Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway spent $9.6 billion buying back its own shares in the third quarter, the conglomerate disclosed over the weekend — its single biggest repurchase haul ever, and more than double the $4.5 billion it spent on buybacks just one quarter earlier. The company has now plowed roughly $14.4 billion into stock buybacks so far this year.

The buyback blitz came even as Berkshire's headline numbers slipped. Operating earnings — the profit generated by its wholly owned businesses, stripped of investment swings — fell 5.8% year over year to $12.705 billion, down from $13.485 billion a year ago, according to the company's own earnings release. Including investment gains and losses, overall net earnings dropped 28% to $22.112 billion, as investment gains fell nearly 50% to $9.407 billion.

The insurance side of the business bore the brunt of the slowdown. Underwriting profit — the core measure of how well Berkshire's insurers price risk versus what they pay out in claims — dropped 43% to $1.352 billion, and insurance investment income fell 14% to $2.734 billion. Berkshire's railroad, energy and manufacturing units all posted year-over-year growth, cushioning the blow, CNBC reported following the release.

Cash pile keeps climbing

Berkshire's famous cash hoard grew again, too. Total cash rose 3% from the prior quarter to $377.435 billion, from $365.514 billion — even after the massive buyback spending. Excluding railroad and utility cash along with T-bill payables, the figure stood at $352.3 billion. The company's five largest stock holdings were unchanged: Alphabet, American Express, Apple, Bank of America and Coca-Cola, according to a 247wallst.com analysis of the filing.

BERKSHIRE'S BIGGEST-EVER QUARTERLY BUYBACK — $9.6 BILLION, DOUBLE THE PRIOR QUARTER'S PACE

The numbers land at an unusual moment for Berkshire, now run day-to-day by chief executive Greg Abel following Buffett's long-telegraphed handoff of the reins. Despite the earnings dip, Berkshire's Class A shares have outperformed the broader market lately — up more than 12% over the past month while the S&P 500 fell 5.5%, and up 13% for the year versus 7.8% for the index, a gap Seeking Alpha attributed partly to investors rotating out of high-flying technology stocks and into steadier conglomerates.

Berkshire doesn't hold earnings calls or offer forward guidance, so Wall Street is left to read the buyback acceleration as a signal in itself: that management still sees Berkshire's own stock as a better bet than the acquisitions or investments on offer elsewhere in a market that has been gyrating over AI-related valuations for weeks. Analysts will be watching whether the pace continues into the fourth quarter, since Berkshire has historically slowed repurchases whenever it judged its own shares to be expensive relative to intrinsic value.