Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s insurers bounced back from one of their worst years in more than a decade.

• Those businesses posted an underwriting profit of $1.57 billion last year, rebounding from a $2.2 billion loss in 2017, the first in 15 years. That boosted overall operating earnings at Warren Buffett’s conglomerate 71 percent from a year earlier, Berkshire said.

Key Insights

• Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s cash pile rose to $112 billion, showing how hard it’s been for Buffett to put money to work as fast as Berkshire accumulates it. Buffett has warned that Berkshire’s mammoth size makes it more challenging to beat the market.
• An eye-popping $25 billion net loss in the quarter was driven by $27.6 billion in unrealized losses from the investment portfolio. Buffett has warned investors to look more at underlying operating figures, as accounting rules now incorporate unrealized gains and losses from stocks into net income.
• Berkshire benefited from its railroad and energy businesses, which along with tax cuts helped boost overall operating results to $24.8 billion in 2018.