Berkshire Hathaway stock outlook 2013

Berkshire Hathaway stock outlook 2013 : Shares of Berkshire Hathaway closed at $77.97 Monday, trading for 14.4 times the consensus 2013 earnings estimate of $5.43, among analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. The consensus 2014 earnings per share estimate is $5.83.

Berkshire's Class B shares were up 4 percent year-to-date through Monday's close, after returning 11 percent during 2012.

The consensus fourth-quarter earnings estimate for the Class B shares is $1.13, declining from $1.37 in the third quarter, but increasing from $1.08 in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Unlike several other companies with a major property and casualty presence in the Northeast, Berkshire Hathaway has not announced a loss estimate from Hurricane Sandy. Of course, the company is involved in other businesses besides insurance, but insurance revenues made up 77 percent of total revenue during the first three quarters of 2012.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) now controls nearly 15 percent of kidney dialysis firm DaVita's (DVA) stock.

Berkshire Hathaway reported its latest purchases of 179,300 shares on Tuesday. Berkshire told the Securities and Exchange Commission it now owns 13.975 million DaVita shares. That has grown significantly since Omaha-based Berkshire first disclosed owning 2.7 million DaVita shares at the end of 2011

During 2011, the company's pre-tax underwriting gain for its combined insurance businesses was $248 million. For the first three quarters of 2012, Berkshire's combined underwriting gain for its property and casualty insurance business was $354 million.