth (Y-O-Y) figures for Goldman Sachs look like and, more importantly, how did the markets like these numbers?

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	2013 Q2	2013 Q1	2012 Q4	2012 Q3
Earnings Growth (Y-O-Y)	107.87%	9.44%	203.29%	439.29%
Revenue Growth (Y-O-Y)	0.21%	1.42%	52.69%	132.80%
Earnings Reaction	-1.79%*	-1.61%	4.05%	-1.02%

Goldman Sachs has seen increasing earnings and revenue figures over the past four quarters. From these numbers, the markets have grown to expect a little more from Goldman Sachs’s recent earnings announcements.

* As of this writing.

P = Average Relative Performance Versus Peers and Sector

How has Goldman Sachs stock done relative to its peers – JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM), Citigroup (NYSE:C), Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) — and sector?

	Goldman Sachs	JPMorgan Chase	Citigroup	Morgan Stanley	Sector
Year-to-Date Return	25.63%	25.07%	31.07%	37.34%	24.07%

Goldman Sachs has been an average relative performer, year-to-date.

Conclusion

Goldman Sachs is a financial giant that strives to provide valuable financial products and services to consumers and businesses around the world. The company recently released a positive earnings report that may be a positive catalyst for the quarter ahead. The stock has been on a powerful surge higher. However, it is now trading at key where it may need to spend some time. Over the past four quarters, investors in the company have grown to expect a little more from the company’s earnings reports, though earnings and revenue figures have been increasing. Relative to its peers and sector, Goldman Sachs has been an average year-to-date performer. Look for Goldman Sachs to OUTPERFORM.