Warren Buffett sitting on over $325 billion cash as Berkshire Hathaway keeps selling Apple stock

OMAHA: Warren Buffett is now sitting on more than USD 325 billion cash after continuing to unload billions of dollars worth of Apple and Bank of America shares this year and continuing to collect a steady stream of profits from all of Berkshire Hathaway's assorted businesses without finding any major acquisitions. Berkshire said it sold off more Apple shares in the third quarter after halving its massive investment in the iPhone maker last quarter. The stake valued at USD 69.9 billion at the end of September remains Berkshire's biggest single investment, but it has been cut drastically since the end of last year when it was worth USD 174.3 billion.

Berkshire said Saturday that investment gains again drove its third quarter profits skyward to USD 26.25 billion, or USD 18,272 per Class A share. A year ago, unrealised paper investment losses dragged the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate's earnings down to a loss of USD 12.77 billion, or USD 8,824 per Class A share.

Buffett has long recommended that investors pay more attention to Berkshire's operating earnings if they want to get a good sense of how the businesses it owns are doing because those numbers exclude investments. Berkshire's bottom-line profit figures can vary widely from quarter to quarter along with the value of its investments regardless of whether the company bought or sold anything.

By that measure, Berkshire said its operating earnings were only down about 6% at USD 10.09 billion, or USD 7,023.01 per Class A share. That compares to last year's USD 10.8 billion, or USD 7,437.15 per Class A share.

The four analysts surveyed by FactSet Research predicted that Berkshire would report operating earnings of USD 7,335.11 per Class A share.

Berkshire's revenue didn't change much at USD 92.995 billion. A year ago, it reported USD 93.21 billion revenue. That number was ahead of the USD 92.231 billion revenue that three analysts surveyed by FactSet predicted.

Berkshire owns an assortment of insurance businesses, including Geico, along with BNSF railroad, several major utilities and a varied collection of retail and manufacturing businesses, including brands like Dairy Queen and See's Candy.
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