Berkshire Keeps Buying Back Stock Even as Underwriting and Retail Demand Lose Steam

Berkshire Hathaway’s capital machine is still running even as the businesses beneath it cool. The conglomerate spent roughly $9.6 billion on its own shares in the third quarter of 2026, then kept going: Reuters reported yesterday that it bought back about $2 billion more in October, extending a program that has now consumed some $14.4 billion through the first nine months of the year.

That steady flow of repurchases is the backdrop against which investors are weighing a softer set of quarterly figures — and a pair of smaller portfolio disclosures that surfaced in SEC filings.

A $2 Billion October Extension

The October buying matters less for its size than for what it signals. By deploying capital after the quarter closed, Berkshire showed the buyback is a standing policy rather than a one-off response to a single reporting period. The question for shareholders is no longer whether the company will repurchase stock, but whether the earnings engine can keep up its end of the bargain.

For the third quarter, Berkshire reported operating profit of $12.705 billion, down from $13.485 billion a year earlier. Net income attributable to shareholders fell to $22.112 billion from $30.796 billion. Both headline measures moved lower.

Insurance and Retail Both Under Pressure

The sources of the decline are not concentrated in one place. Reuters pointed to a weaker underwriting result and sluggish demand at several retail operations as economic uncertainty weighs on consumers. Net underwriting earnings across the insurance and reinsurance businesses slipped to $1.352 billion in the quarter.

There is a partial offset. Premiums in the property and casualty reinsurance unit reportedly continued to benefit from the Tokio Marine agreement. But that tailwind has yet to show through in the bottom line, and until it does, the buybacks are working without much operational backup.

The breadth of the softness is what makes it tricky. Insurance and retail face separate challenges, so an improvement in one may not be enough to steady the whole. Investors looking for a durable bullish case would want to see reinsurance premiums translate into stronger underwriting income and retail demand recover at the same time.

DaVita Stake Trimmed, Sirius XM Position Grown

Away from the earnings picture, Berkshire’s Form 4 filings showed two portfolio adjustments. On October 27 the company sold roughly 383,000 DaVita shares. In a separate disclosure, it bought about 924,000 Sirius XM shares for approximately $26.9 million, lifting its reported holding to some 126 million shares.

Media reports point to November 16, 2026 as the expected deadline for Berkshire’s next 13F filing, which would detail reported equity holdings as of September 30, 2026. That document should give a fuller view of how the portfolio has been reshaped.

The Next Test

The stock added 0.5% on Friday to close at €512.70, a modest move that suggests investors are not yet treating the weaker quarter as a verdict. The more telling signal will come with further earnings releases covering operating profit, underwriting results and retail demand.

If those numbers stabilize, the October purchases will look like conviction. If the pressure persists, the gap between how much Berkshire is spending on itself and how much its businesses are earning will become harder to ignore.