Warren Buffett's Berkshire Q3 Operating Earnings Climb 20% Year-Over-Year But Slip 16% From Q2

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) on Saturday announced a loss for its third quarter that ended Sept. 30, reflecting the dire state of the financial markets, which weighed on its investments. Operating profit, derived from a slew of businesses under its fold, however, improved year-over-year.

Berkshire reported a third-quarter net loss of $2.69 billion, reversing from a profit of $10.34 billion reported for the year-ago period.

The loss for the quarter reflected investment and derivative losses of $10.45 billion, a marked improvement from the previous quarter's loss of $53.04 billion. A year ago, the company, however, recorded investment and derivatives gains of $3.88 billion.

Operating earnings for the most recent reported quarter came in at $7.76 billion, up about 20% from the year-ago quarter's $6.47 billion, but down 16% from the second quarter's $9.28 billion.

Net loss per Class A share was $1,832 compared to a net profit of $6,882 in the third quarter of 2021. The net loss, however, was narrower than the second quarter's loss of $29,754 per Class A share.

Giving a breakup of operating earnings, the company said utilities and energy contributed $1.59 billion, railroad and insurance investment income was about $1.4 billion each and other controlled businesses about $3.25 billion. Insurance underwriting deducted about $962 million from operating earnings.

Berkshire said it spent about $1.05 billion to repurchase its shares during the quarter.

Class A shares of Berkshire ended Friday's session $432,000, up 0.75%, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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