Berkshire Hathaway (BH) Posted a March 2018 Quarter US GAAP Net Loss of $1.071 Bil as Compared With a March 2017 Quarter Net Income of $4.139 Bil ........................................................................................ So the Headline Earnings Numbers Look Horrible, But More Importantly, How Did the Underlying Companies Actually Perform in the March 2018 Quarter? ........................................................................................ All 6 BH Operating Segments Combined Had 1Q 2018 Total US GAAP After-Tax Net Income of $5.345 Bil, Up a Superb 50% From the 1Q 2017 Comparable Earnings of $3.567 Bil ........................................................................................ The 1Q 2018 Earnings Growth Over the 1Q 2017 By BH Operating Segment: Insurance-Underwriting Up $674 Mil or Up 252%, Insurance-Investment Income Up $104 Mil or Up 11%, Railroad Up $307 Mil or Up 37%, Utilities and Energy Up $105 Mil or Up 22%, Manufacturing, Service and Retailing Up $505 Mil or Up 38% and Finance and Financial Products Up $83 mil or Up 29% (Yeah, All 6 BH Operating Segments had Nice 1Q 2018 Earnings Increases and Most Had Superb Earnings Increases) ....................................................................................... So, What's the Problem? Well, Due to a New FASB Pronouncement, BH Recorded a Total 1Q 2018 After-Tax Earnings Charge of $6.2 Bil For the Decline in the Market Values of BH's Investments in its Equity Securities ........................................................................................ So OK, the Stock Prices Declined But How Did These Companies Actually Perform? Well, 67% of BH's Investment in Equity Securities Were in Just 5 Stocks, Each Posting 1Q 2018 US GAAP After-Tax Earnings Increases of the Following Percentages: American Express Up 31%, Bank of America Up 30%, Apple Up 25%, Coca Cola Up 12% and Wells Fargo Up 7% ........................................................................................ What About the Trump Tax Cuts Act? ........................................................................................ In the 4Q 2017, BH Received a Tax Gift of $29.6 Bil, Much More Than Any Other US Corp, Which BH Reflected in Its 4Q 2017 Earnings ........................................................................................ So What About in the 1Q 2018? Well, BH Doesn't Disclose the Exact Numbers But When I Rough It Out, I Get BH Cleaning Up, With Its Estimated Effective Tax Rate on Its Total Pretax Income of Its 6 Operating Segments Declining Precipitously From My Rough Number of 30.1% in the 1Q 2017 Down To Only 19.6% in the 1Q 2018

All of the above financial info comes from Berkshire Hathaway's 10-Q Filing with the SEC for the March 2018 Quarter.