Over the weekend, Berkshire Hathaway, led by Warren Buffett, recorded its highest-ever quarterly operating profit, reporting an overall profit of nearly $36 billion. The gains were boosted by stock holdings, rising interest rates, and increased dividend payouts.
Of note was the performance of Geico car insurer which significantly improved and contributed a 38% increase in profit for Berkshire’s insurance businesses compared to Q2 2022.
The gains in the insurance business helped to counterbalance declines in other businesses, such as the BNSF railroad, which saw a 24% drop in overall profit due to lower consumer goods shipments and increased price competition from the trucking industry.
In the quarter, Berkshire's
- Operating profit rose by 7% to $10.04 billion, up from $9.42 billion a year ago,
- Net income came in at $35.91 billion compared to a $43.62 billion loss in Q2 2022.
The company repurchased $1.4 billion in stock. Despite remaining a major net seller of stocks, it shed about $8 billion more stocks than it bought, which led to an increase in its cash stake to $147.4 billion as of June 30, up from $130.6 billion three months prior. That is near record high levels.
The results also included a full quarter of the truck stop operator Pilot, in which Berkshire owns an 80% stake, and which contributed $114 million to operating profit.
Buffett trimmed his Chevron estate by $1.4 billion to 19.4 billion at the end of June
Berkshire's class A shares closed on Friday at $533,600, 2% below their record high reached in March 2022, and have increased 13.84% this year. In comparison, the S&P 500 index has risen by 16.63%.
