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How much operating income did Berkshire have in Q1 of 2023?
Go to the “2023 First Quarter Report” https://berkshirehathaway.com/qtrly/1stqtr23.pdf . You can also go there via
https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/ -> Annual & Interim Reports -> link corresponding to (row = Year 2023, column = 1st Quarter) -> Click on "2023 First Quarter Report (PDF file)"
In the quarter report, go to pg-28 (Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations) → Results of Operations which has the below table
First Quarter 2023 2022 Insurance – underwriting $ 911 $ 167 Insurance – investment income 1,969 1,170 BNSF 1,247 1,371 Berkshire Hathaway Energy (“BHE”) 416 775 Pilot Travel Centers (“Pilot”) 83 -- Manufacturing, service and retailing 2,982 3,025 Non-controlled businesses* 568 282 Investment and derivative contract gains (losses) 27,439 (1,580) Other (111) 370 Net earnings attributable to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders $ 35,504 $ 5,580 ------------ * Includes certain businesses in which Berkshire had between a 20% and 50% ownership interest.
To get the operating earnings, subtract “Investment and derivative contract gains (losses)” from “Net earnings attributable to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders”
So, the operating earnings in Q1 of 2023 are
>>> 35504 - 27439 8065
and the operating earnings in Q1 of 2022 are
>>> 5580 + 1580 7160
So, the operating earnings increased by 12.6%
>>> round( ((8065 / 7160) - 1)*100, 1) 12.6
Notes:
- The 12.6% and $8,065 million match with the numbers mentioned in the last paragraph of https://www.barrons.com/livecoverage/berkshire-hathaway-warren-buffett-annual-shareholder-meeting
Berkshire’s first-quarter results were released earlier on Saturday morning, showing a 12.6% rise in operating profit, to $8.1 billion.
- https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230506005003/en/ shows that the operating earnings are \$8,065 million and \$7,160 million in Q1 or 2023 and 2022 respectively. This matches with the above calculation.
- This press release is a bit easier to understand about operating earnings compared to my approach. But I do not know how to generalize it for other quarters (ex:- how to get the corresponding businesswire link?).
- I found businesswire link in https://www.barrons.com/articles/berkshire-hathaway-inc-first-quarter-2023-earnings-release-e6e998bf
- The operating income can get revised at a later point in time. For example, https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220430005003/en shows that the original operating income was \$7,040 million. But https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230506005003/en shows that it got revised to \$7,160 million.
How much cash does Berkshire hold at the end of year 2022?
Go to the annual report https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/2022ar/2022ar.pdf . You can also go there via
https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/ -> Annual & Interim Reports -> Year link corresponding to (row, column) = (2022; Annual) -> Click on "2022 Annual Report (PDF file)" .
In the annual report, go to pg-86 (K-70)
(dollars in millions) 2022 Insurance and Other: Cash and cash equivalents $32,260 Short-term investments in U.S. Treasury Bills $92,774 Railroad, Utilities and Energy: Cash and cash equivalents $ 3,551
Summing up all these numbers gives \$128,585. So Berkshire has about \$129 billion in cash.
See also:
- https://github.com/KamarajuKusumanchi/market_data/blob/master/berkshire/cash.txt - Berkshire's cash by quarter.