On Saturday, Warren Buffet lead Berkshire Hathaway reported its earnings for the first quarter of the year. Like many others, it posted a decline in earnings due to the slowdown in the nation’s economy. The conglomerate makes its profit by the businesses it owns in various sectors such as insurance, railroads and utilities. The company’s earnings declined by over 53 percent. All roads lead to Omaha, Nebraska as the shareholders headed there to hear the legendary chairman-investor at the company’s annual meeting.
Berkshire Hathaway’s net earnings were $5.46 billion. This is a decline of more than 53 percent as the company earned $11.71 billion, in the year earlier period. It also reported operating earnings at $7.04 which were flat year over year.
The largest decline of over of almost 94 percent was due to the fall in the insurance underwriting business. The earnings in the year-earlier period were $764 million but the earnings in the first quarter was $47 million. However, the company’s manufacturing, service and retailing operations saw an increase of 15.5 percent to $3.03 billion. There was a slight increase in earnings in the railroad and utilities sectors.
Berkshire Hathaway suffered a huge loss in the investments it made. There has been a general market decline due to COVID and other factors. Warren Buffet believes that quarterly earnings in terms of gains or losses can be misleading to those who have “little or no knowledge of accounting rules.”
The company’s class A stock has increased by more than 7 percent. This is better than the S&P 500, that has seen a decline of 13.3 percent for 2022. Berkshire also has a cash trove of $106.3 billion, by the end of Q1.
Reporting live from the annual shareholders meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, on Saturday, CNBC noted that the Chairman Warren Buffet and Vice Chairman Charlie Munger said the following:
The Oracle of Omaha spoke of how he was fascinated by the New York Stock Exchange when he first visited at the age of nine. He said he had never been “good at timing.” He also said that he had trouble finding businesses in which he could invest. He said that Berkshire was “better than banks” and more. Buffet once referred to their annual meeting at. Omaha, Nebraska as their “capitalist’s version of Woodstock.”
Charlie Munger said that Robinhood was “unraveling” and to just say “no” to bitcoin. He criticized those who wanted to separate the post of chairman and chief executive officer.
Other members spoke of the impact of inflation and the drop in the insurance business and more.
