Berkshire Hathaway Beats Estimates for Second-Quarter Profits

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Berkshire Hathaway
’s
operating profits rose 39% in the second quarter, topping estimates, on strength in the company’s insurance and railroad businesses as well as sharply higher investment income.

The company continued to moderate its pace of share repurchases from elevated levels in 2021, buying back just $1 billion ofstock in the period, down from $3.2 billion in the first quarter and arate of about $7 billlion a quarter during 2021.

Berkshire Hathaway

(ticker: BRK/A, BRK/B) had after-tax operatingprofits of $9.3 billion, up from the $6.7 billion in the secondquarter of 2021. Profits per class A share increased 43% to $6,312,topping the FactSet consensus of $5,393 per share.

CEO Warren Buffett is price conscious with Berkshire’s stockbuyback and the company didn’t buy any shares in April, when thestock was near a record high. Berkshire also didn’t buy stock in May,but resumed the buybacks later in June.

Berkshire’s class A shares ended Friday at $439,528 afterpeaking in late March at a record $544,000. The stock bottomed in lateJune under $400,000. The stock is down about 2% this year.

Berkshire’s overall after-tax profits showed a loss of $43.8 billion inthe second quarter, compared with profits of $28.1 billion in the year-earlier period. This was driven by the drop in the stock market, whichdepressed the value of the company’s huge equity portfolio. …