These are 6 highlights of Berkshire Hathaway’s 2022 second quarter earnings report.
(1) Berkshire Hathaway’s operating earnings increased by 39% in the second quarter as compared to Q2 in 2021. Its operating income for “Insurance-underwriting” increased by 55% during Q2 2022.
(2) Berkshire repurchased $1.0 billion of its shares in June at an average price of $425,871 (A shares) and $277 (B shares) and did not repurchase any shares in April and May when Berkshire was trading at higher prices. Berkshire also repurchased about $500 million of its shares from July 1 – 26 at an average price of about $420,000 per class A share.
(3) Berkshire purchased approximately $6 billion in equities and sold $2 billion during the second quarter. It added about $3 billion to its equity holdings of “Commercial, industrial, and other” (on a cost basis), about $400 million to “Banks, insurance and finance”, and $800 million to “Consumer products” during the second quarter.
(4) Berkshire had $105.4 billion in cash on June 30 as compared to $106.3 billion on March 31.
(5) Berkshire’s insurance float (net liabilities under insurance contracts) at June 30 was approximately $147 billion, relatively unchanged from yearend 2021.
(6) The ratio of Berkshire’s price (class A share) on August 5 ($439,529) to its book value on June 30 ($314,090) is 1.4, approximating its average ratio in recent years.
