NEW YORK, Feb 27 — Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc BRKa.N on Saturday said fourth-quarter profit swelled, boosted by gains in many of its businesses and common stock investments such as Apple Inc AAPL.O, and said annual earnings reached a record high.
In his annual letter to Berkshire shareholders, Buffett said buybacks make “good sense” when alternatives such as buying whole companies or more stocks appear “unattractive.” “Overall results looked good,” said Cathy Seifert, an analyst at CFRA Research with a “hold” rating for Berkshire. “Many industrial and consumer businesses benefited from the tailwind of an economic recovery.
Net income more than doubled to US$89.8 billion, aided by the stock prices of Berkshire’s largest stock investments — Apple, Bank of America Corp BAC.N and American Express Co AXP.N — which each rose by more than one-third. Seifert, however, said the deterioration in claims trends in life insurance “won’t turn around in the next couple of quarters. That affects underwriting profitability for reinsurers such as Berkshire.”
Source: News Formal (newsformal.com)