Goldman Posts $1.8 Billion Profit, Announces Equity Issuance

Goldman reported a $1.8 billion profit for the first quarter, handily beating analysts' estimates. If you pay no attention to the $1.3 billion pre-tax loss that Goldman sustained in the month of December, which it conveniently did not have to include in its first quarter results because of the change in its reporting schedule, Goldman's results were positively spectacular. The market certainly liked the report and the stock has sustained most of its recent gains, despite the dilutive $5 billion equity issuance announced in tandem with the earnings report. Desperate to escape the clutches of the government, Goldman plans to use the proceeds from the issuance to pay back the TARP, if allowed once the government-mandated stress tests are complete. As I've noted before, in an economic environment where assets are deteriorating in value on a daily basis, I am far less interested in a financial firm's earnings report than I am in its balance sheet. So somebody wake me up when our banks start releasing their 10-Q's.