Goldman Sachs has regained some of its old swagger.
The investment bank led by CEO Lloyd Blankfein wowed the Street by ringing up relatively strong fourth-quarter results, thanks to cost-cutting and a recovery in its core business.
At the same time, it resisted pressure to overhaul its bonus culture, such as deferring cash payments for three years like its closest rival, Morgan Stanley.
Goldman reported fourth-quarter profit of $2.89 billion, or $5.60 a share, handily beating analysts’ forecast for $3.78 a share.
Revenues in Goldman’s bread-and-butter investment banking business hit $1.42 billion, up 64 percent over last year.
Investors cheered the report, sending the stock up 4 percent to $141.09 yesterday.
The strong results come on the heels of relatively un-Goldman-like results of the past few quarters.
Goldman has spent the past 18 months riding out a tougher banking climate by trimming costs and repositioning itself to lure away business from rivals — work that appears to be paying off.
Goldman reduced its global work force over the past year by 3 percent to 32,400, down from 33,300 at the end of 2011.
Many of those cuts came from Goldman’s executive and partner ranks as the bank sought to reduce high overhead costs for top-paid bankers who were no longer earning their keep.
Sources said the culling allowed Goldman to continued to aggressively recruit and retain top talent in the paycheck department.
The bank set aside about 38 percent of its $34 billion in revenues to pay employees, which works out to more than $399,000 for each staffer.
Bankers will learn exactly how much they are worth today, when Goldman reveals their bonuses.
The expectation is that most workers’ bonuses will be flat or up, bucking the trend across Wall Street of lower pay and deferred cash.