Here are some other key takeaways from Berkshire’s third-quarter earnings on Saturday:
Berkshire Appetite
Buffett has increasingly leaned on share buybacks as one way to deploy billions of dollars. He’s spent about $51 billion on stock buybacks since a policy tweak in 2018, outpacing the $31 billion used to purchase shares of Apple Inc., Berkshire’s largest stock bet.
In the third quarter, Berkshire bought back $7.6 billion of stock, surpassing the $6 billion of shares repurchased in the previous period.
BNSF’s Record
Record profit at Berkshire’s railroad, BNSF, and strong earnings from its energy businesses helped raise operating profit by 18% at the conglomerate during the third quarter.
That also aided in offsetting a painful quarter for Berkshire’s insurers. Those businesses reported an underwriting loss that widened to $784 million amid heightened catastrophe costs and worsening claims trends at auto insurer Geico.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.