Warren Buffett tours the grounds at the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha Nebraska. <\/p>\n
David A. Grogan | CNBC<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
OMAHA, Neb. \u2014 Berkshire Hathaway<\/a> shares rose on Monday as Warren Buffett’s conglomerate wooed investors with a strong earnings report and an insightful “Woodstock for Capitalists” over the weekend.<\/p>\n Berkshire’s B shares climbed 1.5% in premarket trading, set to add to their 5% gain so far this year. Berkshire Class A shares hit a 52-week high early last week, briefly topping $500,000.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n For the first quarter<\/a>, the Omaha-based conglomerate reported a 12.6% jump in operating earnings, which encompass profits made from an array of businesses, ranging from insurance to railroads, and utilities to Dairy Queen. <\/p>\n The strong performance was driven by a rebound in Berkshire’s insurance business, especially auto insurer Geico. Earnings also rose sharply thanks in part to gains in its equity portfolio, led by\u00a0Apple<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n “We continue to believe BRK’s shares are an attractive play in an uncertain macro environment,” said Brian Meredith, Berkshire analyst at UBS, who also raised full-year earnings estimates following the Q1 report.<\/p>\n Berkshire also repurchased $4.4 billion worth of stock \u2014 the most since the first quarter of 2021 \u2014 up from $2.8 billion at the end of last year.<\/p>\n Geico, the crown jewel of Berkshire’s insurance empire and Buffett’s favorite child, saw a big turnaround in the quarter, returning to an underwriting profit of $703 million. The auto insurer suffered a\u00a0$1.9 billion<\/a>\u00a0pretax underwriting loss last year as it sacrificed market share to competitor Progressive.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ajit Jain, Berkshire’s vice chairman of insurance operations,\u00a0said Saturday that auto insurer Geico is “taking the bull by the horns” to improve the use of telematics<\/a>. Geico has reached a point where about 90% of new businesses has a telematic input on pricing decisions, Jain said.<\/p>\n Telematics programs allow insurers to collect clients’ driving data, including their mileage and speed, to help price policies.<\/p>\n This year’s annual meeting drew a full house of adoring attendees in Omaha, with international travelers rising about 20% from last year. The 92-year-old “Oracle of Omaha,” along with his right-hand man, the 99-year-old Charlie Munger, fielded nearly 50 questions from shareholders.<\/p>\n “We viewed Berkshire’s 2023 annual meeting as the best in several years, with quality questions and insightful answers,” Meredith said.<\/p>\nGeico’s surprise recovery<\/h3>\n
Best meeting in years<\/h3>\n