Berkshire Hathaway’s fourth-quarter operating earnings weren’t great, but they were better than the headline decline of 30%.

Adjust for a $1.56 billion noncash goodwill impairment loss related to four of Berkshire’s subsidiaries, and some other one-time factors, and the drop in operating profits would have been closer to 20%, Barron’s estimates.

The apparent goodwill write-down in the period was disclosed deep in the company’s 2025 10-K r eport, but not flagged in the earnings press release on Saturday.

Berkshire included that after-tax impairment in its “Other” Income segment of operating income even as it excluded a $4.5 billion noncash write-down of its equity stake in Occidental Petroleum from its fourth-quarter operating income.

Among the other highlights from the earnings and annual report package that all came out Saturday was that a cash dividend isn’t likely anytime soon, and that Berkshire’s stock buyback drought continues. Berkshire CEO Greg Abel wrote about those topics in his inaugural shareholder letter.

There were no stock buybacks in the fourth quarter or the month of January 2026 as Berkshire now hasn’t repurchased stock since May 2024.

Warren Buffett, 95, who retired as CEO at year-end in favor of Abel, 63, appears to be playing a key role in capital allocation, particularly buybacks. Berkshire disclosed in its 10-K that Abel needs to consult with Buffett, now chairman, on whether to repurchase stock. When he was CEO, Buffett had unilateral authority on buybacks.

On Berkshire’s earnings, the company reported a 30% decline in operating profits after taxes to $10.2 billion in the fourth quarter, about $1.6 billion less than the consensus estimate.

However, Berkshire took a $1.56 billion noncash goodwill impairment charge after taxes during 2025—likely in the fourth quarter—that wasn’t highlighted in the earnings release. It was disclosed on page K-54 of the annual report.

The $1.56 billion goodwill impairment appeared related to Pilot, the truck-stop operator, and three other Berkshire subsidiaries based on disclosure in the 10-K. Pilot had a weak 2025 as pretax earnings dropped to $190 million from $614 million in 2024 and almost $1 billion in 2023.

Berkshire said it conducts an annual goodwill impairment test for its units in the fourth quarter, suggesting that the impairment came in that period.

Pilot’s fair value is $20.2 billion and its carrying value is $18.7 billion, Berkshire said. That’s above the $13 billion-plus that Berkshire paid for it in three stages and a high valuation relative to its meager reported earnings.

Most companies would exclude a goodwill impairment from their operating earnings since it’s a one-time, noncash charge. But Berkshire is very conservative in presenting its operating earnings, and it normally just excludes often volatile investment gains and losses (mostly unrealized) that need to be reported in its GAAP income.

Adjusting for goodwill impairment and noncash currency gains in both the fourth quarter of 2025 and 2024, Barron’s estimates that Berkshire’s operating profits were down about 19% in the fourth quarter.

The main reason for the drop in operating earnings was a 54% decline in insurance underwriting profits to $1.6 billion, reflecting more competitive conditions in the property and casualty insurance market.

“These results were mediocre,” says Cathy Seifert, an analyst at CFRA. Seifert notes that Berkshire’s revenue was flat in 2025 at $371 billion, while operating earnings were down about 6% to $44.5 billion. Adjust for goodwill and other factors and operating income was closer to flat last year versus 2024. She is concerned about the lack of top-line growth at Berkshire.

Berkshire stock, now trading at $757,000 for the A shares, is valued at 1.5 times its year-end 2025 book value, in line with its ratio in recent years. It’s not cheap trading for about 24 times projected 2026 operating earnings with the P&C insurance business facing pressure. Wall Street expects low single-digit growth in earnings this year.

Even a “look-through” P/E that adjusts for the company’s equity portfolio probably is close to 20 times now.

Seifert says Berkshire doesn’t provide the level of detail of other insurers.

The company releases overall insurance underwriting results in the fourth quarter, but doesn’t provide a breakdown by insurance unit including Geico, its auto insurer. Investors need to look at the annual results and compare them to the third-quarter results to calculate the fourth-quarter results of the various insurance units.

Geico’s underwriting profits were down about 40% in the fourth quarter to about $1 billion, one investor calculated and told Barron’s.

Given the complexity of Berkshire’s results, investors would benefit from commentary from CEO Abel and quarterly conference calls, but Abel plans to continue the Buffett tradition of avoiding the calls.

“We concentrate on quality, not frequency. If a significant issue arises, you will hear from me, but it will not be through quarterly commentary, given our long-term horizo n,” Abel wrote in his annual letter.

Abel quashed the idea of a Berkshire cash dividend, and one doesn’t look likely as long as Buffett is alive given his opposition to it and his control of the Berkshire board.

“Our approach to cash dividends continues to be that Berkshire will not pay dividends so long as more than one dollar of market value for shareholders is reasonably likely to be created by each dollar of retained earnings. On an annual basis, the Board reviews our policy,” Abel wrote.

The case for a dividend is that Berkshire is sitting on a near-record $373 billion of cash, including $127 billion at the parent company where there are restrictions on distribution to shareholders—most of the rest is at insurance units.

Berkshire has been a net seller of stocks for three years in a row and made few notable acquisitions in recent years. It’s a discriminating buyer at a time when trillions of dollars in dry power elsewhere in the investment world is much less demanding.

Total cash could hit $400 billion at year-end 2026 even after the purchase of Occidental Petroleum’s chemical business earlier this year for under $10 billion.

Abel took on critics in his letter. “Many times in Berkshire’s history, some observers have suggested that our substantial cash position signals a retreat from investing. It does not. We continue to evaluate many opportunities and will remain patient and disciplined in pursuing the right ones for the benefit of our owners.”

The difference now is that cash is triple what it was several years ago and Abel isn’t Buffett.