Five Highlights of Berkshire Hathaway’s Q3 Report

After the market closed today, Berkshire Hathaway released its 10-Q for the third quarter of 2017.

Five highlights were:

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(1) Berkshire’s operating earnings declined by 29% in the third quarter as a result of underwriting losses from three hurricanes.

(2) Berkshire had $109.3 billion in cash as of September 30, 2017.  Its price to book value ratio is 1.5, which is above its previously announced 1.2 threshold for its stock buybacks.

(3) Berkshire had a net additional investment of $5.9 billion in equities in “Banks, insurance and finance” during the third quarter of 2017.  ($5 billion for exercise of Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) warrant.)

(4) Berkshire decreased its equity investments in “Commercial, industrial, and other” by $2.25 billion based on cost.

(5) Berkshire apparently added 3 million shares of Apple (Nasdaq:AAPL) (+ $450 million).