Berkshire Hathaway More Than Doubles Buybacks to $9.6 Billion as Third-Quarter Operating Profit Falls 5.8%

Berkshire Hathaway stepped up its share repurchases sharply in the third quarter of 2026, even as profits at the conglomerate declined on weaker insurance results, the company reported on Saturday, Nov. 7. The results were the third set since Greg Abel succeeded Warren Buffett as chief executive.

Buybacks more than double

Berkshire bought back about $9.6 billion of its own stock in the quarter, more than double the $4.5 billion repurchased in the second quarter, CNBC reported. That brings total buybacks for 2026 to about $14.4 billion. According to Reuters, as published by The Business Times, the company also said it repurchased about $2 billion more in October.

Reuters described the pace as a sign that Abel, 64, is more willing than his predecessor to put the company’s cash to use. Buffett, 96, had difficulty finding things to buy toward the end of his 60 years at the helm and is now chairman emeritus, after his son Howard Buffett replaced him as chairman in September. Berkshire’s biggest year for buybacks was 2021, when it repurchased $27 billion of stock.

Insurance drags on operating profit

Operating earnings, which reflect Berkshire’s wholly owned businesses, totaled $12.705 billion, down 5.8% from $13.485 billion a year earlier, or about $8,954 per Class A share. Insurance underwriting profit fell 43% to $1.352 billion, and insurance investment income declined 14% to $2.734 billion, CNBC reported.

Geico’s pre-tax profit fell 45%, which Reuters attributed to the auto insurer’s willingness to charge lower premiums to win back customers lost during a multi-year effort to improve underwriting quality and reduce overhead. Its loss ratio, the share of premiums paid out to cover claims, rose to 76.6% from 71.5%. Claims also grew at other Berkshire insurance and reinsurance units.

Other businesses performed better. Profit at the BNSF railroad rose 19%, helped by fuel surcharges and higher volumes of consumer, agricultural and energy products. Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s profit rose 8%, and Precision Castparts lifted pre-tax profit by 30% on aerospace and industrial gas turbine sales. Consumer products profit declined, mainly because of lower tax credits at Duracell, while higher gas prices boosted the Pilot truck stop chain.

Net income and revenue

Net earnings, which include unrealized gains and losses on Berkshire’s stock portfolio, fell 28% to $22.112 billion from $30.796 billion. Investment gains dropped nearly 50% to $9.407 billion. Berkshire urges investors to ignore the volatility that accounting rules create in that figure.

Revenue rose 11% to $105.65 billion, the second straight quarter of double-digit growth, according to Reuters. The results reflected 2026 purchases of Occidental Petroleum’s chemicals business for $9.4 billion and homebuilder Taylor Morrison for $6.8 billion. Berkshire said “considerable uncertainty” remains about economic and geopolitical events, including tariffs and wars, and that several retail businesses are seeing “sluggish” demand.

Cash and portfolio

CNBC reported that Berkshire’s cash rose 3% from the second quarter to $377.435 billion, but excluding rail and utility cash and Treasury bill payables, it totaled $352.3 billion, down 1.9% from the prior quarter. The company’s five largest equity holdings were unchanged: Alphabet, American Express, Apple, Bank of America and Coca-Cola. Reuters said Berkshire owned $335.5 billion of stocks as of Sept. 30 and had taken a 4% stake in Italian software company Bending Spoons.

Shares outpace the market

Berkshire’s stock has benefited from a rotation out of technology shares. CNBC said Class A shares rose more than 12% over the past month while the S&P 500 fell 5.5%, and that Berkshire is up 13% this year versus 7.8% for the index. Reuters reported the shares reached record highs during the week despite a broader sell-off driven by concerns about artificial intelligence spending; the news agency described Berkshire as a $1.21 trillion conglomerate that many investors view as a barometer for the U.S. economy.

CFRA Research analyst Cathy Seifert, who rates the stock “hold,” told Reuters that investors “may be rotating into less volatile, high-quality names such as Berkshire,” while also calling Geico’s results weak relative to Allstate and Progressive and pointing to the company’s limited financial disclosures.

Berkshire’s report lands ahead of a busy week for markets. Occidental Petroleum, KKR and Constellation Energy are among companies scheduled to report on Monday, Nov. 9, and the October consumer price index follows on Tuesday, according to CNBC’s week-ahead calendar.

Sources: CNBC, Nov. 7, 2026; Reuters via The Business Times, Nov. 8, 2026; CNBC, Nov. 6, 2026.