Berkshire Hathaway Q1 Results: Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc announced its first quarter results on Saturday, May 3, reporting a lower operating profit in the first quarter, hurt by weaker results from its insurance operations, while its cash pile continued to grow.
Operating profit for the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate dropped 14.1% to $9.64 billion, just over one-third of last year’s profit from $11.22 billion a year earlier.
Ahead of the meeting, Berkshire reported its first-quarter results that indicated Buffett is still cautious. The company was a net seller of stocks for a 10th straight quarter, as it bought $3.18 billion and sold $4.68 billion.
The profit numbers were weighed down by a major drop in the value of its investments and $860 million in insurance losses related to policies that Geico and its other insurance companies wrote before the devastating Southern California wildfires.
Berkshire said it earned $4.6 billion, or $3,200 per Class A share, in the first quarter. That’s down from $12.7 billion, or $8,825 per Class A share, last year.
Investors are looking for him to explain why Berkshire is now sitting on $347.7 billion cash as of the end of the first quarter, up from $334.2 billion at the end of the year. The growing cash pile is a reminder that Buffett hasn’t found any investments at attractive prices lately, but the report doesn’t show whether he bought anything in April when the market dropped after President Donald Trump’s tariff announcement.
Berskhire’s share price has so far weathered a turbulent period for markets, rising 18.9% this year while the Standard & Poor’s 500 was down 3.3%. Our investments in equity securities over the years have been concentrated in relatively few companies.
Berkshire said little about how U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policies affected results.
It said in its quarterly report that “considerable uncertainty remains,” and Berkshire was “unable to reliably predict” the potential impact on the company, including as to product costs, supply chain costs and customer demand.
The fair value of our five largest holdings at March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024 represented 69% and 71%, respectively, of the aggregate fair value of our equity securities shown in the preceding tables. The five largest holdings at each date were American Express Company, Apple Inc., Bank of America Corporation, The Coca-Cola Company and Chevron Corporation.
In March, Berkshire raised its stakes in Japanese trading houses Itochu, Marubeni, Mitsubishi, Mitsui and Sumitomo to as high as 9.8%.
Berkshire shares have far outperformed the broader market in 2025, with many investors viewing the company as a safe haven from potential disruptions to the economy, including from tariffs.
In other businesses, tariffs may have temporarily helped the BNSF railroad, where profit rose 6%.
BNSF reported higher volumes for consumer products, including west coast imports and automotive vehicles, which suggests higher demand for shipments before tariffs kicked in.
Berkshire Hathaway Energy also fared better, increasing profit 53% through broad-based gains and a lower loss at the HomeServices real estate brokerage unit.
Profit fell 1% at Berkshire’s manufacturing, service and retailing businesses.
Berkshire’s collection of car dealerships benefited from higher sales of new and use vehicles.
But home furnishings and other retailing businesses struggled with what Berkshire called “increased competition, sluggish demand and impacts of higher economic uncertainty.”
Berkshire Hathaway owns dozens of companies, including Geico, BNSF railroad, a collection of massive utilities and an assortment of retail and manufacturing businesses including well-known brands like See’s Candy.
