[경제] 워런 버핏의 버크셔, 3분기 영업익 40%↑...현금 보유도 역대 최고 수준

LINK : https://www.chosun.com/economy/int_economy/2023/11/05/72LCB5QPBJC3PGMIZLFCA6RZYU/

워런 버핏 버크셔 해서웨이 회장/AP 연합뉴스

‘오마하의 현인’ 워런 버핏이 이끄는 버크셔 해서웨이가 역대 최대 수준의 현금을 보유한 것으로 나타났다.

월스트리트저널(WSJ)에 따르면 버크셔 해서웨이는 4일(현지 시각) 3분기 실적을 발표하면서 현금 보유액이 1572억달러(206조2464억원)라고 밝혔다. 이는 전분기 말 1474억달러보다 7% 늘어난 것으로 2년 전 기록한 사상 최대 현금 보유액 1492억달러를 넘어선 것이다.

WSJ는 “막대한 현금 덕분에 버크셔는 회사의 최고 경영자이자 회장인 버핏이 기업을 인수할 매력적인 기회를 발견하면 바로 뛰어들 수 있는 준비를 하게 됐다”고 평가했다. 버크셔의 부회장이자 버핏의 오랜 사업 파트너인 찰리 멍거는 최근 WSJ와의 인터뷰에서 “버크셔가 또 다른 대형 기업을 인수할 확률이 최소 50 대 50″이라고 말하기도 했다.

한편 3분기 버크셔의 영업이익은 107억6100만달러(14조1200억원)로 지난해 같은 기간 76억5100만달러(10조400억원) 대비 40.6% 증가한 것으로 나타났다. 버크셔 해서웨이가 인수한 보험 영역에서 이익이 개선됐지만, 철도 사업에서는 수익이 감소했다는 게 WSJ의 설명이다.

다만 영업으로 인한 이익이 큰 폭으로 늘었음에도 버크셔는 3분기 128억달러의 순손실을 기록했다. 주가 하락에 따른 투자 손실이 전년 동기 104억달러에서 235억달러로 증가하는 등의 이유로 풀이된다.

버핏 회장은 평소 영업이익이 회사 실적을 가늠하는 더 나은 지표라고 말해왔다. 순이익을 보고할 땐 투자 포트폴리오에서 미실현 손익을 포함하게 돼 있기 때문에 투자한 사업들이 좋은 성과를 내고 있다고 해도 주가 하락분을 반영해야 한다는 이유에서다.

한편 버크셔 해서웨이는 채권 금리 급등에 따라 미 국채에 단기 투자를 했으며, 이 부문 투자는 작년 말 약 930억 달러에서 지난 3분기 말에는 1264억 달러로 증가했다고 설명했다. 또 2분기에 약 14억 달러의 주식을 환매한 후 3분기 동안에는 11억 달러의 자사주를 매입했다고 덧붙였다.

=========================================

(FT) Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway sells stocks as cash pile swells to record levels 

https://www.ft.com/content/4ec10c1b-a365-483f-8566-e2ff47435dd5

Conglomerate offloads more than $5bn worth of US and international shares

Fund managers follow Warren Buffett’s investment decisions closely © zz/NPX/STAR MAX/IPx

Eric Platt in New York 11 hours ago

Berkshire Hathaway’s cash pile surged to a record $157bn in a quarter in which chief executive Warren Buffett continued to sell stakes in publicly traded companies, as the so-called Oracle of Omaha found a dearth of appealing investments.

The company sold more than $5bn worth of US and foreign stocks in the third quarter, according to results released on Saturday. The sales lifted Berkshire’s divestments of listed shares to nearly $40bn over the past year.

Investors must wait a further two weeks before they can see how Buffett adjusted Berkshire’s portfolio (13F 공시). But Saturday’s results filing indicated the company sold more than 12mn Chevron shares before it bought Hess for $53bn in an all-stock deal last month.

The value of Berkshire’s portfolio of shares shrank to $319bn from $353bn at the end of June, a decline fuelled by the slide in the broader stock market as investors came to believe that the Federal Reserve would keep interest rates higher for longer.

That has weighed on the valuations of publicly traded companies and prompted some portfolio managers to search for better returns in fixed income markets. The value of Berkshire’s stake in Apple alone dropped by more than $20bn, as shares of the iPhone maker fell 12 per cent in the three months to the end of September.

Buffett’s investment shifts are closely scrutinised by fund managers and the wider public alike for clues as to where the 93-year-old investor sees attractive returns.

He directed the proceeds from the stock sales, as well as the cash flows Berkshire’s many businesses generated, into cash and Treasury bills. The company’s cash pile surged during the quarter by nearly $10bn to a record $157.2bn, a sum that gives it formidable firepower for acquisitions.

Berkshire has been one of the big beneficiaries of rising US interest rates, which have climbed above 5 per cent this year. The company disclosed that the interest income it was earning on its insurance investments climbed to $1.7bn in the three-month period, lifting the sum to $5.1bn over the past 12 months. That eclipsed the total interest Berkshire earned on its cash reserves in the preceding three years combined.

“Rates are attractive here and it seems like it creates a hurdle or disincentive to put cash to work if you can earn 4 per-cent risk free,” said Jim Shanahan, an analyst at Edward Jones. “I would suspect that the cash balance probably continues to creep higher from here.”

Buffett disclosed that the company repurchased $1.1bn worth of Berkshire stock in the quarter, down from $1.4bn in the second quarter. However, the filing showed purchases had accelerated in August and again in September, in a sign that the billionaire investor believed shares of the company were undervalued.

The company’s operating businesses, which span the BNSF railroad, Geico insurer and aircraft parts maker Precision Castparts, reported a 41 per cent rise in profits to $10.8bn. The gains were fuelled by its insurance unit, which reported strong underwriting profits of $2.4bn, offsetting weakness at BNSF and reserves for losses tied to wildfire litigation against its utility.

Ajit Jain, a Berkshire vice-chair who oversees its insurance operations, told shareholders at the annual meeting in May thatthe company had wagered heavily on the Florida insurance market and had written policies in the hurricane-prone state.

It was a risky bet that Jain estimated could cost Berkshire as much as $15bn if the state was hit by powerful storms. But this year, the state experienced a relatively tame season.

Berkshire on Saturday reported that significant catastrophe losses — individual insurance losses that top(=exceed) $150mn — had only reached $590mn in the first nine months of the year. That figure is down from $3.9bn in the same period last year, when Hurricane Ian pummelled Florida.

(올해 1~3분기 고액 보험료 청구 건수가 85% 감소 - 플로리다에 허리케인 이안 같은 대규모 자연재해가 발생하지 않았기 때문)

The company’s Geico auto-insurer, which had struggled to cope with payouts on claims for much of the past two years, showed improvement. The unit has shed more than 2mn policyholders this year and slashed its advertising budget as it focuses on insurance contracts it believes it can profit from.

Outside of insurance, Berkshire’s earnings underscored the uneven economic growth that has confounded economists and much of the investing world. Sales slid at the apparel and shoemakers it owns, which includes Fruit of the Loom, and its real estate-related businesses which continued to struggle with lower demand given high mortgage rates. BNSF also reported lower rail shipment volumes.

(의류/신발, 부동산, 철도 실적 둔화)

However, the company’s fractional private jet ownership business NetJets reported a jump in demand from wealthy clients, and its auto dealerships reported rising sales of new vehicles.

(부유층 대상 개인용 제트기 임대 업체, 자동차 판매 대리점 실적 호조)

“There is an emerging theme this earnings season that the lower-end consumer is starting to show some cracks, that they may not have much excess liquidity and that they are feeling the pressure from higher costs,” Shanahan added.

(저소득층의 소비가 약화되는 징후가 나타나고 있음 - 잉여 저축이 소진되고 있으며 인플레이션의 압박을 받고 있음)

Berkshire also detailed the continued fallout from the 2020 and 2022 wildfires that spread through California and Oregon. The company took a $1.4bn charge in the period for payouts its utility will probably have to make to individuals who lost their homes in the blaze, lifting the cumulative charges it has taken for the wildfires to $2.4bn.

Berkshire has warned its ultimate payouts may be far higher; plaintiffs in Oregon alone have sought $8bn in damages.

(버크셔 소유 전력업체가 캘리포니아/오리건 주 대형산불 관련 거액의 피해 보상 소송을 당했음. 버크셔는 향후 보상금이 더 커질 수 있다고 경고했음.)

The decline of the company’s stock portfolio, which is accounted for in Berkshire’s profit statement, dragged down the overall results. The company registered a net loss of $12.8bn, or $8,824 per class A share, compared with a $2.8bn net loss a year before.

Buffett has long characterised the net earnings figures as meaningless, saying the figures can be “extremely misleading to investors who have little or no knowledge of accounting rules”.

(투자한 기업이 좋은 실적을 거뒀음에도 주가하락으로 인해 순손실 기록. 기업의 본질적인 영업활동을 통해 창출한 영업이익이 당기순이익보다 중요하다는 것이 워렌 버핏의 지론)