Berkshire Q2 Operating Profit Up 16%, Cash Reserves Rise to $365.5 Billion
N.R. Finch
Berkshire Hathaway posted $13 billion in Q2 operating profit, up 16.3% year-on-year, while its cash pile swelled to a record $365.5 billion — Buffett sitting on that much cash is itself a market call.
What do the headline numbers say?
Operating profit hit roughly $13 billion, up 16.3% year-on-year. Total revenue reached $101.8 billion, up 10.0%. Both core metrics stayed in double-digit growth.
This means → Berkshire's profit engine keeps accelerating: insurance, railroads, and energy deliver earnings regardless of stock-market direction.
Per-share net income: $17,868 for Class A, $11.91 for Class B.
$365.5 billion in cash — why not spend it?
Cash, equivalents, and short-term securities totaled $365.5 billion, climbing further from the prior quarter.
In plain terms = that sum exceeds the foreign-exchange reserves of most countries, yet Buffett would rather collect interest than deploy it.
This reflects management's read on asset prices: no large target looks cheap enough. The higher the market runs, the louder this cash pile speaks.
What does the $4.5 billion buyback signal?
Berkshire repurchased roughly $4.5 billion of its own stock in Q2 — one of the larger quarterly buybacks in recent periods.
This means → management views its own shares as undervalued. When nothing else looks attractive, buying back stock is the best available use of capital.
Put simply = Buffett is saying: everything else is too expensive; our own stock is the bargain.
What is the market watching next?
One question dominates: can the $365.5 billion cash reserve convert into a major acquisition or investment in coming quarters?
Historically, Berkshire's big moves — Precision Castparts in 2016, Japanese trading houses in 2020 — came during market panics.
This means → a sharp market pullback would turn that cash into Buffett's war chest; if markets stay elevated, the pile will likely keep growing.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.