What happened
Raging Capital Ventures bought Berkshire Hathaway put options two days after the conglomerate reported a steep fall in quarterly profit. For a holder, the trade sits beside a stock that kept climbing after those results.
Raging Capital Ventures (@RagingVentures) posted on X on Nov. 11. "Bought $BRK.B March $550 puts today for $10 bucks and change."
Berkshire filed its third-quarter 2026 results with the SEC in an 8-K on Nov. 9. Net income fell 28.2% from the same quarter a year earlier, to $22.1 billion. The figures are the company's own, from its press release, and by OptimistFi's arithmetic net margin narrowed from 32.4% to 20.9%, about 11.5 percentage points.
Shares rose anyway, and kept going. BRK-B closed at $575.25 on Nov. 9, up 0.8% from $570.89 on Nov. 6, the session before. The next day it closed at $583.46, its 52-week high, well above a low of $465.40.
Explain the financial terms
A fiscal quarter is a three-month period in the company's reporting year.
Why it matters
Berkshire is an insurance-led conglomerate. OptimistFi's case rests on it compounding equity and operating cash flow despite flat revenue, volatile net income and Buffett succession risk.
Revenue and profit both falling from a year earlier is the kind of result that weakens that case. The release, on its own, says nothing about the put purchase.
The annual numbers show how little the top line had been moving. In the fiscal year to Dec. 31, 2025, revenue was $371.44 billion, up 0.0% on the year before, with a net margin of 18.0%.
The market's own response cuts the other way. The stock rose in its first session after the release even as revenue and profit fell from a year earlier.
OptimistFi's case would break if a future annual filing showed operating cash flow below $35 billion, with equity down and liabilities up from a year earlier at the same time.
What's next
Berkshire's next quarterly report, not yet dated, would show whether revenue and net income keep falling from a year earlier. Another decline would add to the pressure on OptimistFi's case.