Warren Buffett’s firm Berkshire Hathaway doubles profits, rebuys $900 million stock

NEW YORK — Warren Buffett's sprawling company Berkshire Hathaway doubled its operating profit to $6.88 billion from $3.44 billion in the same quarter last year, as its core insurance division dodged catastrophic natural disasters and benefited from tax cuts.

The multinational conglomerate on Saturday reported third-quarter earnings of $18.54 billion, or $7.53 per share, up from last year's $2.47 billion, or 1.65 per share. Last year's weak profits were partly the result of an earthquake in Mexico and major hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. 

Buffet's holdings in the insurance industry are sizable, and when hurricanes cause water damage, insurers are responsible for footing some of the bills. 

Berkshire Hathaway, which owns BNSF railroad, the Geico insurer, and NetJets private jets, also benefited in the July to September period from improvements across its railroad, utilities and energy businesses.

The strong results gave Buffet an opportunity to repurchase $928 million of its stock, which is a rare move for Berkshire.

The last time the firm bought back shares was in the fourth quarter of 2012 when the Omaha, Nebraska-based company spent 1.2 billion to repurchase a block of stock, most of which belonged to a longtime shareholder.

In July, the company eliminated a restriction that capped its ability to buy back its own stock, allowing the legendary CEO to deploy more of the conglomerate's $108 billion of cash and equivalents.

Under the policy, stock buybacks can be performed any time that Buffett and Berkshire Vice Chairman Charlie Munger believe that the repurchase price is “below Berkshire’s intrinsic value, conservatively determined.” 

Berkshire Hathaway also has investments in companies such as Apple, Coca-Cola and American Express.

Class A shares closed at $308,411 per share on Friday.

Follow Dalvin Brown on Twitter: @Dalvin_Brown