Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc said on Saturday that disruptions to the global supply chain kept a lid on its ability to generate profit while rising equity prices caused it to sell some stocks and boost its cash hoard to a record, according to Reuters.
Third-quarter operating profit rose 18 percent to $6.47 billion, or about $4,331 per Class A share, from $5.48 billion a year earlier, but fell short of the $4,493 per share forecast by analysts according to Refinitiv I/B/E/S.
Net income declined 66 percent to $10.3 billion, or $6,882 per Class A share, from $30.1 billion, reflecting lower unrealized gains on Berkshire's common stock holdings including Apple Inc and Bank of America Corp.
Berkshire also said it repurchased $7.6 billion of its own stock in the third quarter and $20.2 billion this year, reflecting its need to deploy cash as stock markets set new highs and purchases of whole companies appear too expensive.
Berkshire ended September with $149.2 billion of cash and equivalents and sold about $2 billion more stock than it bought in the quarter.
(With inputs from Reuters)