Berkshire Hathaway 3rd Quarter Earnings

Berkshire Hathaway reported 3rd Quarter Earnings after the market closed on Friday, Nov. 4. [Press Release]

The headlines seemed to be either glass half full or glass half empty, depending on whether you believe Buffett's assertion that operating income is the best yardstick to measure the company's growth by.

Berkshire Hathaway profits falls 24 percent; company keeps Wells Fargo stake (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. on Friday said third-quarter profit dropped 24 percent from a year earlier, when it recorded a large one-time gain, but acquisitions helped boost operating profit at the conglomerate run by billionaire Warren Buffett.

The company also reported a $22.1 billion stake in Wells Fargo & Co. as of Sept. 30, suggesting it kept its 10 percent ownership position even as the bank became embroiled in a scandal over its creation of unauthorized customer accounts. [...]

Quarterly net income for Omaha, Neb.-based Berkshire fell to $7.2 billion, or $4,379 per Class A share, from $9.43 billion, or $5,737 per share, a year earlier.

Operating profit, which excludes investment and derivative gains and losses, rose 7 percent to $4.85 billion, or $2,951 per share, from $4.55 billion, or $2,769 per share. [...]

Berkshire Operating Profit Climbs 6.6% on Manufacturing Gain (Bloomberg)

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said third-quarter operating profit rose 6.6 percent on contributions from newly acquired manufacturing businesses.

Operating earnings, which exclude some investment results, climbed to $4.85 billion, or $2,951 a share, from $4.55 billion, or $2,769, a year earlier [...]

Several of Berkshire’s large businesses struggled in the third quarter, however. The insurance group reported that underwriting profit slipped 34 percent to $272 million as results worsened at the company’s namesake reinsurance business and auto insurer Geico. Income from Berkshire’s railroad, BNSF, fell about 12 percent to $1.02 billion on reduced demand for coal and petroleum products. [...]

Book value, a measure of assets minus liabilities, rose to $163,783 per share at the end of September from $160,009 three months earlier. The cash pile rose to a record $84.8 billion

Berkshire Hathaway reports 3rd quarter operating earnings of $4.85 billion, up 6.6 percent (Omaha World-Herald)

[...] Although net income is the standard measure of corporate performance, Buffett has said Berkshire’s operating earnings are a better gauge because net income is affected by swings in the paper value of its insurance-like derivatives and by investment gains and losses taken during the reporting period.

Operating earnings reflect the earnings by the companies that Berkshire owns, such as BNSF Railway, Berkshire Hathaway Energy and its insurance operations. Net income is the overall profit by the company, including investments and derivatives. [...]