Berkshire Hathaway Q4 Results: Strong Topline and Bottom-line Performance

Operating Income increase - The company reported operating income at $7.29 billion, up% 45% from the year-ago period when it reported operating income of $5.02 billion. The operating income translates to $4931 per Class A share. It is higher than analysts' expectation of $4251 per Class A share. Results benefited from insurance underwriting gains, higher profit from BNSF, and currency fluctuations, among other factors.

Net Income increase - The net income increased to $39.65 billion, up 11% from last year's $35.84 billion. 

Share buyback in Q4 - The company used $6.9 billion to buy back shares in the fourth quarter. With this, the total share repurchases go to approximately $27 billion for 2021. In the third quarter, the company bought shares worth $7.6 billion. 

Cash Reserves - Despite the aggressive buying in Q4, Berkshire cash hoarding at the end of 2021 stood at $146.72 billion, slightly lower than its Q3 cash reserves of $149.2 billion.

Earning from different verticals - Earnings from Berkshire’s railroad, utilities and energy business came at $2.241 billion, up 12.3% from $1.995 billion a year earlier. Meanwhile, Berkshire’s insurance-underwriting business earned $372 million after losing $299 million in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Target Price - The 3 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for Berkshire Hathaway Inc have a median target of $530,000, with a high estimate of $530,734.63 and a low estimate of $490,254.87. The current price of Berkshire Hathaway Class A shares is $4,79,345.