More from Barron's ;-)

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway could report record third-quarter operating earnings along with many other property and casualty insurers, thanks in part to an unusually light hurricane season so far. No named hurricanes made landfall in the U.S. during September for the first time in a decade, and the lack of major storm activity has continued into the first half of October.

CFRA’s Cathy Seifert lifted her Berkshire operating earnings estimate by 15 cents to $5.55 for the third quarter using the company’s Class B shares. That would be a record quarter for Berkshire and translate into about $12 billion of after-tax operating profits. She boosted her 2025 projection by 15 cents to $20.65 for the B shares. She lifted her price target on the B shares to $510, against a current price of $495, but maintained a Hold rating on the stock.

The company should have a robust third-quarter based on both operating earnings (which exclude investment gains or losses) and overall profits given strong gains in the company’s $300 billion equity portfolio led by Apple. Barron’s estimates that third-quarter book value could top $485,000 based on the A shares, up close to 5% versus the June 30 figure.

Berkshire’s Class A stock, now at $743,000, trades for about 1.5 times that third-quarter estimate, in line with the price-to-book ratio in recent years.