Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway gains as insurance lifts first-quarter profit and cash nears $200 billion

Berkshire Hathaway shares rose in premarket trading Monday after Warren Buffett 's conglomerate reported a surge in operating earnings as well as a record cash hoard. Berkshire's Class A shares were higher by 1.1% in the premarket. Meanwhile, Class B shares gained about 0.6%.

Those moves come after the conglomerate posted first-quarter operating profit of $11.22 billion, up 39% from the year-ago period, mainly driven by an increase in insurance underwriting earnings. Operating profit measures earnings encompassing all of Berkshire's businesses.The strength in the insurance businesses, particularly its crown jewel Geico, comes as the sector as a whole benefits from stronger demand and increased pricing power. Insurance underwriting earnings rose to $2.

"We had much-improved earnings in insurance underwriting. And then our investment income was almost certain to increase," Buffett said Saturday at the conglomerate's annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. "And I said that in the annual report because yields are so much higher than they were last year. And we have a lot of fixed, short-term investments that are very responsive to the changes in interest rates.

Class A shares marked an all-time closing high this year, reaching $634,440 in March; it closed at $603,000 on Friday. Class B shares were last priced at about $400 a share, or about 5% below its record close of $420.52, also set in March.

Source: News Formal (newsformal.com)

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