Berkshire Hathaway’s earnings rose in the first quarter, boosted by a rebound in the conglomerate’s insurance business. The conglomerate’s operating earnings in the first quarter amounted to $8.065 billion, including profits from its fully-owned businesses. That’s up 12.6% from $7.16 billion a year prior. Underwriting profits reached $911 million, up sharply from $167 million a year earlier. In addition, insurance investment income increased 68% to $1.969 billion from $1.170 billion. The quarter saw Geico return to a $703 million underwriting profit. The auto insurer suffered a $1.9 billion pretax underwriting loss last year as it lost market share to competitor Progressive. Ajit Jain, Berkshire’s vice chairman of insurance operations, previously said telematics was the biggest culprit for Geico’s underperformance.
However, earnings declined for the company’s railroad business, BNSF, and its energy company. Operations classified under “other controlled businesses” and “non-controlled businesses” had slight increases from the year-earlier period. Berkshire’s cash hoard increased to $130.616 billion from $128 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022. In addition, Berkshire repurchased $4.4 billion worth of stock, up from $2.8 billion at the end of last year – the most since the first quarter of 2021. The company’s net earnings, which include short-term investment gains, increased to $35.5 billion in the quarter from $5.6 billion a year ago, reflecting the return of Warren Buffett’s equity investments, which include Apple. Though Buffett cautions investors not to pay attention to quarterly fluctuations in unrealized investment gains. The company released its latest quarterly results before its annual shareholders’ meeting, also known as “Woodstock for Capitalists.” Berkshire’s Class A shares are up 4.9% this year through Friday’s close, lagging the S&P 500′s 7.7% advance. However, the stock is less than 3% below its all-time high.
