What to watch for in Berkshire's earnings report ... and it's not earnings
| "Watch the Stock Buybacks" in Berkshire's Saturday earnings report Berkshire Hathaway is scheduled to release its second quarter financial report on berkshirehathaway.com this Saturday morning around 8 AM ET.
Andrew Bary of Barron's writes that because most shareholders follow Buffett's example and only worry about the long term, quarterly earnings aren't all that important to them. (Buffett especially urges investors to ignore net earnings, which fluctuate wildly based on the stock portfolio's paper gains and losses, and look at operating earnings, reflecting profits at the Berkshire-owned companies. They're expected to fall 12% from last year's figure.)
But Bary thinks investors should pay attention to a particular number: how much of its own stock Berkshire bought back in the quarter.
Last summer, Buffett and partner Charlie Munger gave themselves more flexibility to buy back shares. Since then, Bary says, the pace has been "underwhelming." ($1.4B in the second half of last year and $1.6B in Q1.)
Given Berkshire's enormous cash pile, substantial operating earnings, and the stock's relatively thin premium to the S&P, there are some solid reasons to do bigger buybacks, which would make a lot of shareholders happy. (Buffett himself loves it when companies in his stock portfolio do buybacks.)
But Bary says "it's far from certain that Berkshire will step up the pace" for several reasons.
It appears to limit buybacks in a quarter until it reports, about a month after the previous quarter ends, probably to avoid having inside information (the earnings) when it buys. And it doesn't seem to have an automatic buyback system that would eliminate that problem.
Plus, Berkshire's small trading volumes make it harder to buy back shares without affecting their price.
Bill Murray is latest celebrity to share ice cream with Buffett Actor and comedian Bill Murray and Buffett got a bit of attention when they sat down for ice cream in Ohama Thursday.
The Omaha World-Herald reports "a few customers sat and glanced at the pair, but no crowd gathered as the actor and billionaire were engrossed in conversation." (The newspaper posted a nice photo of the two men laughing together.)
There were, however, two hugs and some selfies with young fans, as shown on the websites of the ABC TV affiliate and the CBS affiliate.
The Berkshire-owned World-Herald also reports that when Murray was asked what brought him to Omaha, he replied, "Alaska Airlines." Buffett chuckled. (I'm reminded of John Lennon's response to a similar question in a very funny scene from "A Hard Day's Night.")
Interestingly Murray and Buffett weren't at a Berkshire-owned Dairy Queen. Instead they went to "Ted & Wally's Ultra-Premium Homemade Ice Cream" shop in Omaha's downtown Old Market district. (Ted & Wally's brags that butterfat tops 20% in their very dense ice creams.)
In June, it was baseball's Alex Rodriguez sharing a scoop with Buffett, also not at a Dairy Queen.
But the month before, Buffett and Bill Gates went to a Dairy Queen, where they even tried to "pick up a shift."
Back in 2014, Buffett and Paul McCartney had ice cream as a dinner desert at eCreamery in Omaha's Dundee neighborhood. BUFFETT AROUND THE INTERNET Some links may require a subscription
BERKSHIRE STOCK WATCH
 Berkshire Hathaway Class A shares closed at $306,000 Friday, down 5.3% over the previous four weeks, and up 1.6% from one year ago. Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares closed at $202.67, down 5.8% over the previous four weeks, and up 2.3% from one year ago. The benchmark S&P 500 index closed at 2932.05, Down 2.0% over the previous four weeks, and up 3.7% from one year ago. BERKSHIRE'S TOP STOCK HOLDINGS
 Berkshire's top stock holdings by market value, based on today's closing prices. The number of shares held is as of March 31, 2019, as disclosed in the company's May 15 13F SEC filing.
The full list of holdings and current market values is available from CNBC.com's Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker.
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