Executive Summary

Operating earnings of $11.16B declined 3.8% year over year, while net earnings attributable to shareholders were $12.37B; Class B diluted EPS was $5.73 versus $7.87 in Q2 2024 .
Berkshire recorded an other-than-temporary impairment on Kraft Heinz of $(3.76)B, and “Other” operating earnings were impacted by $877M of FX losses on non-USD debt .
Segment highlights: BNSF operating earnings increased to $1.47B (from $1.23B in Q2 2024), Insurance investment income rose to $3.37B, and Manufacturing, Service & Retailing improved to $3.60B .
Wall Street consensus: Berkshire beat EPS and revenue estimates; actual Class B EPS was $5.17* vs. $5.01* consensus; revenue was $92.52B* vs. $82.23B* consensus (no formal guidance provided; Berkshire does not hold quarterly earnings calls) [Values retrieved from S&P Global].

What Went Well and What Went Wrong

What Went Well

Insurance investment income rose to $3.37B, reflecting higher yields on large cash and fixed income holdings .
BNSF operating earnings increased to $1.47B, reflecting improved rail profitability vs. prior year .
Manufacturing, service and retailing operating earnings climbed to $3.60B from $3.38B, highlighting resilience across diversified businesses .
Quote: “The limited information that follows in this press release is not adequate for making an informed investment judgment,” underscoring Berkshire’s emphasis on full 10-Q context .
Quote: “The amount of investment gains (losses) in any given quarter is usually meaningless… and can be extremely misleading,” reinforcing focus on operating earnings over GAAP mark-to-market volatility .

What Went Wrong

Other-than-temporary impairment on Kraft Heinz of $(3.76)B dragged net results and created a notable headline impact .
FX losses of $877M in “Other” reduced operating earnings in the quarter; the same line had a $446M FX gain in Q2 2024, creating a tough YoY compare .
Insurance underwriting operating earnings decreased year over year to $1.99B from $2.26B, reflecting a softer underwriting contribution vs. strong 2024 levels .

Financial Results

Metric	Q2 2024 (YoY Base)	Q1 2025 (Seq Base)	Q2 2025 (Current)
Revenue ($USD Billions)	$93.65*	$89.73*	$92.52*
Net earnings attributable to shareholders ($USD Billions)	$16.97	$4.60	$12.37
EPS (Class B, $USD)	$7.87	$2.13	$5.73
Operating earnings ($USD Billions)	$11.60	$9.64	$11.16

Note: Asterisks (*) indicate values retrieved from S&P Global.

Estimates vs. Actuals

Metric	Consensus	Actual	Surprise
EPS (Class B, $USD)	$5.01*	$5.17*	+$0.16 (+3.2%)*
Revenue ($USD Billions)	$82.23*	$92.52*	+$10.29 (+12.5%)*

Note: EPS consensus and actual derived from S&P Global Primary EPS (Class A) divided by 1/1,500 to present Class B equivalent. Values retrieved from S&P Global.

Segment Operating Earnings ($USD Millions)

Segment	Q2 2024	Q1 2025	Q2 2025
Insurance – underwriting	$2,263	$1,336	$1,992
Insurance – investment income	$3,320	$2,893	$3,367
BNSF	$1,227	$1,214	$1,466
Berkshire Hathaway Energy	$655	$1,097	$702
Manufacturing, service & retailing	$3,380	$3,060	$3,601
Other	$753	$41	$32
Total operating earnings	$11,598	$9,641	$11,160

Key KPIs and Items

KPI/Item	Q2 2025
Insurance float ($USD Billions)	$174
FX impact in “Other” ($USD Millions)	$(877)
Change in unrealized gains ($USD Billions)	$1.5 gain in Q2
Realized gains ($USD Billions)	$4.2 in Q2
Kraft Heinz impairment ($USD Billions)	$(3.76)
Avg. Class B shares outstanding (Millions)	2,157.335

Guidance Changes

Berkshire does not provide quarterly guidance.

Metric	Period	Previous Guidance	Current Guidance	Change
Revenue	FY/Quarter	N/A	N/A	No formal guidance
EPS	FY/Quarter	N/A	N/A	No formal guidance
Operating metrics (segments)	FY/Quarter	N/A	N/A	No formal guidance
Tax rate / OI&E / OpEx	FY/Quarter	N/A	N/A	No formal guidance
Dividends	FY/Quarter	N/A	N/A	No formal guidance

Earnings Call Themes & Trends

Berkshire does not hold quarterly earnings calls; no Q2 2025 earnings call transcript exists in our document catalog [ListDocuments result showing 0 transcripts]. For broader narrative, management’s consistent emphasis (press releases and annual meeting) is on operating earnings and caution against interpreting GAAP mark-to-market volatility.

Topic	Previous Mentions (Q4 2024, Q1 2025)	Current Period (Q2 2025)	Trend
GAAP investment gains volatility	Highlighted as “usually meaningless” in earnings materials	Reiterated strongly	Stable emphasis
Segment mix across non-insurance ops	Mixed performance across businesses discussed at annual meeting (21 up / 28 down)	Manufacturing/Service/Retailing up; BNSF up	Improving in Q2 from Q1
Energy (BHE)	Prior-year challenges noted at annual meeting	BHE operating earnings $702M vs $655M YoY; down vs Q1’s $1,097M	Sequential normalization
FX exposure on non-USD debt	FX gains in Q4 2024; losses in Q1 and Q2 2025	$(877)M FX losses in “Other”	Headwind in 1H25
Insurance underwriting	Strong 2024 comparator; softer in Q1 and Q2 2025	$1.99B vs $2.26B YoY	Moderating vs 2024 highs

Management Commentary

“The limited information that follows in this press release is not adequate for making an informed investment judgment.”
“The amount of investment gains (losses) in any given quarter is usually meaningless and delivers figures for net earnings per share that can be extremely misleading…”
Insurance float reached ~$174B at June 30, 2025, up ~$3B since year-end 2024 .
Operating earnings definition excludes investment gains/losses, impairments of goodwill/intangibles, and OTTI of equity method investments to better reflect underlying performance .

Q&A Highlights

No quarterly earnings call or Q&A session for Q2 2025 (Berkshire does not routinely hold quarterly calls; none found for the period in our document catalog).

Estimates Context

EPS: Berkshire beat consensus; Class B EPS $5.17* vs. $5.01* consensus (+3.2%)*. Class A Primary EPS actual 7,759.58 vs. 7,514.24 consensus (converted to Class B by 1/1,500) [Values retrieved from S&P Global].
Revenue: Berkshire beat consensus; $92.52B* actual vs. $82.23B* consensus (+12.5%)* [Values retrieved from S&P Global].
Prior quarter and prior-year context: Q1 2025 EPS Class B $4.47* actual vs. $4.77* consensus; Q2 2024 EPS Class B $5.38* actual vs. $4.08* consensus [Values retrieved from S&P Global].

Key Takeaways for Investors

Core profitability resilient: Operating earnings of $11.16B held near prior-year levels despite FX losses and an OTTI impairment; segment-level strength at BNSF and Manufacturing/Service/Retailing offsets softer underwriting .
Quality of earnings matters: Management’s consistent push to look through GAAP investment swings means operating earnings and segment detail are the right lens for valuation and trajectory .
Insurance engine intact: Investment income remains a tailwind ($3.37B), supported by large cash/T-bill positioning; underwriting remains strong but normalizing vs. exceptional 2024 .
Capital and liquidity: Insurance float increased to $174B; continued capacity to deploy in attractive opportunities while maintaining conservative balance sheet posture .
Estimate updates: Expect models to adjust FX assumptions (less favorable) and reflect OTTI on Kraft Heinz, while revising segment run-rates higher for BNSF and Manufacturing/Service/Retailing .
No guidance and limited disclosures: Absence of quarterly guidance and calls shifts focus to the 10-Q/segment data; traders should watch media narratives around OTTI and FX, but PMs should anchor on operating earnings and segment trends .
Near-term implication: With beats on revenue and EPS versus consensus and mixed segment dynamics, narrative likely centers on durability of the operating engine, FX normalization, and any incremental insights from the 10-Q to refine the trajectory .

Auxiliary documents read:

Q2 2025 8-K and press release (including correcting notice) .
Q1 2025 8-K press release .
Q4 2024 8-K press release .
Information release timing notice .

S&P Global estimates disclaimer: All values marked with an asterisk (*) were retrieved from S&P Global.

BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC (BRK-B)·Q2 2025 Earnings Summary