Goldman Sachs said Thursday that its fourth-quarter net income was $4.95 billion, or $8.20 a share.

Revenue for the quarter was $9.62 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the firm to earn $5.20 a share, on $9.65 billion of revenue.

In the year-ago quarter, which ended in November 2008, Goldman lost $2.12 billion, or $4.97 a share.

The firm’s 35.8 percent ratio of compensation and benefits to net revenues was its lowest on record as a public company.

While net revenues in 2009 were only two percent lower than the firm’s record net revenues in 2007, total compensation and benefits was 20 percent lower, representing a reduction of $4 billion.

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– Dow Jones Newswires contributed to this report