Berkshire Hathaway Reports Record Profits Driven by Insurance Underwriting Success

• Driven by insurance underwriting profits

Follow: Hisham Mukhana
Berkshire Hathaway on Saturday announced a big year-over-year increase in its operating profits for the first quarter, with its cash flow growing to record levels.
The profits of the group led by the famous billionaire Warren Buffett rose 39% to $11.22 billion for the three months that ended in March compared to the same period of the previous year. This was driven by a 185% year-over-year increase in insurance underwriting profits, to $2.598 billion from $911 million previously recorded, as well as insurance deposit income increasing 32% to over $2.5 billion.
Berkshire’s rail business profits came to $1.14 billion, a slight decrease from the first quarter of last year. While the Energy Department’s profits almost doubled to $717 million from $416 million a year ago. First-quarter net profits, which include changes in Berkshire’s stock holdings, fell 64% to $12.7 billion.
Meanwhile, the group’s cash stock hit an all-time high of $188.99 billion, up from $167.6 billion in the fourth quarter. This large investment, which exceeds CFRA research estimates by more than $170 billion, indicates that Buffett is unable to find a suitable large acquisition target, something the former investor himself regretted from a few years ago.
Year to date, Berkshire Hathaway’s Class A shares are up more than 11%, hitting an all-time high at the end of February. Meanwhile, Class B stock is up more than 12% during that time.