- 2nd Quarter total revenue came in at $56.8B, a decrease from $63.6B a year ago
- Operating earnings dropped to $5.51B compared to $6.14B in the same quarter last year a drop of 10%
- Insurance-underwriting had operating earnings of $806M in Q2 2020 compared to $353M in last years same quarter
- Railroad, utilities and energy posted operating earnings of 1.76B in Q2 this year, down from 1.95B in last years same quarter.
- Berkshire's other business showed as significant decrease, from 1.45B compared to 1.95B in Q2 YOY
- Berkshire's largest stock holding, Apple, has almost doubled in price since the Spring. Berkshire's Fair value of it's investment in all of it's equity securities were $207.5B in June of 2020, falling from $248B in December.
- Insurance Float was approximately $131 billion on June 30, 2020 and $129 billion on December 31, 2019. The average cost of float was negative for the first six months of 2020 as underwriting operations generated pre-tax earnings of $1.5 billion.
The company warned investors of future risks in it's report with the following statement.
"The risks and uncertainties resulting from the pandemic that may affect our future earnings, cash flows and financial condition include the nature and duration of the curtailment or closure of our various facilities and the long-term effect on the demand for our products and services. Accordingly, significant estimates used in the preparation of our financial statements including those associated with evaluations of certain long-lived assets, goodwill and other intangible assets for impairment, expected credit losses on amounts owed to us and the estimations of certain losses assumed under insurance and reinsurance contracts may be subject to significant adjustments in future periods.
Additionally, GEICO’s underwriting results will likely be negatively affected over the remainder of the year and in the first quarter of 2021 as the full impact of the GEICO Giveback program (a program whereby auto insurance policies renewed and newly issued during the period between April 8, 2020 and October 7, 2020 receive a 15% premium rate reduction) will be reflected in earned premiums during these periods."
Company shares traded up 6.8% this week. Read the full financial data here: https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/qtrly/2ndqtr20.pdf