Here’s how Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway performed in Q1

Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE: BRK.A) says its operating earnings went up 12.6% to about $8.1 billion in the first quarter on the back of a rebound in its insurance business.

Berkshire Hathaway Q1 earnings snapshot

Thanks to a massive increase in the company’s equity portfolio, total earnings shot up more than six folds to $35.5 billion.

Berkshire Hathaway noted a 7.0% year-on-year increase in its books value to $347,800 per Class A share in the recently concluded quarter. Legendary investor Warren Buffett reiterated that cash is “not” trash as he revealed his company to be sitting on just over $130 billion currently.

In comparison, the cash hoard was worth about $129 billion at the end of the last year. Higher interest rates (short-term) resulted in a whopping 68% boost to the company’s insurance investment income in Q1.

Berkshire also held its annual shareholders meeting over the weekend.

What else was noteworthy in the Q1 report?

Berkshire Hathaway repurchase $4.4 billion worth of its stock in the first quarter versus $2.6 billion in Q4. But the pace at which it bought back shares was still significantly down compared to the range of $6 billion to $7 billion in 2020 and 2021.  

Also on Saturday, the conglomerate reported a 46.3% hit to post-tax earnings from its energy business, as per the press release.

In Q1, the Warren Buffett company trimmed its stake in Chevron Corp (NYSE: CVX) by about 20%. Wall Street currently has a consensus “hold” rating on Berkshire Hathaway shares.