5 Highlights of Berkshire’s 2023 Second Quarter Report

On Saturday August 5 Berkshire released its 10-Q report for the second quarter of 2023.

These are the highlights:

1. Berkshire’s operating earnings rose 7%, with insurance up 74%, but railroad down 24%, and energy down 1%. . Berkshire’s operating cash flows in 2023 Q2 ($12.4 billion) were up 46% from 2022 Q2 ($8.5 billion). Geico’s premiums in 2023 reflected rate increases during the past 12 months that produced higher average premiums per auto policy (16.3%), as well as a 2.7 million decrease (14.4%) in policies-in-force over that period. GEICO significantly reduced advertising in 2022 and 2023, which contributed to the reduction in policies-in-force.
2. Berkshire repurchased $1.4 billion of its shares in Q2 vs. $4.4 billion in Q1, for a total of $5.8 billion in the first half of 2023. It repurchased only about $100 million in Q3 through July 26. It paid an average price of $506,000 per A share and $335 per B share in June 2023.
3. Berkshire’s cash rose by $17 billion to $147.4 billion at the end of Q2 vs. $130.6 billion at the end of Q1.
4. Berkshire had net sales of equities of about $8 billion in Q2, with purchases of $4.6 billion and sales of $12.6 billion. It reduced its equity holdings on a cost basis in “Banks, Insurance, and Finance” by $2.2 billion, “Consumer Products” by $4 billion, and “Commercial and Industrial” by $9.6 billion in Q2.
5. Berkshire reduced its stake in Chevron by 7% to $19.4 billion in Q2.