Berkshire Hathaway delivered a dramatic earnings beat in the second quarter of 2026, with net income nearly doubling on the back of enormous investment portfolio gains.
Net income attributable to shareholders climbed to $25.67 billion, or $17,868 per Class A equivalent share, compared to $12.37 billion, or $8,601 per Class A share, in the same period a year earlier.
The surge was driven largely by $16.08 billion in investment gains, reflecting unrealized appreciation across Berkshire’s vast public equity holdings.
Top positions including Alphabet, Apple, American Express, Bank of America, and Coca-Cola contributed significantly to the quarterly swing in reported earnings.
Those swings have become a defining feature of Berkshire’s income statement since accounting rule changes in 2018 began requiring unrealized gains and losses to flow directly through net income.
Operating earnings, which Berkshire considers a more reliable measure of business performance, rose to $12.98 billion from $11.16 billion in the prior-year period.
Manufacturing, service, and retailing earnings jumped 24% to $4.47 billion, while Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s profit surged 27% to $891 million and BNSF railroad posted a 6% gain to $1.56 billion.
Insurance was the quarter’s soft spot, with underwriting earnings falling 13% to $1.73 billion and insurance investment income declining 9% to $3.06 billion.
The conglomerate repurchased $4.53 billion of its own shares during the quarter, a significant acceleration from the subdued buyback activity seen in the first quarter of the year.
Total first-half repurchases reached $4.76 billion, signaling that Chief Executive Officer Greg Abel is willing to return capital to shareholders when market conditions warrant.
Abel, who took over from Warren Buffett at the start of 2026, presided over a continued expansion of the company’s cash reserves, which swelled to a record $359.2 billion by the end of June.
Alphabet appeared in Berkshire’s list of five largest equity holdings by market value at the end of the quarter, joining longtime positions in American Express, Apple, Bank of America, and Coca-Cola.
Despite the strong earnings report, Berkshire shares have gained only 3% for the year, trailing the S&P 500’s 13% advance over the same period.
The stock has shown more recent momentum, however, rising approximately 9% over the past three months as investors recalibrated expectations under Abel’s leadership.
