Berkshire said it sold off more Apple shares in the third quarter after halving its massive investment in the iPhone maker last quarter. The stake valued at $69.9 billion at the end of September remains Berkshire’s biggest single investment, but it has been cut drastically since the end of last year when it was worth $174.3 billion.
Berkshire said Saturday that investment gains again drove its third quarter profits skyward to $26.25 billion, or $18,272 per Class A share. A year ago, unrealized paper investment losses dragged the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate’s earnings down to a loss of $12.77 billion, or $8,824 per Class A share.
Buffett has long recommended that investors pay more attention to Berkshire’s operating earnings if they want to get a good sense of how the businesses it owns are doing because those numbers exclude investments. Berkshire’s bottom-line profit figures can vary widely from quarter to quarter along with the value of its investments regardless of whether the company bought or sold anything.
By that measure, Berkshire said its operating earnings were only down about 6% at $10.09 billion, or $7,023.01 per Class A share. That compares to last year’s $10.8 billion, or $7,437.15 per Class A share.
The four analysts surveyed by FactSet Research predicted that Berkshire would report operating earnings of $7,335.11 per Class A share.
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Berkshire’s revenue didn’t change much at $92.995 billion. A year ago, it reported $93.21 billion revenue. That number was ahead of the $92.231 billion revenue that three analysts surveyed by FactSet predicted. Berkshire owns an assortment of insurance businesses, including Geico, along with BNSF railroad, several major utilities and a varied collection of retail and manufacturing businesses, including brands like Dairy Queen and See’s Candy.
