Banking, finance, and taxes

Goldman Sachs Sees Massive $5 Billion Hit From Cash Repatriation

Paul Ausick

Published: December 29, 2017 8:05 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 5:01 am

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday that the new Republican tax legislation could slice $5 billion from its fourth-quarter earnings. Considering that consensus estimates called for earnings of about $2.1 billion, that adds up to a huge loss for the bank and its investors.

The company did say that the full impact of the new tax laws may be different due to changes in Goldman’s interpretations and assumptions or other guidance and actions the bank may take as a result of the new law.

In its filing Goldman said:

[B]ased on currently available information, that the enactment of the Tax Legislation will result in a reduction of approximately $5 billion in the firm’s earnings for the fourth quarter and year ending December 31, 2017, approximately two-thirds of which is due to the repatriation tax.

At the end of the third quarter, Goldman had posted net earnings of $5.83 billion for the first nine months of the year, including $2.04 billion in the third quarter alone.

In addition to the repatriation tax, the remaining one-third of the damage to Goldman’s earnings are expected to be the result of “the effects of the implementation of the territorial tax system and the remeasurement of U.S. deferred tax assets at lower enacted corporate tax rates.”

The bank’s stock closed Thursday at $256.50, up about 0.2% for the day, and traded up about the same amount in Friday’s premarket at $257.00. The stock’s 52-week range is $209.62 to $262.14, and the 12-month consensus price target is $258.40.

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