Berkshire operating profit falls as insurance earnings shrink

What did Berkshire report?

Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B) said Saturday that its third-quarter operating earnings fell 5.8% from a year earlier, to $12.705 billion. Operating earnings are the profit from Berkshire's own businesses. They leave out gains and losses on its stock investments.

Why it matters: Revenue rose 11.2%, the company reported. Adjusted earnings per share, the profit for each share, fell for both the Class A and the Class B stock.

Why did profit fall?

Insurance was the drag. Underwriting earnings, the profit left from premiums after claims and costs, dropped 42.9%, the company said. Income from investing its insurance money also declined.

Other units grew. Earnings at the BNSF railroad climbed 19.3%. Berkshire Hathaway Energy and the manufacturing, service and retailing group also earned more. A smaller group of other businesses earned less.

Net earnings, which include investment gains, fell further because those gains shrank from a year earlier. Berkshire cautioned that quarterly investment swings can distort reported profit and may not reflect how its businesses are doing.

What else stood out in the quarter?

Berkshire repurchased about $9.6 billion of its own shares in the quarter. A buyback shrinks the share count, and each remaining share then owns a larger slice of the company.

Its insurance float grew from the end of 2025. Float is the premium money an insurer holds and invests before it pays claims. Operating earnings for the year so far were also above last year's, despite the weaker quarter.

The Class B shares traded lower before Monday's open, then closed the day higher. Monday was a strong day for stocks broadly: the S&P 500 jumped 2.3%.

What comes next?

What’s next: The open question is whether insurance underwriting profits recover. Berkshire's next quarterly report could show whether that weakness lasted, or whether the railroad, energy and manufacturing gains kept making up part of the gap.