Sifting through countless of stocks in the Capital Markets industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in LPL Financial Holdings Inc., The Goldman Sachs Group or Inc. because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how LPL Financial Holdings Inc., The Goldman Sachs Group and Inc. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About LPL Financial Holdings Inc., The Goldman Sachs Group and Inc.

LPL Financial Holdings Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides an integrated platform of brokerage and investment advisory services to independent financial advisors and financial advisors at institutions in the United States. The company’s brokerage offerings include variable and fixed annuities, mutual funds, equities, fixed income, alternative investments, retirement and 529 education savings plans, and insurance; and client cash programs consist of Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insured bank sweep vehicles, and a client cash and money market account. It also provides fee-based platforms that provide access to mutual funds, exchange traded funds, stocks, bonds, certain options strategies, unit investment trusts, institutional money managers, and no-load multi-manager variable annuities. In addition, the company offers retirement solutions for commission and fee-based services that allow advisors to provide brokerage services, consultation, and advice to retirement plan sponsors. Further, it provides other services comprising tools and services that enable advisors to maintain and grow their practices; trust, investment management oversight, and custodial services for estates and families; an advisor-facing trading and portfolio rebalancing platform; insurance brokerage general agency services; and technology products, including proposal generation, investment analytics, and portfolio modeling. The company was formerly known as LPL Investment Holdings Inc. and changed its name to LPL Financial Holdings Inc. in June 2012. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. was founded in 1989 and is based in San Diego, California.

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., a financial institution, provides a range of financial services for corporations, financial institutions, governments, and individuals in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. It operates through three segments: Global Banking & Markets, Asset & Wealth Management, and Platform Solutions. The Global Banking & Markets segment provides financial advisory services, including strategic advisory assignments related to mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, corporate defense activities, restructurings, and spin-offs; equity and debt underwriting of public offerings and private placements; relationship lending and acquisition financing; secured lending through structured credit and asset-backed lending, such as warehouse, residential and commercial mortgage, corporate, consumer, auto, and student loans; financing through securities purchased under agreements to resell; and commodity financing through structured transactions. This segment also offers client execution activities for cash and derivative instruments; credit and interest rate products; and provision of mortgages, currencies, commodities, and equities related products. Its Asset & Wealth Management segment manages assets across various classes, including equity, fixed income, hedge funds, credit funds, private equity, real estate, currencies, commodities, and asset allocation strategies; and provides customized investment advisory solutions, wealth advisory services, personalized financial planning, and private banking services, as well as invests in corporate equity, credit, real estate, and infrastructure assets. The Platform Solutions segment offers credit cards; and transaction banking and other services, such as deposit-taking, payment solutions, and other cash management services for corporate and institutional clients. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. was founded in 1869 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

Latest Capital Markets and LPL Financial Holdings Inc., The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. Stock News

As of October 9, 2026, LPL Financial Holdings Inc. had a $26.1 billion market capitalization, compared to the Capital Markets median of $3.1 million. LPL Financial Holdings Inc.’s stock is down 7.4% in 2026, up 4.6% in the previous five trading days and up 1.77% in the past year.

Currently, LPL Financial Holdings Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 26.4. LPL Financial Holdings Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $19.2 billion with a 5.2% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 36.4%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $23.704 per share for the current fiscal year. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. currently has a 0.4% dividend yield.

As of October 9, 2026, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. had a $271.1 billion market cap, putting it in the 99th percentile of all stocks. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.’s stock is up 1.9% in 2026, down 0.8% in the previous five trading days and up 15.3% in the past year.

Currently, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 13.9. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $67.6 billion with a 31.0% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 42.5%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $67.396 per share for the current fiscal year. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. currently has a 2.2% dividend yield.

How We Compare LPL Financial Holdings Inc., The Goldman Sachs Group and Inc. Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at LPL Financial Holdings Inc., The Goldman Sachs Group and Inc.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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LPL Financial Holdings Inc., The Goldman Sachs Group and Inc. Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
LPL Financial Holdings Inc.	LPLA	D
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.	GS	C

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection.

Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives from a stock’s value score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a Value Score of 37, which is Expensive. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a Value Score of 54, which is Average.

The Value Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither LPL Financial Holdings Inc., The Goldman Sachs Group or Inc. has a high enough value grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolio. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if LPL Financial Holdings Inc., The Goldman Sachs Group or Inc. is the better investment when it comes to value.

LPL Financial Holdings Inc., The Goldman Sachs Group and Inc.’s Momentum Grades

Company	Ticker	Momentum
LPL Financial Holdings Inc.	LPLA	C
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.	GS	C

Momentum grades help to uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming. Momentum is based on the price change of a stock over a specified period relative to all other stocks.

Typically, AAII looks at the weighted relative strength over the trailing four quarters. The weighted four-quarter relative strength rank is the relative price change for each of the past four quarters. The most recent quarterly price change is given a weight of 40% and each of the three previous quarters are given a weighting of 20%.

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a Momentum Score of 52, which is Average. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a Momentum Score of 48, which is Average.

The Momentum Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither LPL Financial Holdings Inc., The Goldman Sachs Group or Inc. has a strong enough Momentum Grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolios. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if LPL Financial Holdings Inc., The Goldman Sachs Group or Inc. is the better investment when it comes to momentum.

LPL Financial Holdings Inc., The Goldman Sachs Group and Inc.’s Estimate Revisions Grades

Company	Ticker	Earnings Estimate
LPL Financial Holdings Inc.	LPLA	C
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.	GS	C

Earnings estimate revisions scores consider the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, positive surprises beget further positive surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

Estimate revisions offer an indication of what analysts are thinking about the short-term prospects of a firm. Estimate revisions are based on the statistical significance of a firm’s last two quarterly earnings surprises and the percentage change in its consensus estimate for the current fiscal year over the past month and past three months.

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 46, which is Neutral. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 60, which is Neutral.

The Earnings Estimate Revisions Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither LPL Financial Holdings Inc., The Goldman Sachs Group or Inc. has an Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade that could be considered a “winner.” Investors considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolios. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if LPL Financial Holdings Inc., The Goldman Sachs Group or Inc. is the better investment when it comes to estimate revisions.

Other LPL Financial Holdings Inc., The Goldman Sachs Group and Inc. Grades

In addition to Momentum, Estimate Revisions and Value, A+ Investor also provides grades for Growth and Quality.

Growth investing builds on the idea that stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth outperform those of slower-growth companies. AAII measures growth through consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations.

AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the ranking of key metrics. Specifically, the quality grade is the percentile rank of the composite of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and F-Score.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether LPL Financial Holdings Inc., The Goldman Sachs Group and Inc. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, LPL Financial Holdings Inc., The Goldman Sachs Group or Inc. Stock?

Overall, LPL Financial Holdings Inc. stock has a Value Score of 37, Momentum Score of 52 and Estimate Revisions Score of 46.

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. stock has a Value Score of 54, Momentum Score of 48 and Estimate Revisions Score of 60.

Comparing LPL Financial Holdings Inc., The Goldman Sachs Group and Inc.’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.