Goldman left with long-term greedy as only option

[Lodestar]

Goldman Sachs executives would in past years boast of being long-term greedy: They would rather wait for riches than make a quick buck. They may no longer have a choice.

Shares of Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein’s bank trade some 4 percent below their level of five and 10 years ago. At least that’s better than the stock of most major rivals in the United States and Europe. Shares of JPMorgan and, with respect to the five-year time frame, Bank of America are exceptions.

The disappointing performance will probably make some pre-financial crisis stock options worthless for Blankfein, second-in-command Gary Cohn and co-head of Goldman Sachs International Michael Sherwood. Each received options on slightly more than 200,000 shares in 2006, when the stock price was just shy of $200. They expire in late November.

There is a bit of a silver lining. Goldman’s book value has grown every year for the past decade. It increased by almost 5 percent in 2015, even counting the $5 billion settlement completed on Monday with the U.S. Justice Department over dodgy mortgage-backed securities.

cont'd
http://blogs.reuters.com/breakingviews/2016/04/12/goldman-left-with-long-term-greedy-as-only-option/

[whatthehey]

1. 4% down in 5 years?

Well technically not quite as it's 1.03% right now, but it also offers a 1.6%+ annual dividend.

Not a stock I'm a huge fan of unless they pimp that dividend a bit, and was definitely a bit too high in mid 15, but a 13 P/E, a net profit over 15% and even a minimal dividend aren't exactly offputting.

As far as options go, that's the game C level guys should know how to play. Selling those options last May would have netted them $20 a share or so. If they waited especting more, that's their bad call.