Berkshire Hathaway buys back $9.6 billion of its own stock but its profits declined

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Berkshire Hathaway repurchased $9.6 billion worth of its own shares in the third quarter, but Geico disappointed and its overall profit fell more than 28% as the value of its investments changed.

But the buybacks likely came to a halt recently as Berkshire’s Class A stock price surged past $878,000 and topped where it was before Warren Buffett surprised investors with his plans to retire at the annual meeting in May 2025. He gave up the chairman title in September after relinquishing the CEO job to Greg Abel in January.

Berkshire’s massive cash pile also returned to growing in the third quarter and reached $377.4 billion, up from $365.5 billion at the end of June.

Berkshire reported a $22.1 billion profit, or $15,502 per Class A share, on Saturday morning. That’s down from $30.8 billion, or $21,413 in last year’s third quarter, but those bottom-line figures always tend to obscure how the conglomerate’s many companies, including its insurance unit, utilities, manufacturers and railroad are performing.

The company has long recommended that investors pay more attention to operating earnings, which exclude the value of its investments that can vary widely, but those also slipped nearly 6% to $12.7 billion, or $8,907 per Class A share. That’s down from $13.485 billion, or $9,376.15 per Class A share a year ago.

The four analysts surveyed by FactSet Research had predicted Berkshire would report operating earnings of $8,821.84 per Class A share.

Berkshire owns several major insurers, including Geico, a collection of big utilities, BNSF railroad and a varied assortment of manufacturing and retail companies, including Precision Castparts and See’s Candy.