Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) Reports Q4 EPS of $2,529; Comments on 'Next 50 Years'

Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) reported Q4 EPS of $2,529.00, versus $3,035.00 reported last year.

Operating earnings, which excludes some investment gains, were $2,412 per share, from $2,297 per share in Q413.

Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger also issued an annual shareholder letter. Notably, in one section of the letter, Buffett comments:

The larger the company, the greater will be our interest: We would like to make an acquisition in the $5-20 billion range. We are not interested, however, in receiving suggestions about purchases we might make in the general stock market.

We will not engage in unfriendly takeovers. We can promise complete confidentiality and a very fast answer – customarily within five minutes – as to whether we’re interested. We prefer to buy for cash, but will consider issuing stock when we receive as much in intrinsic business value as we give. We don’t participate in auctions.

Charlie and I frequently get approached about acquisitions that don’t come close to meeting our tests: We’ve found that if you advertise an interest in buying collies, a lot of people will call hoping to sell you their cocker spaniels. A line from a country song expresses our feeling about new ventures, turnarounds, or auction-like sales: “When the phone don’t ring, you’ll know it’s me.”

The letter is embedded below:

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) click here.

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