Profits at Warren Buffett’s firm reach $36B

OMAHA, Nebraska: Profits rebounded at Warren Buffett’s conglomerate along with the value of its $353 billion stock portfolio in the second quarter to hit $35.9 billion, and Berkshire Hathaway’s assorted businesses also performed well, led by strong results in its core insurance businesses, particularly Geico.

Berkshire Hathaway said Saturday that its profits surged to hit $24,755 per Class A share. A year ago, the Omaha, Nebraska-based company recorded a loss of $43.6 billion, or $29,633 per Class A share, when the value of its biggest investments fell.

But Buffett has long said that those bottom-line figures can be misleading because of the big swings in the paper value of its investments from quarter to quarter when few of Berkshire’s investments are actually bought or sold. Instead, Buffett recommends that investors focus on operating earnings to see how the more than 90 companies Berkshire owns are actually performing.

By that measure, Berkshire’s operating earnings grew 6.6 percent, to $10.043 billion, or $6,928.40 per Class A share. That’s up from $9.417 billion, or $6,403.61 per Class A share, a year ago.

The three analysts surveyed by FactSet Research expected Berkshire to report operating earnings of $5,575.67 per Class A share.

Berkshire’s revenue jumped to $92.5 billion from last year’s $76.2 billion thanks largely to the addition of truck stop operator Pilot Travel Centers, which generated $14.75 billion in revenue during the quarter.

Berkshire is still sitting on a mountain of cash because it hasn’t completed any major acquisitions or made many significant new stock investments this year. The company’s cash pile grew to $147.4 billion from the first quarter’s $130.6 billion.