So, like, Warren Buffett from Berkshire Hathaway, you know, spilled the beans on their first-quarter results this Saturday. And let me tell you, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. The operating earnings took a nosedive from last year, and things are looking a bit shaky for them. The company owns a bunch of stuff like insurance, transportation, energy, and retail businesses, and they’re warning that tariffs might smack them in the face even harder.
Operating earnings, which cover the fully owned insurance and railroad businesses of the company, went down by a whopping 14% to $9.64 billion in the first three months of the year. Last year, during the same period, they were sitting pretty at $11.22 billion. On a per share basis, the operating earnings were $4.47 in the last quarter, compared to $5.20 per class B share a year ago. Now, I’m not really sure why this matters, but UBS estimated $4.89 per class B share, while the overall consensus from 4 analysts was $4.72 a share per FactSet.
The biggest hit came from a 48.6% drop in insurance-underwriting profit, which was $1.34 billion in the first quarter, down from $2.60 billion last year. The Southern California wildfires took a $1.1 billion chunk out of their pockets in Q1. And if that wasn’t enough, the dollar decided to go on a rollercoaster ride, causing an approximate $713 million loss related to foreign exchange. Last year, they were bathing in a $597 million forex gain. Talk about a rough start to the year, right?
Now, let’s talk tariffs. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and some other geopolitical risks have created a cloud of uncertainty over Berkshire. They own BNSF railway, Brooks Running, and Geico insurance, but they can’t predict how tariffs will mess with their profits. The company said, “Our periodic operating results may be affected in future periods by impacts of ongoing macroeconomic and geopolitical events, as well as changes in industry or company-specific factors or events.” Yeah, no kidding. The pace of changes in these events, including international trade policies and tariffs, has been off the charts in 2025. We’re all just hanging on for dear life here.
Berkshire’s cash pile hit a new record high in the first quarter, soaring to over $347 billion from around $334 billion at the end of 2024. And guess what? Buffett didn’t even use the drop in the stock market to spend that money. In fact, Berkshire was selling more stocks than buying for the 10th quarter in a row. Their overall earnings also took a nosedive of nearly 64% year over year because Buffett’s portfolio of publicly traded names got punched in the gut at the beginning of the year. But hey, Berkshire always tells investors to look beyond these quarterly blips. They’re in it for the long haul.
Despite all the doom and gloom in the market, Berkshire is actually having a pretty good year so far. Class A shares are up almost 19% in 2025, while the S&P 500 is down 3.3%. It’s like they’re living in a different universe or something. But hey, that’s the stock market for you—always full of surprises.
So, yeah, that’s the scoop on Berkshire Hathaway’s first-quarter report. It’s been a wild ride, and who knows what the future holds for them. But one thing’s for sure, they’re not backing down without a fight. Let’s see what the next quarter brings for these guys.
