Berkshire Hathaway shares rise as investors cheer earnings beat and Geico's quick turnaround

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OMAHA, Neb. — Berkshire Hathaway shares rose on Monday as Warren Buffett's conglomerate wooed investors with a strong earnings report and an insightful «Woodstock for Capitalists» over the weekend.

Berkshire's B shares climbed 1.5% in premarket trading, set to add to their 5% gain so far this year. Berkshire Class A shares hit a 52-week high early last week, briefly topping $500,000.

For the first quarter, the Omaha-based conglomerate reported a 12.6% jump in operating earnings, which encompass profits made from an array of businesses, ranging from insurance to railroads, and utilities to Dairy Queen.

The strong performance was driven by a rebound in Berkshire's insurance business, especially auto insurer Geico. Earnings also rose sharply thanks in part to gains in its equity portfolio, led by Apple. 

«We continue to believe BRK's shares are an attractive play in an uncertain macro environment,» said Brian Meredith, Berkshire analyst at UBS, who also raised full-year earnings estimates following the Q1 report.

Berkshire also repurchased $4.4 billion worth of stock — the most since the first quarter of 2021 — up from $2.8 billion at the end of last year.

Geico, the crown jewel of Berkshire's insurance empire and Buffett's favorite child, saw a big turnaround in the quarter, returning to an underwriting profit of $703 million. The auto insurer suffered a $1.9 billion pretax underwriting loss last year as it sacrificed market share to competitor Progressive. 

Ajit Jain, Berkshire's vice chairman of insurance operations, said Saturday that auto insurer Geico is «taking the bull by the horns» to improve the use of telematics. Geico has reached a point where about 90% of new businesses has a telematic input on