Reuters
Berkshire Hathaway Earnings Soar
Friday November 7, 6:50 pm ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRKa - News), the holding company run by billionaire investor Warren Buffett (News) , on Friday said quarterly earnings rose 58 percent, helped by higher insurance premiums and investment gains.
The Omaha, Nebraska-based company, whose patchwork of businesses include GEICO, Dairy Queen and Fruit of the Loom, reported third-quarter net income of $1.8 billion, or $1,176 per share, compared with $1.14 billion, or $744 per share, a year earlier.
The per-share amounts are high because the company has relatively few shares outstanding. Each "A" share closed Friday on the New York Stock Exchange (News - Websites) at $80,000.
Berkshire said investment gains more than doubled to $453 million, from $164 million.
Earnings excluding investment gains, which Berkshire said is a more accurate gauge of its performance, rose 38 percent to $1.35 billion, from $977 million.
Revenue rose to $18.23 billion from $10.6 billion, which Berkshire said grew abnormally because of its acquisition of grocery distributor McLane Co. from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT - News) announced in May.
The large profit helped add even more to the immense cash stockpile that is available to Buffett to invest in stocks, bonds or buying companies outright. The company said it had $26.95 billion in cash at the end of September, up from $24.43 billion at the end of June.
But Buffett said in an interview with Barron's last month that he is not impressed with the current opportunities in stocks, Treasury bonds or junk debt.
"We've got more cash than ideas. The question is whether that will prevail for an unduly long time," Buffett was quoted as saying. |
