Goldman Vs Evercore: Which Investment Banking Stock is a Smarter Bet?

Riya Anand

Thu, May 22, 2025, 9:44 AM 5 min read

With the investment banking (IB) landscape rapidly evolving, two names are drawing increasing investor attention — Evercore Inc. EVR and The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. GS, offering services such as mergers and acquisitions (M&As) advisory, capital markets, and wealth management. While Goldman is a financial giant with a broad range of services, Evercore specializes in independent advisory services.

Despite a favorable long-term outlook for the IB sector, near-term momentum has moderated. Year 2025 began on an optimistic note, fueled by expectations of a business-friendly Trump administration and potential deregulation. However, the proposed tariffs resulted in market volatility and heightened concerns about the potential economic slowdown and inflationary pressures. As a result, the anticipated recovery in M&A activity is projected to unfold in the latter half of the year.

Amid this backdrop, a key question emerges: Which IB stock - Goldman or Evercore -presents the more compelling upside potential?

The Case for Goldman

In global banking and markets, GS maintains its long-standing leadership position in announced and completed M&A. In 2024, Goldman’s IB revenues jumped 24% year over year, driven by a rebound in corporate debt and equity issuances, and deal-making activities. However, given the market uncertainty and a slowdown of M&A activities, its IB revenues declined 8% year over year in the first quarter of 2025.

While the near-term prospects are cloudy due to market turmoil and uncertainty over monetary policy, Goldman’s leading position in deal-making activities indicates enduring client trust. This, along with an increased backlog, will likely convert into higher IB revenues once the operating backdrop improves, giving Goldman a strategic edge over peers.

The company is also making efforts to exit its non-core consumer banking business and sharpen its focus on areas wherein it holds a competitive edge — IB and trading business. In sync with this, Goldman is exiting its consumer finance businesses, including ending its partnership with Apple on the Apple Card and Apple Savings account (may end before the contract runs out in 2030).

In 2024, the company sold its GM credit card business to Barclays and divested its home-improvement lending platform GreenSky, following the earlier sale of its Personal Financial Management unit in 2023. These moves reflect a strategic shift to focus on higher-margin, scalable core businesses like IB and trading.

The Case of Evercore

EVR, though small in size, has established itself as a significant player in the IB space. The company generates most of its revenues from the Investment Banking and Equities business (which constituted 95.9% of total revenues as of March 31, 2025). The metric witnessed a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.6% from 2017 to 2024, with a rising trend continuing in the first quarter of 2025.

Evercore is strengthening its IB business footprint by actively increasing staff. As of March 31, 2025, the company employed 197 total Investment Banking & Equities senior managing directors. Going forward, the company’s efforts to boost its client base in advisory solutions, diversify revenue sources and expand geographically will support IB revenue growth.

GS & EVR: Price Performance, Valuation & Other Comparisons

Over the past six months, shares of Goldman and Evercore have fallen 0.1% and 28.7%, respectively, against the industry’s growth of 0.8%. This can be attributed to muted near-term IB prospects.