Berkshire HathawayDue to the continued recovery in the railroad, utilities, energy and other businesses following the pandemic it saw another double-digit growth in its operating profits. Warren Buffett remained at the sidelines, while the cash pile reached a new record.

According to Saturday’s earnings report, the conglomerate posted an operating income of $6.47Billion for the third quarter. That is 18% more than the $5.48B reported a year ago.

Berkshire had a cash balance of $149.2 Billion at the end September. This is an increase from the $144.1 Billion in the second quarter. Buffett has not made any significant acquisitions in recent years, as the market for deal-making turned more competitive and valuations reached record levels.

Berkshire was able to raise record amounts of cash despite its aggressive share buybacks. In the third quarter of 2013, the company bought $7.6 trillion in its stock, which brought the total for the nine months to $20.2 billion. Berkshire bought $24.7 billion worth of its stock in the last year.

Berkshire’s equity investments fluctuating led to overall earnings falling by more than 60% in the third quarter. Berkshire only received $3.8billion in equity returns last quarter, as opposed to $24.8billion gain the previous year.

Buffett stated that investors should not place too much importance on quarterly fluctuations in their investment gains and losses.

The conglomerate stated in its quarterly report that “the amount of investment gains/losses for any quarter is often meaningless” and provided figures for net earnings per shares. This can be very misleading for investors with little to no accounting knowledge.

Berkshire’s B shares are up more than 24% this year, sitting about 2% below its record high reached in May.

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