Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Goldman Sachs' Discount

Goldman Sachs has consistently increased its book value in the mid-teens annually. Nevertheless, it currently trades at a 30% discount to its tangible book value (much of which is marked to market). Despite cyclical headwinds in the company's lucrative investment banking operations (low IPO and M&A activity), the company has a P/E of just 13.

Alex Bossert makes a good case for investing in Goldman's stock at the present time in this paper.

With the kind of leverage Goldman employs, however, I lack conviction in the margin of safety for such an investment; when a great deal of leverage is employed, even small changes in asset values correspond to large changes in book value...I'm not interested in that kind of risk. However, you may be, as the upside potential looms large!

Disclosure: No position

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