After tax total (not per-share) income, trend rates of growth last 13 years

Rails                 Inflation +  8.70%/year  (27% of total of these three lately)
Utilities             Inflation +  5.16%/year  (17% of total of these three lately)
Manuf/Service/Retail  Inflation + 11.75%/year  (56% of total of these three lately)

Growth per share is of course a bit higher due to the falling share count.

There are not calculated as end-to-end annualized rates, which makes them sensitive to endpoints.
Rather, they are calculated based on the slope of the trend line through log real returns.
Utilities have trended the best. Rails a somewhat noisier, and below trend right now.

Remember that these are not growth rates as you would see in standalone companies.
The growth here is in large part funded by profits coming from the investment side of the firm, lots of capex and small acquisitions.
So, they are measures of capital allocation as much as they are measures of internal growth rates.

Jim

Berkshire Hathaway FAQ

---

Contact Shrewd'm
Contact the developer of these message boards.