Berkshire Hathaway Q2 Earnings & Revenues Decline Year Over Year

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B) delivered second-quarter 2025 operating earnings of $11.2 billion, which decreased 3.8% year over year. The decrease was due to lower earnings in insurance underwriting and other areas, offset by higher earnings in Insurance-investment income, BNSF, Berkshire Hathaway Energy Company, Manufacturing, service, and retailing.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Quote

Behind the Headlines

Revenues declined 1.2% year over year to $92.5 billion due to lower revenues at Insurance and Other and Railroad, Utilities and Energy.
 
Costs and expenses decreased 0.3% year over year to $79.4 billion, largely due to a decline in insurance losses and loss adjustment expenses, cost of sales and services, interest expense, freight rail transportation expenses, utility and energy cost of sales and other expenses. The figure was lower than our estimate of $97.3 billion.

Segment Performance

Berkshire Hathaway’s Insurance and Other segment revenues decreased 1.2% year over year to $80.4 billion in the reported quarter due to lower sales and service revenues. It was offset by higher insurance premiums earned, leasing revenues and interest, dividend, and other investment income. 

Insurance underwriting earnings decreased 12% year over year to $2 billion. 

Railroad, Utilities, and Energy operating revenues decreased 0.9% year over year to $12.1 billion, primarily due to lower freight rail transportation revenues, service revenues, and other income. The figure was lower than our estimate of $25.4 billion. Pre-tax earnings of the Railroad increased 11.5% to $1.8 billion, attributable to lower operating expenses.

Operating earnings from the Railroad business increased 10.6% year over year to $2 billion. 

Total revenues at Manufacturing, Service, and Retailing decreased 3.4% year over year to $53.4 billion. Pre-tax earnings increased 4.7% year over year to $4.6 billion.

Earnings from Manufacturing, Service, and Retailing businesses rose 6.5% year over year to $3.6 billion.

Financial Position

As of June 30, 2025, consolidated shareholders’ equity was $670.3 billion, up 2.8% from the level as of Dec. 31, 2024. At quarter-end, cash and cash equivalents were $96.2 billion, doubled from the level at 2024-end.

BRK.B exited the second quarter of 2025 with a float of about $174 billion, up from $171 billion at Dec. 31, 2024

Cash flow from operating activities totaled $21 billion in the reported quarter, down 13.1% from the year-ago period. BRK.B did not repurchase shares in the first six months of 2025.

Zacks Rank

Berkshire currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Performance of Other Property & Casualty Insurers

NMI Holdings NMIH reported second-quarter 2025 operating net income per share of $1.22, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 5.2%. The bottom line increased 1.7% year over year. NMI Holdings’ total operating revenues of $173.8 million increased 7.2% year over year on higher net premiums earned (up 5.6%) and net investment income (up 20.6%). Revenues beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.9%. Primary insurance in force increased 5.5% to $214.7 billion. 

Annual persistency was 84.1%, down 140 basis points (bps) year over year. New insurance written was $12.5 billion, flat year over year. Underwriting and operating expenses totaled $29.5 million, up 4% year over year. Insurance claims and claim expenses were $13.5 million versus $0.3 million in the year-ago quarter.

RLI Corp. RLI reported second-quarter 2025 operating earnings of 84 cents per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 12%.  The bottom line, however, decreased 2.3% from the prior-year quarter. Operating revenues for the reported quarter were $441 million, up 6.9% year over year, driven by 6% higher net premiums earned and 16% higher net investment income. The top line, however, missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.5%.

Underwriting income of $62.2 million decreased 11.14% year over year. The combined ratio deteriorated 300 bps year over year to 84.5. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the metric was pegged at 88, while our estimate was 42.9.

AXIS Capital Holdings Limited AXS posted second-quarter 2025 operating income of $3.29 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 14.2%. The bottom line increased 12.2% year over year. Total operating revenues of $1.6 billion missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3.2%. The top line, however, rose 5.6% year over year on higher other insurance-related income and net premiums earned.

Net premiums written increased 4% to $1.6 billion, driven by a rise of 8.1% in the Insurance segment, partially offset by a 9.1% decline in the Reinsurance segment. Net investment income decreased 2% year over year to $187 million, primarily attributable to lower income from fixed maturities resulting from lower fixed maturity assets due to the LPT transaction. It was partially offset by higher returns on alternative investments.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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