Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) has released its second-quarter earnings report. Recall, though, that Warren Buffett and his team never really worry about quarterly reports, and they warn investors that their earnings in any given period could be made to look much better or much worse because of how many operational gains and losses could be moved around.

Buffett and his team even made a very specific warning about just reading the earnings report:

We urge investors and reporters to read our 10-Q. … The limited information that follows in this press release is not adequate for making an informed investment judgment.

The company also warns that its investment gains and losses cause significant volatility in Berkshire’s earnings reports.

Warren Buffett and his team always tell you that the way to evaluate the company is by its growth in book value. Berkshire’s shareholder equity increased $12.1 billion year-to-date, and its book value per Class A share is up 5.6% year-to-date to $142,483. Just keep in mind that the Friday closing price was $189,279 and the June 30 closing price was $189,900 — so Berkshire Hathaway’s quarter-end share price was at a 33% premium to this prized book value per share.

Investors do still look at Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-B) for guidance on the economy. It turns out that the company’s results turned out very well, even after they warn you that the earnings report is not enough information to make informed investment decisions.

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Operating earnings rose 10.5% to $4.33 billion in the second quarter. The rising stock market also treated Buffett’s stocks well as the quarterly gains in investments and derivatives combined rose by more than 200% from a year earlier to $2.06 billion. The earnings attributable to shareholders rose by a sharp 40% to almost $6.4 billion.

Most analysts do not make earnings per share predictions on Berkshire Hathaway because there are simply too many moving parts. The operating earnings per Class A shares rose to $2,634 from $2,384 a year ago, while the all-in net earnings including investments and derivatives was up to $3,889 per share from $2,763 per share a year ago.

Here is a breakdown of how those earnings turned out in the second quarter of 2014, versus the second quarter of 2013:

• Insurance-underwriting: $411 million versus $530 million a year ago.
• Investment income: $1.131 billion versus $1.144 billion a year ago.
• Non-insurance businesses: $2.835 billion versus $2.372 billion a year ago.
• The so-called other was a loss of $46 million, versus a loss a year ago of $127 million.

The earnings story here sounds great on the surface. Unfortunately, part of the year-over-year gains was simply due to the bull market’s strength in the second half of 2013 and the continued gains in the first half of 2014. Buffett’s insurance underwriting operations scored a lower income than a year ago, and the non-insurance businesses (rail, homes, utilities, manufacturing, retail and more) saw gains of almost 20% on a combined earnings basis.

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We have included additional data from the full quarterly filing as well, taken verbatim:

• After-tax earnings from insurance underwriting in the second quarter and first six months of 2014 were less than in the first six months of 2013, due principally to large gains of Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group in the 2013 periods.
• Our railroad business generated a 3.6% increase in after-tax earnings in the second quarter of 2014, while earnings for the first six months declined 2.5% versus 2013. Railroad revenues and operating expenses were negatively impacted by adverse weather conditions and service-related challenges during 2014.
• After-tax earnings of our utilities and energy businesses in 2014 included NV Energy, which was acquired in December 2013 and, for the first six months also included higher earnings from several of BHE’s other energy businesses.
• Earnings from our manufacturing, service and retailing businesses in the first six months of 2014 increased 19% over 2013.
• Investment and derivative gains/losses in the second quarter and first six months of 2014 included after-tax gains from investments of $2.0 billion and $3.0 billion, respectively.
• Investment gains in 2014 included after-tax gains of approximately $1.1 billion in the second quarter and $2.0 billion in the first six months related to the exchanges of Phillips 66 and Graham Holdings Company common stocks for a specified subsidiary of each of those companies.
• In addition, our derivative contracts produced after-tax gains in the second quarter and first six months of 2014 of $101 million and $254 million, respectively.

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