Analysts raise earnings view on Goldman Sachs

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July 15 (Reuters) - Several brokerages, including J.P. Morgan Securities, raised their full-year earnings outlook on Goldman Sachs Group (GS.N) on Wednesday, a day after the Wall Street bank posted stellar second-quarter earnings on blowout trading results, trouncing analysts' estimates.

Goldman has the strongest and cleanest capital position in terms of Tier I and leverage ratio in the peer group, along with one of the strongest fixed income franchises globally, said JP Morgan analysts Kenneth Worthington and Kian Abouhossein.

On Tuesday, Goldman Sachs posted a 33 percent rise in quarterly earnings and said it set aside $6.65 billion for salary, bonuses and benefits in the quarter, up by nearly 50 percent from the quarter ended May last year. [nN14289399]

Veteran analyst Richard Bove of Rochdale Securities said Goldman may be in a new sustainable uptrend by the fourth quarter of this year. Analysts' latest full-year earnings forecasts for Goldman range between $14.68 and $17.51 per share, compared with prior range of $11.39 and $14.95.

Citigroup analyst Keith Horowitz said while Goldman's second quarter results were strong, they raised the question where future growth will come from.

It seems clear that core FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) results and equity trading are not sustainable, Horowitz said.

Goldman, Wall Street's leading investment bank, said the FICC side of its business generated $6.8 billion to help make the quarter ended June 26 its best ever with total revenues of $13.8 billion.