Berkshire Hathaway Earnings: Operating Profit Up 16%, Alphabet Joins Top 5 Holdings

inNalar.com – Berkshire Hathaway’s operating earnings climbed 16% in the second quarter as strength across its energy, railroad and manufacturing businesses more than offset weaker insurance results.

However, the bigger takeaway from the results is that Chief Executive Officer Greg Abel, 64, is starting to put the record cash hoard amassed by Warren Buffett to work on share buybacks and stock purchases.

Operating earnings rose to $12.98 billion from $11.16 billion a year earlier. Manufacturing, service and retailing earnings jumped 24% to $4.47 billion, while Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s profit surged 27% to $891 million, and BNSF, the company’s railroad, posted a 6% increase to $1.56 billion.

Insurance was a notable weak spot during the period. Underwriting earnings fell 13% to $1.73 billion from $1.99 billion a year earlier, while insurance investment income declined 9% to $3.06 billion.

‘PUTTING MONEY TO WORK’

Berkshire’s cash pile declined to $365.5 billion at the end of June from a record $397.4 billion three months earlier, as the conglomerate deployed capital through other investments alongside share buybacks. The quarter included the closing of Berkshire’s acquisition of homebuilder Taylor Morrison.

Berkshire repurchased approximately $4.5 billion of its own shares during the quarter, marking its second fiscal period under Abel, who took over from Buffett at the start of the year. The second-quarter purchases marked a sharp acceleration from the $235 million spent on buybacks in the first three months of 2026, though it fell below some market expectations heading into the report.

In a dramatic shift in capital allocation, Berkshire reversed a long-standing pattern of selling stocks to become a net buyer of equities in the second quarter, recording nearly $20 billion in net purchases. The conglomerate had been a net seller of stocks for 14 consecutive quarters before the latest period.

Buffett, now chairman, handed Abel a cash fortress unprecedented in corporate America, built in accordance with the 95-year-old legendary investor’s patient and risk-averse approach. Buffett had indicated for a while that he was having trouble finding fair values in the equity market, leading shareholders to clamor for Abel to put some of that cash to work outside of Treasuries.

ALPHABET JOINS TOP HOLDINGS

A regulatory filing indicated Alphabet is now among Berkshire’s five largest equity holdings by market value at the end of June, joining longtime core portfolio holdings American Express, Apple, Bank of America and Coca-Cola.

Berkshire disclosed a $10 billion investment in the Google parent company earlier this year to help fund artificial intelligence development. Buffett told that he initiated the Alphabet investment after consulting with Abel.

Shares of Berkshire are up just 3% on the year, underperforming the S&P 500’s 13% gain, though the stock has gained momentum recently, rising 9% over the last three months.