Berkshire News Briefs - 8/14/18

Berkshire Hathaway's Operating Earnings Soar 67% in the Second Quarter

Berkshire Hathaway shareholders should be pleased with the company's earnings report for the second quarter. The Omaha-based conglomerate reported operating earnings of $6.9 billion, a 67% increase over the year-ago period, due primarily to higher profits in insurance and a lower tax rate thanks to last year's corporate tax cut. [...] Insurance -- $2.1 billion profit
Railroad -- $1.3 billion profit
Manufacturing, service, and retailing -- $2.1 billion profit
Utilities and energy -- $581 million profit
Finance and financial products -- $429 million profit

Improved Insurance Results Lift Berkshire's Earnings

As wide-moat Berkshire Hathaway reported second-quarter results that were basically in line with our expectations, we are leaving our $330,000 ($220) per Class A (B) share fair value estimate in place. Second-quarter (first-half) revenue, which now includes both unrealized and realized gains/losses from Berkshire's investments and derivatives portfolios, increased 19.3% (decreased 2.9%) to $68.6 ($119.0) billion. Excluding the impact of investment and derivative gains/losses and other adjustments, second-quarter (first-half) operating revenue increased 8.4% (decreased 0.8%) to $62.2 ($120.7) billion. [...]

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is climbing after announcing a $111 billion cash pile that's fueling speculation over its next big investment

The Omaha, Nebraska-based company also said it's sitting on a $111.1 billion nest egg of cash and cash equivalents, giving speculators ample fodder to theorize over Buffett’s next investment. Berkshire in July loosened its policy on share buybacks, which it says will be repurchased when their value is "below Berkshire’s intrinsic value," Chairman Charlie Munger said. [...]

Buffett has not made a big acquisition since January 2016 when Berkshire paid $32.1 billion for the aircraft-parts manufacturer Precision Castparts. Prior to that, he made headlines with his purchase of truck-stop chain Pilot Flying J in the fall of 2017. [...]

BNSF's second quarter OR comes in weakest of the class 1 railroads

For the second quarter of this year, the operating ratio posted by BNSF was 66.8%. That was worse than the 65.3% of the second quarter of 2017, but was an improvement over the 67.9% posted in the first quarter of this year. Virtually every railroad posted an improved OR between the first and second quarters of this year, as the tough weather of winter 2018 faded away to the milder conditoins of spring and early summer.

The BNSF statement does not discuss management's views of the OR. But an OR of 63% posted by Union Pacific brought a decidedly negative reaction when posted a few weeks ago, particularly in comparison to those of CSX and Canadian National, which were both sub-60%. Other class 1 railroads--Kansas City Southern, Norfolk Southern and Canadian Pacific--were all around 64%, and Canadian Pacific's number was negatively impacted by labor disruptions that resulted in just a small strike but the disruption created by two shutdowns. [...]

Buffett's Berkshire Offers Loan to Owner of Former Sears Properties

Billionaire Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc is loaning up to $2 billion to the company that owns some of what used to be some of Sears Holdings Corp's best real estate.

A subsidiary of Buffett's conglomerate, Berkshire Hathaway Life Insurance Company of Nebraska, is offering what is known as a term loan facility to a New York-based real estate investment trust that owns the struggling retailer's formerly owned retail space.

The real-estate trust, Seritage Growth Properties , was formed as a spin-out of some of Sears' 235 top properties into a publicly traded company of its own in 2015. The U.S. department store operator then leased back some of the properties.

Buffett was an early backer of Seritage. He is personally one of the real estate trust's top owners, holding nearly 6 percent of its outstanding shares. [...]

Pilot Flying J lays off 50 at corporate headquarters Monday

“As part of our strategic process, internationally respected consulting firm Deloitte recently created an analysis of our business as we embark on exciting new initiatives and areas of growth,” Pilot Flying J President Ken Parent said in a released statement. “With these new strategies, we will be re-allocating resources to shift attention to new opportunities and to streamline our operations. [...] We do remain focused on continuing to build upon our standards as an industry leader, having opened 15 new stores this year, building nine more, and creating 17 truck care centers as we look to more efficiently grow our company footprint. Last year Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway bought a 38.6 percent stake in Pilot Flying J. The Haslam family retained a 50.1 percent stake, but by 2023, Omaha-based Berkshire Hathaway’s share will increase to 80 percent. [...]

Warren Buffett Is Ending His Meetings With College Students

Billionaire Warren Buffett is ending his long-standing practice of meeting with business students to answer their questions about investing and life.

The Omaha World-Herald reports Buffett's office has told the universities that have been bringing students to Omaha to meet with him for years that he will no longer host the groups. Last year, he met with students from 40 different universities.

One of Buffett's assistants, Joanne Manhart, says Berkshire Hathaway's chairman and CEO is cutting back on speaking engagements.

Manhart says Buffett's health wasn't a factor in the decision, but Buffett will turn 88 on Aug. 30. [...]

Berkshire News Briefs - 11/6/17

Berkshire Hathaway's 3rd Quarter Earnings release: PDF

Hurricanes Drag Down Berkshire's Quarterly Earnings

Bad weather weighed on results at Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc, as losses from insurance claims tied to Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria and an earthquake in Mexico contributed to a 43 percent drop in third-quarter profit.

Berkshire on Friday said net income fell to $4.07 billion, or $2,473 per Class A share, from $7.2 billion, or $4,379 per share, a year earlier.

Operating profit, which excludes investment and derivative gains and losses and which Buffett says better reflects company performance, fell 29 percent to $3.44 billion, or $2,094 per Class A share, from $4.85 billion, or $2,951 per share.

Berkshire said it incurred $1.95 billion of after-tax underwriting losses attributable to the hurricanes and earthquake. [...]

Berkshire Hathaway’s Third-Quarter Operating Profit Falls 29%

Berkshire Hathaway's (NYSE:BRK-A)(NYSE:BRK-B) third-quarter operating earnings declined to $3.44 billion, down from $4.85 billion in the year-ago period, due primarily to large insurance underwriting losses from natural disasters. Third-quarter weather events were particularly troublesome for Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance, which posted a massive $1.3 billion pre-tax underwriting loss in the third quarter.[...]

• Insurance -- $395 million net loss
• Manufacturing, service, and retailing -- $1.7 billion profit
• BNSF railroad hauls it in -- $1 billion profit
• Utilities and energy -- $963 million profit
• Finance and financial products -- $341 million profit
• Berkshire cash pile -- $109 billion

Under the Hood of Berkshire Hathaway’s Pilot/Flying J

Pilot was founded in 1958 when Jim Haslam purchased a single gas station for $6,000. It dramatically increased in size when it purchased competitor Flying J out of bankruptcy. Because the bankruptcy proceedings are public, there’s valuable information within the filings made at the time, 2009. A value of $3.3 billion was placed on Pilot and Flying J was to be acquired for $300 million – $500 million in cash plus equity in the new company, valuing it in total at $1.8 billion. Post-merger, the combined entity had revenue in excess of $30 billion and would reasonably have an enterprise value of about $5.1 billion. [...]

The segment of the North American gas station industry has three main competitors: Pilot/Flying J, Love’s, and TravelCenters of America. Pilot/Flying J is the largest with $20 billion in revenue and 750 locations, while family-owned Love’s is not far behind at 430 locations and $16 billion in revenue. Travel Centers of America is the only one of the three that’s publicly traded and has 250 locations and $6 billion in annual revenue. [...]

That still leaves the question of how much Pilot is earning and what it’s worth. Margins are slim in this business – operating income is probably no more than 2% of sales, or maybe $500 million a year in total. Using a multiple of 12x operating income (a discount of about a third to the higher margin consumer gas stations of Couche-Tard and Casey’s) gives an enterprise value of $6 billion. That is roughly consistent with the value placed on the company in the Flying J bankruptcy filings in 2009. Subtracting $2.5 billion in estimated remaining debt would value the equity at about $3.5 billion. [...]

PacifiCorp facing regulatory blowback on wind power plans

Staff advisers at Oregon's utility regulator threw cold water on PacifiCorp's plan to spend $3.5 billion, one of its biggest upgrades ever, on wind turbines and a new transmission line.

The Public Utility Commission staff say the utility had failed to justify the need for the massive capital investments, whether to meet its capacity, energy or reliability needs. [...]

"There is no need for the proposed resources at all," said the staff recommendation. "PacifiCorp's existing resources are able to meet its resource needs."

That's not a universally held opinion. Some environmentalists support the wind investments, if not the transmission. And PacifiCorp insists it needs it all. But if commissioners agree with its advisory staff, it would be a big setback for the company. [...]

Carpet maker Shaw acquires Chattanooga-based digital sample provider

Shaw Industries, the country's biggest carpet maker, is buying a Tennessee-based producer of digital carpet samples and design tools.

Shaw, a subsidiary of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, acquired Tricycle Inc. for an undisclosed sum.

Tricycle was founded in Chattanooga in 2002 and works with commercial manufacturers, interior designers and architects to visualize carpet designs and colors digitally. The company says its three-dimensional, color corrected digital images reduce waste by removing the need to produce physical samples. [...]

Warren Buffett – Mistakes of the First Twenty-Five Years

One of the best resources available to investors are the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letters. One of my personal favorites is the 1989 letter in which Warren Buffett wrote a piece called – Mistakes of the First Twenty-five Years (A Condensed Version). It’s a great insight into how even the greatest investors can make mistakes. The lesson of course is not to make the same mistake twice. But it seems even Buffett did make the same mistake over and over in buying some of his cigar-butt companies simply because they were cheap. This of course changing when he met Charlie Munger and he coined the phrase, “It’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.”

Let’s take a look at some of the mistakes that Buffett highlighted from his first 25 years of investing [...]

Berkshire Hathaway News Briefs - 8/8/17

Berkshire Hathaway: Insurance Losses Drag Down Second-Quarter Operating Earnings

Berkshire Hathaway reported that operating earnings, a figure which excludes volatile investment gains and derivative fluctuations, declined 11% to $4.1 billion in the second quarter compared to the year-ago period. Net income, which includes investment gains, fell 15% to $4.3 billion. A drop in insurance underwriting profit led the decline in operating earnings and net income.

Berkshire Posts Mixed Results as Expenses Rise

Wide-moat-rated Berkshire Hathaway released second-quarter results that were more mixed than we had expected, with the company reporting solid top-line but weaker bottom-line results. We do not expect to change our $290,000 ($193) per Class A (B) share fair value estimate.

Second-quarter (first-half) revenue increased 6.0% (15.3%) to $57.5 ($122.7) billion. Excluding the impact of investment and derivative gains (losses), second-quarter (and first-half) revenue increased 7.3% (and 16.5%). With expenses increasing at a higher rate than revenue during the second quarter, operating earnings declined 10.6% during the period, leaving first-half operating earnings down 8.0%. Net earnings, which includes the impact of investment and derivative gains (losses) were down 14.8% and 21.4% during the second quarter and first half of the year, respectively.

That said, we remain impressed with Berkshire's ability to increase its book value per Class A equivalent share--which rose 14.3% year over year to $182,816 (better than our own estimate of $182,525)--aided primarily by the strong performance of its equity investment portfolio during 2017. The company closed out the second quarter with $99.7 billion in cash on its books, up from $96.5 billion at the end of March and $86.4 billion at the end of 2016.

Berkshire Hathaway Energy Earnings Up on Solar Rebound

Berkshire Hathaway Energy reported a $38 million increase in earnings for the second quarter over a year earlier, largely because of improved performance of BHE Renewables.

The renewable unit saw net income increase $39 million due primarily to higher generation at the Solar Star projects, which were hobbled by transformer-related forced outages in 2016. It also benefited from earnings from tax equity investments reaching commercial operation and additional wind and solar capacity placed in service. [...]

Warren Buffett's Old Retail Businesses Are Oddly Doing Well as Amazon Runs Over Everyone

While bricks-and-mortar retail is largely a disaster, billionaire investor Warren Buffett seems to have struck gold again—in Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s retail businesses. [...]

Berkshire, too, reported, within its retail segment, that revenue from its home-furnishing retailers [such as Star Furniture and Jordan's Furniture], online kitchen and cooking supplies seller Pampered Chef and candy maker See's Candies, rose in the second quarter. [...]

Berkshire's retailers are set up primarily as standalone stores or are online, and are not tied to malls, which makes the business less exposed to the downturn in the industry. [...]

With e-commerce hurting malls, See’s Candies seeks way forward

[...] Nearly half of See's 240 stores are located in malls, a format suffering from dwindling traffic and the financial stress of anchor tenants like department stores. [...]

The company does not release financial results, but CEO Brad Kinstler tells me See's annual sales typically grow in the mid-single digits. IBISWorld research firm estimates that See's generated about $485.3 million in revenue last year, representing 5 percent annualized growth rate over the past 5 years.

The synergies between making and selling chocolate, combined with low cocoa prices, affords See's with robust profit margins, IBISWorld says. The firm estimates that See's controls about 31.4 percent of the specialty chocolate retail market, far ahead of Godiva (18.4 percent) and Lindt & Sprungli (10 percent). [...]

Kinstler insists that See's draws its own traffic, independent of the mall anchors. But he does acknowledge that the struggles of malls pose potential problems for his company.

"It’s a tough time to operate a business inside a mall," Kinstler said. "It will take a while before we know what indoor malls look like in the future." [...]

Berkshire Hathaway sets up specialist insurer in Dublin

Berkshire Hathaway has established a speciality insurance business in Ireland aimed at winning a share of the commercial insurance market here . The company will target larger business clients in sectors such as commercial property, general commercial liability, healthcare liability and finance. [...]

BHSI [Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance] is part of the global empire of Berkshire Hathaway, the giant US company led by Warren Buffett, which has stakes in major businesses worldwide. The move to Ireland is an expansion of its existing European speciality insurance business, run from London, which provides commercial property, casualty, executive and professional lines, including cyber and healthcare liability insurance. [...]

Paxton shoots down loophole for Buffett’s Texas dealerships

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is declining to come to the rescue of Warren Buffett’s automobile dealerships in the state.

In an opinion issued late Monday afternoon, Paxton essentially said that legal semantics are unlikely to be successful in helping Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate maneuver around a Texas law that appears to prohibit it from owning dealerships in Texas because it also owns an Indiana-based manufacturer of recreational vehicles. [...]

Buffett's Profit From This Paint Company Has Been Almost Wiped Out

Warren Buffett’s profits from a 2015 investment in Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. have been fading.

Axalta, the maker of paint for autos, plunged 7.9 percent Thursday in New York to $29.25. That compares with the $28 price that Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. agreed to pay two years ago for 20 million shares, for a total of $560 million. His Omaha, Nebraska-based company acquired the stock from affiliates of Carlyle Group LP. [...]

Berkshire was the largest investor in the coatings company as of Dec. 31, with a stake of more than 9 percent, according to a filing from Philadelphia-based Axalta. [...]

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Stock Is Increasingly Less About Buffett

Berkshire Hathaway was so big, and commanded so much capital, that many of his ideal picks might only end up as a rounding error on the book value of the stock. So he changed course. He hired two “young guns,” as he called them, and turned over two small portions of Berkshire Hathaway’s capital to manage.

Todd Combs and Ted Weschler continue to out-gun their boss, not by being particularly better, but rather by doing what Buffett used to do when Berkshire Hathaway was new and small. They bought stocks that were classic Buffett. And since their funds were relatively small — at a billion dollars or so — they could at least make an impact on their portion of Berkshire’s stock value. [...]

But now, Buffett as well as Combs and Weschler are changing course. The new course will be to de-emphasize stock selection and in turn run the company as a collection of its operating businesses. This will effectively make Berkshire Hathaway more of a traditional big conglomerate company rather than a stock-picking investment company. [...]

Berkshire News Briefs - Annual Report Edition - 3/2/17

The 2016 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Report came out last Saturday, so naturally most of the news this week is about it.

Berkshire Hathaway's Operating Earnings Slip 6%

Berkshire Hathaway reported that its fourth-quarter net income grew about 15% compared with the year-ago period, helped by gains on its investments and derivatives portfolio. However, operating earnings, the metric Warren Buffett has long explained is the most important for understanding the company's true earnings power, declined about 6% to $4.4 billion, from $4.7 billion in the fourth quarter last year. [...]

Highlights From Warren Buffett’s 2016 Annual Letter

What we can take away from this brief discussion is that the gap between Berkshire’s book value and intrinsic value has grown over time and, with additional successful acquisitions, should continue to grow in the future. To be clear, important aspects of Berkshire’s results will show up in book value in the future. Berkshire’s retained earnings are fully reflected in book value. Additionally, changes in the value of marketable securities (with few exceptions) are also reflected in book value, net of deferred taxes. However, to the extent that the economic goodwill of Berkshire’s wholly owned subsidiaries continue to increase, the gap between book value and intrinsic value will continue to grow. [...]

Mixed Year at Berkshire Doesn’t Change Our View

There was little in wide-moat-rated Berkshire Hathaway's fourth-quarter and full-year results that would alter our long-term view of the firm. We do not expect to make any changes to our $255,000 ($170) per Class A (B) share fair value estimate or to our wide-moat rating. [...]

We remain impressed with Berkshire's ability to increase its book value per Class A equivalent share, which rose 10.7% year over year to $172,108 (higher than our own estimate of $167,878). This was aided by much stronger performance from its investment portfolio during 2016. The company closed out the year with $86.4 billion in cash on its books, up from $84.8 billion at the end of September and $71.7 billion at the end of 2015. [...]

Full transcript of billionaire investor Warren Buffett's interview with CNBC

"I absolutely look at individual stocks. It has nothing to do what the Federal Reserve, it has nothing to do with the election. As it does have, it would have something to do with interest rates if they did something extraordinary. It hasn't had, because they haven't been, they haven't changed that much. But there just were a couple of things I wanted 'em to do and we had the money. And I like investing. And I would much rather have that $20 billion in these companies that I don't look at it as being in stocks, I look at it as being in businesses. It's just small pieces of businesses. [...]"

Warren Buffett's Shareholder Letter: 5 Lessons for All Investors

There are few things more valuable for serious investors to read each year than Warren Buffett's annual letter to the shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway.

His letter for 2016, released early Saturday morning, is no exception. In it, Buffett covers his usual range of subjects, from the performance of Berkshire Hathaway and its operating units, to the future prospects of the United States, to advice for corporate executives and individual investors.

The whole letter is worth reading -- it is, after all, less than 30 pages long. But for those of you who want to view the highlight reel, here are my five favorite takeaways from Buffett's latest shareholder letter. [...]

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Bought 72 Million Shares of Apple in One Month

On Monday, Buffett told CNBC his insurance and investing conglomerate had bought 72 million of Apple's shares in the first month of January alone. He also owned up to the fact that Apple is one of the legendary investor's own stock picks, and not one chosen by his lieutenants. [...]

Berkshire started buying shares of Apple in mid-2016, and had 61 million shares by the end of the year. Buffett said Berkshire's Apple stake is now more than double that, and worth about $17 billion and amounts to 133 million shares. Buffett bought his most recent stake between Jan. 1 and Jan. 31—the day Apple reported that its sales rose $2.5 billion, or 3%, in the last three months of 2016, which was higher than expected. [...]

Berkshire Hathaway's Lubrizol takes $365 million loss on oilfield business

The company disclosed in its annual report Saturday that results at its chemical unit, Wickliffe-based Lubrizol, included pretax losses of $365 million last year related to the “disposition in the fourth quarter of an underperforming business.” No other details were provided in the document.

The business? Lubrizol’s Oilfield Solutions unit, according to Julie Young, a spokeswoman for the company. The division was created in late 2014 to house businesses purchased from Weatherford International Plc and Phillips 66, as well as some legacy operations. [...]

Proudly Permabullish

Buffett’s the Permabull-in-Chief. This is not the same as saying that he always believes it’s a great time to buy every stock or that he believes he has some edge on where stock prices will be this year or next. Because neither is true.

One of the hallmarks of Berkshire’s success has been its willingness to raise or lower its formidable cash hoard in response to the presence (or lack thereof) of viable investing opportunities. One of the other hallmarks of Buffett’s approach has been to tune out forecasts and de-emphasize the importance of them in general. [...]

Charlie Munger on Getting Rich, Wisdom, Focus, Fake Knowledge and More

"In the chronicles of American financial history," writes David Clark [...] "Charlie Munger will be seen as the proverbial enigma wrapped in a paradox— he is both a mystery and a contradiction at the same time."

On one hand, Munger received an elite education and it shows: He went to Cal Tech to train as a meteorologist for the Second World War and then attended Harvard Law School and eventually opened his own law firm. That part of his success makes sense.

Yet here's a man who never took a single course in economics, business, marketing, finance, psychology or accounting, and managed to become one of the greatest, most admired, and most honorable businessmen of our age, noted by essentially all observers for the originality of his thoughts, especially about business and human behavior. [...]

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. [...]

Berkshire Hathaway 2nd Quarter Earnings

Berkshire Hathaway released its 2nd Quarter earnings this afternoon. Click for the full earnings statement.

Berkshire profit up 25 percent as insurance helps, BNSF weighs (CNBC)

Berkshire Hathaway on Friday said second-quarter profit rose 25 percent, helped by improved results from insurance underwriting and investments and the purchase of Precision Castparts, Warren Buffett's largest-ever acquisition.

But operating results fell short of analyst forecasts, as depressed oil prices and coal demand weighed on volume at the conglomerate's BNSF railroad unit.

Net income for Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire rose to $5 billion, or $3,042 per Class A share, from $4.01 billion, or $2,442, a year earlier.

Operating profit rose 18 percent to $4.61 billion, or $2,803 per Class A share, from $3.89 billion, or $2,367. [...]

Revenue rose 6 percent to $54.46 billion. Book value per share, Buffett's preferred measure of growth, rose 1.7 percent from the end of March to $160,009.

That makes the current Price/Book Value 1.36 based on today's closing price. The threshold for stock buybacks is below a P/BV of 1.2.

Berkshire Hathaway 1Q 2016 Earnings

Berkshire Hathaway reported 1st quarter earnings for 2016 on Friday, May 6.

• Earnings News Release (PDF)
• 10-Q Filing (PDF)

Berkshire Takes a Hit on Insurance and BNSF Performance in 1Q16 (Yahoo)

Berkshire Hathaway reported its first quarter earnings on May 6, 2016. The company missed the operating EPS (earning per share) analyst estimate of $2,609 and reported $2,275. The company also reported operating earnings of $3.7 billion, as compared to $4.2 billion in the prior year quarter. These earnings were mainly impacted by lower operating profits in the Insurance and BNSF divisions. [...]

Diversification Helped Berkshire Out in First Quarter (Morningstar)

Berkshire Hathaway released results for the first quarter of 2016 that were basically in line with our expectations, with weaker results from BNSF being largely offset by better results from insurance and finance and financial products, as well as the addition of Precision Castparts to overall results. [...]

First-quarter revenue increased 7.7% year over year to $52.4 billion, with the biggest contributions coming from Berkshire's insurance operations (where earned premiums rose 16.6% year over year), followed by its manufacturing, sales and retail operations (which benefited from the closure of the Precision Castparts acquisition) and finance and financial products (which posted 11.1% revenue growth year over year). Excluding the benefits from the Precision Castparts acquisition, first-quarter revenue increased 2.8%. [...]

Book value per Class A equivalent share was $157,369 at the end of the first quarter--up 7.1% year over year and 1.2% when compared with the fourth quarter of 2015. [...]

At Berkshire Hathaway, Cash Tumbles as Float Inches Up (WSJ CFO Journal)

More interesting: what kind of money chief executive Warren Buffett has on hand for acquisitions. The company’s position in cash and cash equivalents totaled $58.3 billion at the end of March down 18.7% from $71.7 billion at the end of the year.

That fall off is no surprise. Berkshire Hathaway completed its acquisition of Precision Castparts Corp., its largest ever, on January 29, and its purchase of the Duracell Co. from the Procter & Gamble Co. a month later.

The decline in cash may mean Mr. Buffett will be content with smaller “bolt on” acquisitions at its wholly-owned companies for a while. [...]

Berkshire News Briefs - 2015 Yearly and Q4 Earnings plus Buffett's Letter

Berkshire Hathaway's 4th Quarter and Full Year earnings are out, along with its annual report and Warren Buffett's Annual Letter to Shareholders.

4th Quarter News Release

2015 Annual Report

Buffett's Letter

No time to read all that today? Here are some shorter analysis stories to get you up to speed: Berkshire Profit Climbs 32%, Capping Record Year for Buffett (Bloomberg)

Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the conglomerate controlled by billionaire Warren Buffett, said fourth-quarter profit climbed 32 percent on investments and earnings from the company’s expanding stable of operating businesses.

Net income rose to $5.48 billion, or $3,333 a share, from $4.16 billion, or $2,529, a year earlier, the company said Saturday in a statement. Operating earnings, which exclude some investment results, were $2,843 a share, beating the average $2,814 estimate of three analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. [...]

Buffett Says Politicians ‘Dead Wrong’ With Negative U.S. Outlook (Bloomberg)

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett, long an optimist about the nation where he made his fortune, rejected the economic pessimism dominating the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign and forcefully made the case for a bright future.

“As a result of this negative drumbeat, many Americans now believe that their children will not live as well as they themselves do,” Buffett wrote in a letter to shareholders of his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. posted online on Saturday. “That view is dead wrong: The babies being born in America today are the luckiest crop in history.” [...]

Want to ask Warren Buffett your own question? You can tweet questions for his Monday appearance on CNBC:

Legendary Investor Warren Buffett to Join CNBC’s Becky Quick for a Special Edition of “Squawk Box” on Monday, February 29 6AM-9AM ET

On Monday, February 29th, billionaire investor Warren Buffett joins CNBC's Becky Quick for his ninth annual "Ask Warren" appearance in a special edition of CNBC's signature morning program "Squawk Box" (M-F, 6AM-9AM ET). Throughout "Squawk Box," the Berkshire Hathaway Chairman will answer questions submitted by viewers via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and The List App about Berkshire's 2015 annual report, including Buffett's letter to shareholders, among other topics.

To submit questions, use the hashtag #AskWarren on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or The List App. Viewers can also submit video questions by tweeting their clips to @CNBC or sharing videos on Instagram and using the #AskWarren hashtag.

Berkshire Hathaway 3rd Quarter 2015 Earnings

Berkshire Hathaway's Quarterly Report for the 3rd Quarter of 2015: 10-Q PDF

Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway reports record profit (Financial Times)

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway recorded its best ever quarterly profit in the third quarter, as earnings were boosted by a one-off $4.4bn gain from the merger of Kraft and Heinz.

Net income climbed to a record $9.43bn from $4.62bn a year earlier, the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate said on Friday. Operating earnings, which exclude some investment results, came to $4.55bn for the period, narrowly beating the $4.47bn average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. [...]

Kraft Heinz gain leads ‘mediocre’ Berkshire Hathaway earnings (Omaha World Herald)

“I was looking for sort of a mediocre quarter, and that’s kind of what we got,” said Cathy Seifert, an analyst with S&P Capital IQ. She had predicted operating earnings per share slightly lower than Friday’s report.

Seifert said Berkshire’s results from reinsurance — taking on risk from other insurance companies in return for payments — seem to have declined too sharply.

“I think an argument can be made that some of this may be them intentionally stepping away from the insurance business, but the top-line is a little disturbing,” she said. Revenue from Berkshire’s reinsurance division dropped 48 percent to $2.4 billion compared with a year ago.

She said the company’s energy, industrial and railroad operations were “a little better than I had thought,” with flat revenues even though other companies in the same businesses have been reporting declining revenue.

Consumer-oriented businesses were “OK,” she said.

Berkshire Hathaway Inks a Record Third Quarter (Fool)

Berkshire's quarterly results are notoriously volatile, the result of a 12-figure portfolio of publicly traded securities and stakes in insurance companies, which produce volatile earnings by their nature.

Its insurance companies produced underwriting profit of $414 million, compared to an underwriting loss of $38 million last quarter, and profit of $629 million a year ago. [...] The insurance companies earned $840 million from investments this quarter, up from $811 million in the same quarter last year. The insurance float grew to $86.2 billion, up from $83 billion during the year-ago period. [...]

The railroad produced net income of $1.16 billion, an improvement over last year's earnings of $1.04 billion. BNSF reported that lower oil and coal prices have negatively affected its volumes, which grew only 1% year to date, but were offset by lower fuel prices and an increase in agricultural car loads. [...]

Berkshire's utility businesses steamed ahead. The company reported quarterly net earnings of $786 million from energy, up from $697 million in the year ago period. [...]

An assortment of smaller businesses, from its real estate brokerage to Clayton Homes, made up 43% of Berkshire's operating income. There was a slight year-over-year decline in the other operating companies' profitability, with combined earnings falling to $1.48 billion this quarter from $1.5 billion last year.

Berkshire News Briefs - 8/12/15

Warren Buffett Cuts Berkshire Hathaway's Biggest Ever Deal In $37B Precision Castparts Buy (Forbes)

On Monday morning, Berkshire confirmed it would buy aerospace components giant Precision Castparts (PCP) for $235 a share in cash, valuing it at $37.2 billion, when including the Portland, Oregon based company’s near $5 billion in debt. The deal comes at a 20% premium to Precision Castparts closing share price on Friday, however, it amounts to a slight discount from the company’s stock price at the beginning of 2015.

For Berkshire Hathaway, the deal is a major bet on U.S. aerospace and manufacturing, bringing a top parts supplier to defense and aviation companies around the world into the coffers of Buffett’s conglomerate. With over $10 billion in annual sales, Precision Castparts would instantly become one of Berkshire’s largest operating subsidiaries. The company reported a $1.5 billion profit in 2014, slightly less than the profits Berkshire’s energy unit generated last year. [...]

Berkshire Gets Dealmaker CEO in Precision Castparts Purchase (Bloomberg)

Mark Donegan, chairman and chief executive officer of Precision Castparts Corp., made more than a few deals of his own before becoming a target of billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

Precision Castparts, a maker of equipment for the aerospace and energy industries, has completed at least 30 acquisitions since Donegan took over as CEO in 2002. [...]

Donegan could be an investment in the future for Buffett: The CEO -- typically loath to talk to the press -- was 58 when Precision Castparts filed its proxy in July. Berkshire likes to buy high-quality management teams that can help direct its vast cash pile, said Joel Levington, a senior credit analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence. [...]

Berkshire Profit Falls, Missing Estimates on Insurance Slump (Bloomberg)

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. posted second-quarter profit that missed analysts’ estimates because of higher claims costs at insurance units including Geico.

Net income dropped 37 percent to $4.01 billion, or $2,442 a share, from $6.4 billion, or $3,889, a year earlier, the Omaha, Nebraska-based company said Friday in a statement. Operating earnings, which exclude some investment results, were $2,367 a share, compared with the average $3,038 estimate of three analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Why Earnings Fell at Berkshire Hathaway, but Book Value Rises in 2015 (24/7 Wall Street)

Berkshire Hathaway pointed out that, since the beginning of the year, Berkshire’s shareholder equity has increased $5.9 billion and its book value per Class A equivalent share was up by 2.4% to $149,735 per share. The company’s insurance float at June 30, 2015 was $85.1 billion. For a comparison to the first quarter book value, Berkshire Hathaway’s book value per Class A equivalent share had increased by 0.5% since the end of 2014 to $146,963 as of March 31, 2015. [...]

Operating earnings came to $3.89 billion in the second quarter, down from $4.33 billion a year ago. Gains from investments fell to $236 million, from $1.96 billion a year ago. [...]

If you add up the investment income and the operating income from the conglomerate structure, Berkshire Hathaway made $4.01 billion in net earnings, down from $6.395 billion a year earlier. [...]

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway loses millions on Australian storms (Australian Financial Review)

US billionaire Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway company pointed to reinsurance losses in Australia as it explained a 37 per cent drop in second-quarter profit.

The company's American reinsurance business lost $US115 million ($155 million) directly because of storm damage on the Australian east coast in April, the company disclosed in a regulatory filing in the US. [...]

Symetra’s Deal Enriches Berkshire Hathaway (WSJ MoneyBeat)

Two insurers most people have never heard of just agreed to a deal, and Warren Buffett’s company is another $144 million richer.

U.S. life insurance company Symetra Financial Corp. said Tuesday it agreed to sell itself to Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. for about $3.8 billion in the latest large acquisition in the U.S. by a Japanese life insurer.

Among Symetra’s biggest shareholders: Mr. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. [...]

But Berkshire’s Symetra’s ownership, while hardly a secret, isn’t as widely known as most of its other equity positions. The stock doesn’t show up in in Berkshire’s most widely watched quarterly disclosures. Instead, it’s listed in the holdings for a Berkshire reinsurance unit, General Reinsurance Corp.

U.S. Identifies Insider Trading Ring With Ukraine Hackers (Bloomberg)

Exposing a new front in cybercrime, U.S. authorities broke up an alleged insider trading ring that relied on computer hackers to pilfer corporate press announcements and then profited by trading on the sensitive information before it became public. [...]

The suspected hackers, who are thought to be in Ukraine, allegedly infiltrated the computer servers of PRNewswire Association LLC, Marketwired and Business Wire, a unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., over a five-year period.

They siphoned more than 150,000 press releases including corporate data on earnings that could be used to anticipate stock market moves and make profitable trades, the U.S. said. [...]

Can the Insurance Industry Survive Driverless Cars? (Bloomberg)

Auto insurance has long been a lucrative business. The industry collected about $195 billion in premiums last year from U.S. drivers. New customers are the source of so much profit that Geico alone spends more than $1 billion a year on ads to pitch its policies with a talking lizard and other characters. Yet even Warren Buffett, whose company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns Geico, is talking about the long-term risks to the business model. "If you could come up with anything involved in driving that cut accidents by 30 percent, 40 percent, 50 percent, that would be wonderful," he said at a conference in March. "But we would not be holding a party at our insurance company."

International Dairy Queen Opens First Location in Kuwait (Business Wire)

The Dairy Queen® system, part of Berkshire Hathaway, has opened a new DQ Grill & Chill® restaurant at the Marina Mall in Salmiya, Kuwait. The opening of this location makes Kuwait the 27th country outside the U.S. and Canada with a DQ® presence. [...]

Durra Khaled for Foodstuffs Co., a subsidiary of KMGC, has signed a long-term franchise agreement with the Dairy Queen system and plans to develop more than 20 DQ Grill & Chill restaurants and DQ Treat stores throughout Kuwait over the next five years.

Berkshire Hathaway 1Q15 Earnings

10-Q Quarterly Report

Company Press Release (a brief summary)

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Reports a Solid 20% Increase in Operating Income in the First Quarter (Fool)

Ahead of its annual shareholders meeting over the weekend, Berkshire Hathaway reported first-quarter results for 2015. Operating earnings, which exclude the impact of gains or losses in its equity and derivatives contracts, jumped by 20%, to $4.24 billion, up from $3.53 billion in the first quarter of 2014. Net income also jumped 9.7%, to $5.16 billion, or $3,143 per Class A share.

Investment results were less than spectacular, largely the result of losses from its outsize public stock portfolio. The company reported losing $1.02 billion from its equity portfolio. [...]

Berkshire Profit Climbs 9.8% on Burger King, Railroad Gain (Bloomberg)

Berkshire’s biggest unit, the BNSF railroad, contributed $1.05 billion to quarterly earnings, compared with $724 million a year earlier. The railroad said last week that it won back market share for grain and agriculture commodities that it lost to Union Pacific Corp. in 2014. [...]

The manufacturing, service and retail segment, which includes toolmaker Iscar and chemical company Lubrizol, added $1.12 billion to earnings, compared with $933 million a year earlier. Profit climbed 59 percent to $230 million at the segment selling building products as the Shaw carpet business and Johns Manville insulation provider benefited from higher sales and lower costs for energy and raw materials.

Profit at the utility unit, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, fell to $421 million from $452 million a year earlier as milder weather limited demand. The business operates natural-gas pipelines that stretch from the Great Lakes to Texas and power companies in states including Iowa and Nevada. [...]

Berkshire Starts 2015 on a More Solid Note (Morningstar)

Book value per Class A equivalent share at the end of the first quarter was $146,963--up 6% year over year and basically flat when compared with the fourth quarter of 2014. This was lower than our forecast, which had book value per share increasing to $149,841 at the end of the first quarter. The company closed out the first quarter of 2015 with $63.7 billion in cash on its books, up marginally from $63.3 billion at the end of last year, even though the firm spent $4.1 billion to close out the Van Tuyl deal in early March. Berkshire did not buy back any shares during the first quarter of 2015.

Looking more closely at Berkshire's insurance operations, only two of the firm's four insurance lines--Geico and Berkshire Hathaway Primary Group--posted earned premium growth during the quarter, with General Re and Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group reporting another quarterly decline. [...]

Berkshire News Briefs - 11/13/14

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Earnings: Don't Trust the Headlines (Fool)

Consider the coverage from Businessweek, headlined "Berkshire Profit Slips on Buffett's Tesco 'Mistake'," or the report by Fortune, titled "Berkshire Hathaway Earnings Take a Dip on Investments." Although those are factual realities about Berkshire's third quarter, the problem is, they don't tell the whole story. As it turns out, investors have no absolutely no cause for concern.

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire to Buy Duracell From Procter & Gamble (NY Times Dealbook)

Instead of simply being spun out from Procter & Gamble, Duracell will find a new corporate home – with Warren E. Buffett. The conglomerate run by the billionaire, Berkshire Hathaway, said on Thursday that it would acquire Duracell from P.&G. through an unusual transaction aimed at lowering the overall tax bill.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway buys Duracell batteries (CNN)

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has agreed to buy the Duracell battery brand from Procter & Gamble in a multi-billion dollar deal. Berkshire Hathaway announced Thursday morning it will make the purchase using about $4.7 billion in P&G stock. The consumer products giant also committed to pump $1.8 billion in cash into Duracell. The amount means Buffett is virtually cashing out his entire P&G holding to buy the battery brand. That holding had made him the fifth-largest shareholder in Procter & Gamble. [...] P&G bought Duracell back in 2005 as part of its $57 billion acquisition of Gillette. Who did they buy it from? Berkshire Hathaway, which at the time was the largest shareholder in Duracell's then-owner.

Buffett Set to Save More Than $1 Billion on Taxes in Swap (Bloomberg)

For the third time in a year, the billionaire chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has structured a deal in which he buys businesses in exchange for stock that has appreciated. The transactions, called cash-rich split-offs, allow him to avoid capital gains taxes that would be incurred if he sold the shares in the open market. Berkshire announced today that it would turn over about $4.7 billion in Procter & Gamble Co. stock in exchange for P&G’s Duracell battery business, which will be infused with about $1.7 billion in cash. Since Buffett’s cost basis on the shares was about $336 million, and corporate capital gains are typically taxed at 35 percent, structuring the deal in this way could save Berkshire more than $1 billion.

Buffett Said He Paid a Lot. $15 Billion Later, BNSF Is a Cash Machine. 'He Stole It' (Bloomberg)

Days after Warren Buffett announced his $26.5 billion buyout of railroad BNSF, he insisted that he’d paid a steep price to own a business that would benefit his company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., over the next century. [...] Five years later, that assessment rings a bit hollow. Buoyed by an onshore oil boom, BNSF has become a cash machine for Buffett. The railroad had sent more than $15 billion in dividends to Berkshire through Sept. 30, according to quarterly regulatory filings, the latest of which was released last week. More stunning: The business is on pace to return all the cash Buffett spent taking it private by the end of this year.

BNSF profit is up, but volume held back by congestion (Omaha World Herald)

BNSF Railway, employer of 5,000 people in Nebraska, said third-quarter profit rose 5 percent, with freight volume falling 1 percent as congestion continues to strain the company’s rail network. [...] net income was $1 billion, up from $989 million, a year earlier. Revenue rose 4 percent to $5.8 billion. Freight volumes fell in three of the railroad’s four categories, as crew, locomotive and railcar shortages coupled with record grain harvests and crude oil production from North Dakota have led to shipping delays. The harsh winter and spring floods also hurt the nation’s railroads in getting trains to customers on time. To speed improvements, BNSF said in its quarterly update that it has budgeted $500 million more for capital improvements, on top of the $5 billion already allocated.

Burger King tests India waters, starts with 12 outlets (CNBC)

U.S. fast food chain Burger King Worldwide will open about 12 outlets in India over the next 60-90 days, Rajeev Varman, chief executive of the hamburger chain's India unit said on Saturday. [...] In India, the hamburger chain has changed its menu to sell mutton, chicken and veggie sandwiches. [...] Burger King is a late entrant in the country. Rival McDonald's Corp has been around for close to two decades and has already grown its network in tier two and three cities.

Berkshire Hathaway 3Q-2014 Earnings

Berkshire Hathaway released their 3rd Quarter earnings report this afternoon.

Summary & Commentary:

Berkshire third-quarter profit drops on investments, operating results gain (Chicago Tribune)

Berkshire Hathaway Inc said on Friday third-quarter profit fell 9 percent as it took a large writeoff on one of its investments, but operating results easily topped forecasts on improvement in its insurance, energy and railroad operations.

Net income slipped to $4.62 billion, or $2,811 per Class A share in the third quarter, from $5.05 billion, or $3,074 per Class A share, a year earlier.

Operating profit, however, rose 29 percent to $4.72 billion, or $2,876 per Class A share, from $3.66 billion, or $2,228 per Class A share. [...]

During the quarter, Berkshire wrote off $678 million on its investment in Tesco Plc , a British grocery chain being probed by regulators at home over accounting errors. Buffett has been reducing Berkshire's Tesco stake. [...]

Profit from the BNSF railroad rose about 5 percent to $1.035 billion. In utilities and energy, profit jumped to $697 million from $472 million. [...]

Book value per Class A share, Buffett's preferred measure of growth, rose 7.1 percent from the start of the year to $144,542.

Berkshire's cash stake soared during the quarter to $62.38 billion from $55.46 billion three months earlier.

First Quarter Results and a Name Change

First Quarter Earnings from Berkshire Hathaway:
Berkshire Hathaway Press Release

Berkshire Profit Slips 3.8% on Insurance, Derivatives (Bloomberg)

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. reported a 3.8 percent decline in first-quarter profit, as underwriting results declined at insurance businesses and on reduced earnings from Chairman Warren Buffett’s derivatives wagers. Net income slipped to $4.71 billion, or $2,862 a share, from $4.89 billion, or $2,977, a year earlier, the Omaha, Nebraska-based company said yesterday. The decrease in profit was the first since 2012.

MidAmerican Energy Holdings now Berkshire Hathaway Energy (Des Moines Register)

MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., the parent of MidAmerican Energy, has changed its name to Berkshire Hathaway Energy, effective immediately, the Des Moines-based company said today. [...] The name change will not affect the names or operations of the locally managed businesses that Berkshire Hathaway Energy owns, such as the Des Moines-based utility, MidAmerican Energy Co. [...] "Our new name reflects the benefits we gain from Berkshire Hathaway's ownership, particularly our ability to reinvest in our businesses and take a long-term view of our customers' needs, which have helped us become a leader in the global energy industry," said Greg Abel, Berkshire Hathaway Energy's CEO.

Berkshire Hathaway 3rd Quarter 2013 Earnings

Berkshire Hathaway reported their 3rd quarter earnings for 2013 on Friday afternoon. The 3rd Quarter ended on September 30.

Berkshire Hathaway does not do quarterly conference calls.

Berkshire Profit Rises 29% on Gains at Railroad, Investments (Bloomberg Businessweek)

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said third-quarter profit climbed 29 percent on investments and gains at non-insurance businesses including railroad Burlington Northern Santa Fe.

Net income rose to $5.05 billion, or $3,074 a share, from $3.92 billion, or $2,373, a year earlier, the Omaha, Nebraska-based company said yesterday in a statement. Operating earnings, which exclude some investment results, were $2,228 a share, missing the $2,403 average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Berkshire has benefited from an expanding U.S. economy and stands to make further gains as consumer demand picks up and the housing market recovers. The company’s subsidiaries haul freight, insure cars, generate electricity, make building supplies and sell products from running shoes to diamond rings.

Berkshire Hathaway 2Q 2013 Report

Berkshire Hathaway Reports 2nd Quarter 2013 Earnings

2nd Quarter 2013 10-Q

Earnings Announcement

Since the beginning of the year, Berkshire’s shareholders’ equity has increased $14.4 billion and our book value per Class A equivalent share has increased by 7.6% to $122,900 as of June 30, 2013. The increase in shareholders’ equity is net of a reduction in Berkshire’s shareholders’ equity of approximately $1.2 billion (about $730 per Class A equivalent share). The reduction, which does not reflect economic results, relates to purchases of the shares in Iscar not previously owned and purchases of additional shares in Marmon during the second quarter.

Berkshire Hathaway net income up 46 percent in 2nd quarter (Omaha World-Herald)

"Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s net income grew 46 percent in the second quarter this year to $4.54 billion, or $2,763 per share, the biggest boost coming from a turnaround in its derivative investments.

Operating earnings, which measure profits by Omaha-based Berkshire’s 80-plus businesses, totaled $3.92 billion, or $2,384 per share, a 5.3 percent increase from last year.

Investments gained $332 million, compared with $81 million in the second quarter of 2012. Derivatives, which are insurance-like contracts whose value varies widely in accounting for corporate finance, gained $300 million during the quarter, compared with a $693 million decline a year ago.

Total revenue for the three-month period that ended June 30 was $44.7 billion, up 15.9 percent from a year earlier. Railroad and utility revenue totaled $8.4 billion, and insurance and other businesses contributed $34.8 billion. [...]

Berkshire said shareholder equity gained $14.4 billion from the start of 2013, with a per-share book value gain of 7.6 percent to $122,900."

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway 2Q profit up 46 pct (Chicago Tribune)

"Meanwhile, pretax underwriting gains more than doubled at the Geico car insurance unit to $336 million, as premiums earned grew by 11 percent while underwriting expenses fell.

This helped offset a drop in underwriting gains in reinsurance operations, including General Re, which resulted in part from catastrophe losses tied to European floods. [...]

Berkshire's cash stake shrank during the quarter to $35.7 billion from $49.1 billion.

This largely reflected Berkshire's decision to spend about $12.3 billion in June toward the purchase with Brazilian firm 3G Capital of ketchup maker H.J. Heinz Co."