Articles by John M. Mason SA

  • Posted on 1/22/21

    Goldman Sachs Had A Good 2020

    Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) reported very good results for the fourth quarter of 2020. The bank produced a 21.2 percent return on shareholder's equity and . . .

  • Posted on 10/14/20

    Goldman Sachs: Soaring Profits, Uncertain Future

    The third-quarter results for Goldman Sachs was exceptional as the company's profits nearly doubled from its second-quarter performance, but resulted from non-recurring market events.The company is . . .

  • Posted on 10/13/20

    IBM: Moving In The Right Direction

    SummaryIBM is spinning off 25 percent of its business in order to focus primarily on cloud computing and associated AI efforts: the company will be smaller . . .

  • Posted on 1/30/20

    Goldman Sachs: Changing Culture Changes The Game

    Last week, when Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS) was announcing its quarterly earnings, David Solomon, Chief Executive Officer, reported that Goldman's consumer bank, Marcus, had experienced . . .

  • Posted on 1/21/20

    Goldman Sachs: Playing Catch Up

    SummaryGoldman Sachs is moving into the future under the leadership of David Solomon, who took over the CEO's position in October 2018 and became Chairman in . . .

  • Posted on 12/13/19

    JPMorgan Moves On Wealth Management

    SummaryJPMorgan has moved to combine and scale its wealth management operations in order to smooth out its earnings and to be more competitive in the area.JPMorgan . . .

  • Posted on 10/21/19

    Morgan Stanley: Progress Continues

    SummaryMorgan Stanley continues to perform well, functioning under the business model put into place by James Gorman nine years ago.The bank continues to earn a return . . .

  • Posted on 10/17/19

    Goldman Sachs Is Paying The Price

    SummaryGoldman Sachs did not change its business model until later on in the current economic recovery, retaining the one that had done it so well previously, . . .

  • Posted on 10/9/19

    General Electric: One Year Of Larry Culp

    Summary The stock price of General Electric is down 34 percent since Larry Culp became CEO while the S&P 500 index has risen 2 percent. One . . .

  • Posted on 10/9/19

    General Electric: One Year Of Larry Culp

    SummaryThe stock price of General Electric is down 34 percent since Larry Culp became CEO while the S&P 500 index has risen 2 percent.One year after . . .

  • Posted on 9/19/19

    AT&T Argues Back

    SummaryAT&T CEO Randall Stephenson stepped up to defend himself and AT&T against the challenges coming from dissident shareholder Elliott Management.Elliott Management seems to have some key . . .

  • Posted on 9/12/19

    AT&T Is Challenged, But Will It Change Things

    SummaryElliott Management has now purchased shares of AT&T and is challenging the direction executive leadership has taken the company.Questions have been raised concerning whether the current . . .

  • Posted on 8/23/19

    General Electric And Financial Engineering: One More Time

    Summary General Electric Co. in the 1990s made a name for itself by bringing financial engineering to the corporate world and expanding its use in ways . . .

  • Posted on 8/23/19

    General Electric And Financial Engineering: One More Time

    SummaryGeneral Electric Co. in the 1990s made a name for itself by bringing financial engineering to the corporate world and expanding its use in ways never . . .

  • Posted on 8/22/19

    General Electric, Financial Engineering, And The Sign Of The Times: Part 2

    Summary General Electric built it's reputation under Jack Welch as one of the leaders in financial engineering, producing outstanding financial results quarter after quarter after quarter. . . .

  • Posted on 8/22/19

    General Electric, Financial Engineering, And The Sign Of The Times: Part 2

    SummaryGeneral Electric built it's reputation under Jack Welch as one of the leaders in financial engineering, producing outstanding financial results quarter after quarter after quarter.Now, this . . .

  • Posted on 7/16/19

    Citigroup, Inc.: Under Control

    SummaryCitigroup, Inc. turned in a stable second quarter earnings report, maintaining its return on tangible common equity and returning a lot of cash to its shareholders.Michael . . .

  • Posted on 6/10/19

    AT&T: The Search Continues

    SummaryEarlier, I argued the AT&T seems to be searching for a business model that would make it competitive in this era of the "new" Modern Corporation, . . .

  • Posted on 5/28/19

    General Electric And Mr. Culp Move Along

    Summary GE's CEO, Larry Culp, is giving us a little more insight into how he leads an organization, and the more we see, the more we . . .

  • Posted on 5/28/19

    General Electric And Mr. Culp Move Along

    SummaryGE's CEO, Larry Culp, is giving us a little more insight into how he leads an organization, and the more we see, the more we learn . . .

  • Posted on 5/13/19

    General Electric: Changes At The Top

    Summary Larry Culp, GE CEO, has moved to change the company's board of directors. The board of directors was too ingrained, had been around too long, . . .

  • Posted on 5/13/19

    General Electric: Changes At The Top

    SummaryLarry Culp, GE CEO, has moved to change the company's board of directors.The board of directors was too ingrained, had been around too long, and tended . . .

  • Posted on 4/18/19

    Morgan Stanley: A Bank To Watch

    SummaryMorgan Stanley, earnings-wise, did not have the best of quarters, yet it continues to evolve into a financial institution that will produce good results in this . . .

  • Posted on 4/15/19

    Goldman Sachs In Transition

    Goldman Sachs is now following other large banks like Citigroup and Morgan Stanley to transition into an organization more compatible with the current financial environment.Even during . . .

  • Posted on 4/10/19

    General Electric Can't Catch A Break

    Summary Larry Culp and the new team at General Electric just got their first downgrade from a prominent analyst and its stock price performed accordingly. Mr. . . .

  • Posted on 4/10/19

    General Electric Can't Catch A Break

    SummaryLarry Culp and the new team at General Electric just got their first downgrade from a prominent analyst and its stock price performed accordingly.Mr. Culp is . . .

  • Posted on 3/18/19

    General Electric: 'It's A Game Of Inches'

    Summary The picture coming out of General Electric these days is not very encouraging and not very thorough. Larry Culp, GE CEO, is still not telling . . .

  • Posted on 3/18/19

    General Electric: 'It's A Game Of Inches'

    SummaryThe picture coming out of General Electric these days is not very encouraging and not very thorough.Larry Culp, GE CEO, is still not telling us much . . .

  • Posted on 2/27/19

    General Electric: Debt Is Good, Until It Isn't

    Summary General Electric built its empire on the back of financial engineering, which, of course, included the use of large amounts of debt. General Electric is . . .

  • Posted on 2/27/19

    General Electric: Debt Is Good, Until It Isn't

    SummaryGeneral Electric built its empire on the back of financial engineering, which, of course, included the use of large amounts of debt.General Electric is now faced . . .

  • Posted on 2/11/19

    BB&T And SunTrust Merger: It's All About Technology, Stupid!!!

    Summary Two banks, BB&T and SunTrust are getting together to form the sixth largest commercial bank in the United States, but, their leaders state, "It's all . . .

  • Posted on 2/11/19

    BB&T And SunTrust Merger: It's All About Technology, Stupid!!!

    Summary Two banks, BB&T and SunTrust are getting together to form the sixth largest commercial bank in the United States, but, their leaders state, "It's all . . .

  • Posted on 2/11/19

    BB&T And SunTrust Merger: It's All About Technology, Stupid!!!

    SummaryTwo banks, BB&T and SunTrust are getting together to form the sixth largest commercial bank in the United States, but, their leaders state, "It's all about . . .

  • Posted on 11/19/18

    Leadership And General Electric

    Summary What kind of culture is Mr. Culp attempting to create at General Electric, because the culture of an organization is the foundation of a company's . . .

  • Posted on 11/19/18

    Leadership And General Electric

    SummaryWhat kind of culture is Mr. Culp attempting to create at General Electric, because the culture of an organization is the foundation of a company's performance.For . . .

  • Posted on 10/16/18

    Bank Of America Performance: Quite Good

    SummaryBank of America Corp. posted quite good results for the third quarter of 2018, reasons cited being the tax cuts from last December and rising interest . . .

  • Posted on 10/3/18

    General Electric Changes Leadership: Further Reflections

    SummaryPerhaps the best move made at General Electric over the past year was the restructuring of the Board of Directors, reducing the size of the Board . . .

  • Posted on 10/3/18

    General Electric Changes Leadership: Further Reflections

    SummaryPerhaps the best move made at General Electric over the past year was the restructuring of the Board of Directors, reducing the size of the Board . . .

  • Posted on 6/28/18

    General Electric: The Future Is Here?

    Well, the leader of General Electric (NYSE:GE), John Flannery, has now come public and has produced his vision of the future.Following the announcement that General Electric . . .

  • Posted on 5/23/18

    General Electric Spins Off Rail Unit: At Least Partially

    General Electric (NYSE: GE) is spinning off some assets, but the resulting deals seem to point to the problems that were created by the previous leadership . . .

  • Posted on 4/23/18

    General Electric In The First Quarter: Trust Is Nowhere In Sight

    Things are not very good when your Chairman and CEO has to say on the company’s earnings call that he “aims to earn back investor trust . . .

  • Posted on 4/4/18

    Goldman Sachs Is Trying To Catch Up

    My post of Monday, April 4 considered the movement of the banking industry into the area of “Data Capitalism.”Economists characterize an economy driven by data rather . . .

  • Posted on 2/23/18

    General Electric: The Disappointment Can't Become Much Greater

    The new case study for corporate mismanagement in business schools should now be headed up by the recent experience of General Electric (GE).The latest public report . . .

  • Posted on 1/19/18

    General Electric: Financial Engineering And The Sign Of The Times

    On Monday, November 13, John Flannery, the new Chairman and CEO got his chance to present his “new vision” for the future of General Electric (GE).On . . .

  • Posted on 9/27/17

    General Electric Completes A Sale That Continues Its Restructuring

    General Electric Company (GE) is selling its GE Industrial Solutions unit to ABB Group, a Swiss engineering organization. This is the first major deal to take . . .

  • Posted on 9/18/17

    Verizon Communications: Cutting Costs But Not Spending Much On New Capital

    Verizon Communications, Inc. (NYSE:VZ) has announced plans to cut costs by $10 billion over the next four years. In 2016, Verizon had just under $100 billion . . .

  • Posted on 9/7/17

    Stanley Fischer Exits As Federal Reserve Vice-Chair

    Stanley Fischer has announced he is leaving the Federal Reserve in the middle of October 2017.Of all the things going on in the world today, this . . .

  • Posted on 7/18/17

    Citigroup Needs To Regroup

    The paper edition Wall Street Journal headline on the second quarter earnings of Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE:C) reads “Citigroup Revenue Beats Estimates.” This is about the only . . .