Goldman Sachs Group Inc., stung by losses in Uber Technologies Inc. and WeWork, has a message for investors in growth stocks: profit matters.
After years of pursuing revenue growth at all costs, driven by cheap money, markets are increasingly focusing on whether companies can translate top line expansion into profitability, Chief Executive Officer David Solomon said Tuesday in a wide-ranging interview that also touched on Europe’s negative interest rates and his plans for the bank’s investor day in January.
“It’s important for people to grow, but there’s got to be a clear and articulated path to profitability,” Solomon said in a Bloomberg TV interview with Matt Miller in Berlin. “I think there’s a little more market discipline coming into play.”
Goldman Sachs, which relies on investments with its own money as a key profit driver, last quarter suffered the worst performance in more than three years from equity wagers in public and private companies. The slump in prized holdings added to a perception that the investments are subject to unpredictable swings even as the company works to provide more disclosure.
The bank took a $267 million hit on public equity investments such as ride-hailing company Uber Technologies Inc., Avantor Inc. and Tradeweb Markets Inc. Its stake in WeWork declined by $80 million after plans for an initial public offering collapsed.
Solomon stopped short of comparing the recent troubles in the market for IPOs to the dot-com crisis, though they underscore how, after years of ultra-loose monetary policy, markets are demanding proof that companies can make money.
“The monetary policy that has been ramping around the world has basically forced people out on the risk curve, has forced people to look for other ways to drive returns, and one of the things they’ve been chasing is growth and to some degree growth at all costs,” Solomon said in the interview. “The market here is speaking and telling people here, let’s rein that in a little a bit.”
Solomon sought to put a positive spin on the failed WeWork IPO, saying it showed capital markets function properly. While there was a lot of hype around the company, investors were able to discuss the relevant financial information and “there was a pretty clear view as to whether the company could go public,” he said.
Solomon also touched on the U.S.-China trade dispute, the Trump impeachment efforts and the U.S. economy:
• On the U.S.-China trade dispute: “It feels like both are incentivized to have some sort of a phase one deal. I think the issues are complicated and there’ll be a lot more to talk about but I’m relatively optimistic.”
• On impeachment: “That process of impeachment and how that plays out, to the degree that there was an impeachment hearing and the President of the U.S. was removed from office, that would obviously be a very, very significant event. I don’t see that as something that’s likely.”
• On the U.S. economy: “There’s no question the industrial, the manufacturing part of the economy is slower, but when you look at the whole package, I think the chance of a recession in the near-term is not significant.”
• On the Fed: “The market at this point I think has the Fed slowing down, but when you look at the economic data, I’d be surprised if rates push lower from here.”