Berkshire Hathaway Hits Record High After Stunning Profit Report

Berkshire Hathaway shares soared to an all-time high on Monday following the conglomerate’s announcement of its best-ever quarterly profit. Class A shares jumped 4% to close at $747,485.49, briefly touching $755,968 during the day’s trading.

Record-Breaking Performance

The Warren Buffett-led company reported that profit from its 189 operating businesses surged 71% to $14.53 billion in the fourth quarter. Excluding currency gains, profits reached $13.38 billion, exceeding analyst forecasts.

Key highlights:

• Full-year operating profit up 27% to a record $47.44 billion
• Cash position doubled in 2024 to $334.2 billion
• Total net income, including stock gains and losses, hit $89 billion
• Market value rose to $1.08 trillion

Insurance Turnaround Drives Growth

Buffett praised Geico CEO Todd Combs in his annual shareholder letter for dramatically improving the car insurer’s performance. Geico’s underwriting profit more than doubled in 2024 despite cutting over 2,300 jobs, following 7,700 job reductions in 2023.

Several analysts have raised their price targets and earnings forecasts for Berkshire following the report. UBS analyst Brian Meredith noted that Geico “appears to have firmly turned the corner.”

Buffett’s Future

The 94-year-old Buffett, who has led Berkshire since 1965, acknowledged the company’s eventual leadership transition in his letter: “At 94, it won’t be long before Greg Abel replaces me as CEO and will be writing the annual letters.” Abel, 62, currently serves as a Berkshire vice chairman.

Buffett’s personal fortune increased to $155.5 billion following the share price rise, ranking him sixth worldwide according to Forbes magazine.