Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A) said first-quarter profit fell 3.8 percent on reduced earnings from Chairman Warren Buffett’s derivatives wagers and underwriting at insurance businesses.
Net income slipped to $4.71 billion, or $2,862 a share, from $4.89 billion, or $2,977, a year earlier, the Omaha, Nebraska-based company said today in a statement. Operating earnings, which exclude some investment results, were $2,149 a share, missing the $2,171 averageestimate of three analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Buffett has been shifting the company toward businesses like energy and railroads that provide opportunities for billions of dollars in capital spending and relatively stable returns tied to the growth of the U.S. economy. Results can be more volatile on Buffett’s financial-market bets and in reinsurance, in which the company takes on risks from other insurers in the U.S. and beyond.
“When you get a substantial portion of your earnings from insurance, you live with the fact that the numbers bump around,” Bill Smead, chief investment officer at Smead Capital Management, which oversees about $950 million including Berkshire shares, said in an interview.
Underwriting profit declined 49 percent to $461 million at the insurance segment, on smaller gains from the reinsurance group. Currency fluctuations weighed on the results at the group, which benefited in last year’s first quarter from a gain on a contract with Swiss Re Ltd.
Insurance Float
Float from insurance units including car insurer Geico has provided Buffett with funds to amass the largest equity stakes in companies including Coca-Cola Co. (KO), Wells Fargo & Co. and American Express Co. Float, which counts money held to back obligations to policyholders, was $78 billion as of March 31, up from about $77 billion at the end of 2013.
Berkshire posted a $132 million pretax loss from equity index puts in the three months ended March 31, compared with a $1.25 billion gain a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. Credit-default contracts, in which Buffett bets on the ability of borrowers to repay debt, contributed $373 million, compared with a loss of $14 million a year earlier.
Book value, a measure of assets minus liabilities, rose in the quarter to $138,426 a share from $134,973 at the end of last year. The cash pile grew to $48.9 billion from $48.2 billion on Dec. 31.Class A shares rose 8.1 percent this year in New York, beating the 1.8 percent gain in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.
Railroad Tie-Ups
Continued stimulus from the Federal Reserve, a pickup in consumer spending and a recovering housing market have bolstered the U.S. economy. Berkshire stands to gain from those trends because its more than 80 subsidiaries include a railroad, a home builder, a trucking company, electric utilities, manufacturers and retailers.
The Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad, which was Buffett’s biggest takeover, contributed $724 million to quarterly earnings, down from $798 million a year earlier. Winter weather and rising cargo shipments disrupted operations. Carl Ice, the CEO of BNSF, said last month that the railroad will need the rest of the year to untangle train tie-ups in the corridor that serves North Dakota’s Bakken shale region.
The utility unit added $452 million to Berkshire’s earnings, compared with $394 million a year earlier. The business benefited from demand driven by cold weather, according to the filing.
Utility Deals
The subsidiary completed its acquisition of Nevada’s largest electric utility in December and announced a deal yesterday to buy SNC-Lavalin Group Inc.’s AltaLink for about $2.9 billion to expand in electricity transmission in western Canada.
Earnings from manufacturing, service and retailing units increased to $933 million in the first quarter from $862 million in the same period in 2013. The group includes engine-additive maker Lubrizol; Marmon Holdings, a manufacturer of construction materials; and Fruit of the Loom, which produces underwear and other clothing. Berkshire doesn’t break down results for each business in the segment.
Buffett, 83, has touted business prospects in the world’s largest economy, where most of Berkshire’s operations are based. He said in his annual letter to shareholders that his company has plenty of opportunity to invest in plants and equipment. Capital spending climbed to a record $11.1 billion last year.
‘Mother Lode’
“Though we invest abroad as well, the mother lode of opportunity resides in America,” Buffett wrote in the letter posted March 1.
Berkshire’s stock portfolio was valued at $118.5 billion on March 31, up from $117.5 billion at the end of 2013 as Wells Fargo rallied. Berkshire spent $1.2 billion on equities and $2 billion on fixed-maturity securities in the quarter. It sold $88 million of bonds and $103 million of stocks.
Buffett will highlight the accomplishments of Berkshire managers at the company’s annual meeting tomorrow. The gathering draws tens of thousands of spectators, who come to hear him and Vice Chairman Charles Munger, 90, answer questions from shareholders, journalists and analysts.
Topics at past meetings have ranged from the operating businesses to taxes and politics. Shareholders may ask this year about why Buffett abstained from voting on Coca-Cola’s executive-pay plan, which he called “excessive.” Berkshire is the soft-drink maker’s largest shareholder.
While investors are drawn to the weekend by the session with the executives and the chance to see old friends, many will also shop. Berkshire subsidiaries will sell products from running shoes to rubber duckies in an expo the size of three football fields. Berkshire will also host other shareholder events over the weekend, including a picnic and 5-kilometer (3.1-mile) fun run.
To contact the reporters on this story: Noah Buhayar in New York at nbuhayar@bloomberg.net; Zachary Tracer in New York at ztracer1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Dan Kraut at dkraut2@bloomberg.net Dan Reichl
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