Berkshire Hathaway’s Cash Surges in Abel’s First Quarter as CEO

Cutouts depicting former Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffet and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Greg Abel at the See's Candies booth inside the convention hall during a shareholders shopping day ahead of the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, US, on Friday, May 1, 2026. CEO Greg Abel has pledged to follow Buffett's approach to investing and managing risk - Saturday's meeting is branded with the slogan "The Legacy Continues." Photo by Dan Brouillette /Bloomberg

Article content

(Bloomberg) — Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s cash pile soared to its highest level ever and operating earnings jumped in Greg Abel’s first quarter as chief executive officer.

Article content

After a slight decrease late last year, the firm’s cash hoard jumped to $397 billion in the first quarter as it offloaded a net $8.1 billion of equity holdings in the period, the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate said in a statement Saturday. Operating earnings, meanwhile, got a boost from an improvement in underwriting results in its vast insurance businesses.

Article content

Article content

Article content

Abel, who replaced legendary investor Warren Buffett as CEO this year, also resumed stock buybacks, handing shareholders a payout for the first time in more than a year. Berkshire bought back $234.2 million of its own shares in the period. 

Article content

Article content

The results show how Abel is starting to put his mark on Berkshire, where there are some signs investors still aren’t sold on the new CEO. Once synonymous with consistent outperformance, the $1 trillion conglomerate’s shares have been trounced by the broader market since Warren Buffett announced he was retiring and handing Abel the reins a year ago.

Article content

Abel took to the stage and address shareholders in Omaha on Saturday for his inaugural annual meeting as CEO. This is the first time in decades that Buffett won’t be leading the event after the 95-year-old announced he would step down from his role last year — though he was still in attendance and even shared a few remarks to help kick off the meeting.

Article content

Berkshire’s earnings are typically closely watched because the conglomerate’s businesses — ranging from insurance to railroads to energy and manufacturing — provide a snapshot of the health of the US economy.

Article content

Article content

Abel has previously said that he and Buffett had determined that the intrinsic value of the firm’s shares was higher than their market value, prompting them to restart buybacks. Berkshire’s stock declined 5.9% this year as of market close on Friday.

Article content

Underwriting earnings from the firm’s collection of insurance businesses surged to $1.7 billion, up about 29% from a year ago, when the units were hit by losses tied to the Los Angeles wildfires.

Article content

Geico Struggles

Article content

Still, Geico posted a 35% decline in pretax underwriting earnings, as the unit faced more losses and spent more to gain new clients. 

Article content

“Most of Geico’s peer group this quarter posted significantly improved underwriting results,” said Cathy Seifert, an analyst at CFRA Research, on the contrast between competitors and Geico. “They’re a big unit and that’s a big deterioration.”

Article content

Net profit at its railroad unit BNSF rose 13% to $1.4 billion, relieving pressure on BNSF management, led by CEO Katie Farmer, to improve the unit’s operating margin and close the gap with its most efficient peers. Abel had given the division’s management a clear mandate to improve the business on those fronts. He said at the meeting that while he’s pleased with the first-quarter results, there’s still room for improvement.