Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK-B) reported third-quarter operating earnings of $12.71 billion, down from $13.49 billion a year earlier, as insurance underwriting and investment income receded while the rail and energy units posted higher results.

Net earnings attributable to Berkshire shareholders were $22.11 billion, or $15,502 a share on average equivalent Class A shares, compared with $30.80 billion, or $21,413 a share, in the third quarter of 2025. Investment gains were $9.41 billion versus $17.31 billion a year earlier.

The company said investment gains in 2026 included $7.7 billion of after-tax unrealized equity gains in the third quarter, versus $9.2 billion in the year-ago quarter, and $1.7 billion of after-tax realized gains on sales, versus $8.1 billion. It again cautioned that the amount of investment gains in any given quarter is usually meaningless and can produce misleading per-share figures.

Insurance underwriting earnings fell to $1.35 billion from $2.37 billion a year earlier, a steeper drop than the second-quarter 2026 level of $1.73 billion. Insurance investment income declined to $2.73 billion from $3.18 billion a year earlier, after $3.06 billion in the second quarter.

BNSF operating earnings rose to $1.73 billion from $1.45 billion a year earlier, extending the second-quarter 2026 increase to $1.56 billion. Berkshire Hathaway Energy operating earnings increased to $1.61 billion from $1.49 billion a year earlier, after a second-quarter 2026 rebound to $891 million from $702 million.

Manufacturing, service and retailing operating earnings were $4.04 billion, up from $3.62 billion a year earlier, after $4.47 billion in the second quarter of 2026. Other operating earnings fell to $1.24 billion from $1.38 billion a year earlier; the 2026 Other line included $343 million of foreign-currency exchange losses on non-U.S. dollar debt versus $331 million of such gains in the year-ago quarter.

Berkshire acquired approximately $9.6 billion in treasury shares during the third quarter of 2026, bringing the nine-month total to about $14.4 billion. On September 30, 2026, there were 1,418,900 Class A equivalent shares outstanding.

Insurance float was approximately $178.5 billion at September 30, 2026, an increase of about $2.1 billion since year-end 2025. Average equivalent Class A shares outstanding in the third quarter were 1,426,372, versus 1,438,223 a year earlier.

The company said it engages in insurance and reinsurance, utilities and energy, freight rail transportation, manufacturing, services and retailing, and that GAAP requires changes in unrealized gains on equity securities to be included in investment gains.