Display exhibiting Gecko character for GEICO Insurance during the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholder Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska.
Yun Li | CNBC
Berkshire Hathaway shareholders attending this yr’s assembly will need to know extra concerning the firm Warren Buffett as soon as known as his “favorite child” – the auto insurer Geico.
With tens of hundreds of shareholders in attendance, Berkshire’s annual “Woodstock for Capitalists” will probably be held in Omaha, Nebraska on Saturday, the second in-person gathering since 2019. (CNBC’s unique protection of the occasion begins that day at 10 a.m. ET.)
Geico, considered because the crown jewel of Berkshire’s insurance coverage empire, has discovered itself in a little bit of a trouble just lately after dropping market share to its greatest competitor Progressive in 2022 with a widening hole in underwriting margins and development, in line with an evaluation from UBS. Geico suffered a $1.9 billion pre-tax underwriting loss final yr.
“I believe it is the largest problem on the market in the meanwhile is actually Geico,” mentioned Bill Stone, chief funding officer at Glenview Trust and a Berkshire shareholder. “They’ve misplaced out to Progressive, who did a greater job of implementing telematics… I’m actually in a giant replace on that.”
Telematics applications permit insurers to gather shoppers’ driving information, together with their mileage and pace.
Headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland with greater than 38,000 workers, Geico additionally skilled a 1.7 million lower in lively insurance policies in 2022, after seeing stagnant development in the earlier yr.
Ajit Jain, Berkshire’s vice chairman of insurance coverage operations, mentioned the largest offender for Geico’s underperformance is telematics.
“Progressive has been on the telematics bandwagon for … most likely nearer to twenty years. Geico, till just lately, wasn’t concerned in telematics,” Jain mentioned at Berkshire’s 2022 meeting. “It’s been solely the final two years that they’ve made a really critical effort, in phrases of utilizing telematics for segmentation and for making an attempt to match fee and threat.”
Geico represents one space of weak spot for Berkshire, which general has been beating the broader market. Berkshire A shares hit a 52-week excessive Monday, briefly topping $500,000 once more. The inventory is up practically 5% over the previous month, whereas the S&P 500 has fallen roughly 0.6% amid the regional banking disaster.
The conglomerate tends to shine in a down market as many use it for draw back safety given its numerous companies and unmatched steadiness sheet energy.
First love
While Geico is solely a comparatively small share of Berkshire’s sprawling empire, Buffett does have a delicate spot for the insurer because it’s one of many “Oracle of Omaha’s” first investments, and maybe among the many most profitable.
Buffett realized about Geico from his professor and mentor Ben Graham, who was the chairman of the board on the insurer. In 1976, Buffett invested at $2 per share in Geico when it was in monetary trouble, and Berkshire acquired the remainder of the corporate in 1995.
“It was kind of Buffett’s old flame,” mentioned David Kass, a finance professor on the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. “I believe he has a powerful emotional and mawkish attachment to it.”
Kass recalled Buffett referring to Geico as his “favorite child” during a gathering along with his college students in 2005.
Claims price Inflation
Other than closing the hole in usage-based expertise, buyers additionally need to know if Geico is taking steps to offset loss price inflation, triggered by a surge in costs of used vehicles, new vehicles and elements.
Personal auto insurers have been affected by a excessive diploma of claims price inflation, with many having posted first-quarter 2023 loss price will increase of greater than 20%, mentioned Catherine Seifert, Berkshire analyst at CFRA Research.
To make certain, Berkshire does anticipate Geico to return to an underwriting revenue in 2023 after acquiring premium fee improve approvals from a couple of states, Buffett mentioned in his 2022 annual letter.
