Berkshire's Insurance Income Soars

Here's our initial take on Berkshire Hathaway's (NYSE: BRK.B) financial report.

First and foremost, it's important to point out that Berkshire's net income, or "earnings per share," isn't a particularly useful metric. Even CEO Warren Buffett has cautioned against using it. Due to accounting rules, Berkshire must include unrealized gains and losses from its massive stock portfolio, even though they aren't actual profits or losses until Berkshire sells its stocks.

The more important figure to keep track of is Berkshire's operating earnings, which tells us how Berkshire's business is doing. In the fourth quarter, Berkshire's operating earnings were about $14.5 billion, which is 71% higher than the fourth quarter of 2023. For the full year 2024, Berkshire's businesses earned $47.4 billion, representing 27% year-over-year growth.

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Source Fool.com