Stock of Warren Buffet’s insurance conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway was on the rise during premarket trading on Monday, following a strong quarterly earnings report over the weekend.
The holdings company, which owns Geico and Dairy Queen, closed on Friday with a market capitalization of $905 billion. Berkshire Hathaway’s class b stock was up 2% Monday morning, getting it closer to crossing the $1 trillion threshold. Its share price has already risen 17% since the start of the year.
Only seven companies in the world currently have a market cap over $1 trillion, including Microsoft at $3 trillion and and Apple at $2.8 trillion. The other companies in this exclusive club are Saudi Aramco, Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia and Meta.
Berkshire Hathaway’s fourth quarter by the numbers
Berkshire Hathaway’s fourth-quarter operating earnings — the company’s earrings from its insurance, railroad and utilities businesses — grew 28% to $8.48 billion, up from $6.63 billion during the same period the prior year.
The company’s cash pile grew to a record $167.6 billion in quarter four, up 12% from $157.2 billion in previous quarter.
In his annual letter to shareholders, Buffett paid tribute Charlie Munger, the vice chair of Berkshire who died last November. He also said that pundits should “always be ignored.”