5 Highlights of Berkshire Hathaway’s 2023 Third Quarter Earnings Report

1) Berkshire’s Q3 operating earnings were up 41% primarily resulting from very strong performance in insurance, both underwriting and investment income. There were profit declines in railroad, and utilities and energy.

2) Berkshire’s cash at the end of Q3 was $157.2 billion, up from $147.4 billion at the end of Q2.

3) Berkshire bought back $1.1 billion of its common stock in Q3 vs. $1.4 billion in Q2 and $4.4  billion in Q1. Berkshire paid an average price of $550,814 per A share and $357.22 per B share in September, 2023. Berkshire has repurchased $1.0 billion of its stock in Q4 through October 24, approximately equaling the total amount purchased in Q3.

4) Berkshire sold $7 billion of equity securities in Q3 while purchasing only $1.7 billion (net sales of $5.3 billion). For the first 9 months of 2023, Berkshire had net sales of $23.6 billion of equities vs. net purchases of $48.9 billion for the first 9 months of 2022. Berkshire’s “Investments in equity securities” declined to $318.6 billion in Q3 from $353.4 b in Q2.

5) Berkshire’s investments in “Banks, insurance, and finance” increased by $1.2 billion, but decreased by $1.0 billion in “Consumer Products”, and decreased by $4.4 billion in “Commercial industrial and other” on a cost basis during Q3. Berkshire sold about $2.2 billion of Chevron (about 10% of its stake) in Q3.

(Note: Berkshire’s 13F, revealing its equity portfolio as of September 30, 2023, will be released after 4 pm ET on November 14.)