Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS): Seven Things You Need to Know

6. Great leadership
The more and more I look at companies and pore over metrics, earnings reports, and analyst recommendations, the more I look at leadership. The CEO sets the tone for any company. Think about what Steve Jobs meant to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), what Warren Buffet means to Berkshire Hathaway, or what Howard Schultz means to Starbucks.

Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) CEO Lloyd Blankfein is smart, but not arrogant. How could he be? The son of a postal worker, he grew up in a tenement house in the Bronx and started out at Goldman as a commodities trader. And he’s managed to keep the company profitable even through the worst of times. Given that he came on in 2006 — not too long before the financial crisis struck — that’s saying something.

Lloyd Blankfein is Goldman’s guiding force, and investors should be grateful for it.

7. Still the leader in investment banking
According to its first-quarter earnings report, Goldman “continued its leadership in investment banking, ranking first in worldwide completed mergers and acquisitions for the year-to-date.” This seemingly little bit of news is bigger news than it first appears.

Though it had to officially change its status to a “bank-holding company” at the height of the financial crisis to get access to the Federal Reserve’s discount window, Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) is still an investment bank at heart, and it will need to continue excelling at investment banking to stay profitable into the foreseeable future. And it appears to be doing just that.

Foolish bottom line
Don’t invest in Goldman Sachs just because Warren Buffet does. Invest in Goldman Sachs for the same reason Warren Buffet does: It’s a company that figures out how to make money no matter what else is going on, and no matter what anyone else thinks.

The article 7 Things You Need to Know About Goldman Sachs originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by John Grgurich.

Fool contributor John Grgurich owns shares of Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase. Follow John’s dispatches from the bleeding heart of capitalism on Twitter @TMFGrgurich. The Motley Fool recommends Berkshire Hathaway, Goldman Sachs, and Wells Fargo. The Motley Fool owns shares of Bank of America, Berkshire Hathaway, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo.

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