Berkshire Hathaway’s cash pile grew to a record $277 billion as of the end of June 2022, up from $189 billion in Q1.
Berkshire sold about half its stake in Apple during Q1 and Q2, totaling about 505 million shares. Apple remained Berkshire’s largest single stock holding.
The substantial cash holdings and Apple stock sales suggest Buffett may be taking a more defensive stance due to economic uncertainty or high stock valuations.
Berkshire’s operating earnings set a record at $11.6 billion in Q2, driven mainly by its insurance businesses like Geico. However, revenue rose just 1% to $93.6 billion.
Berkshire repurchased little of its own stock in Q2 compared to prior quarters, another indication Buffett sees limited opportunities for deployment of Berkshire’s huge cash reserves.
The large cash pile allows Berkshire to take advantage of opportunities Buffett sees as very low risk with high potential returns, but he has struggled to find such investments recently.
Source: Reuters
