The results followed a stock market selloff that pushed the Nasdaq into correction territory and a weak jobs report that sparked worries about US economic activity and whether the Federal Reserve waited too long to cut interest rates.

"If you look at the entire Berkshire picture and the macroeconomic data, a safe conclusion is that Berkshire is getting defensive," said Cathy Seifert, an analyst at CFRA Research who rates Berkshire a "buy."

Berkshire's cash stake grew to $276.9bn (€253.6bn) as of June 30 from a then-record $189bn (€173.1bn) three months earlier, largely because Berkshire sold a net $75.5bn (€69.1bn) of stocks.

It sold about 390 million Apple shares in the second quarter, on top of 115 million sold from January to March, as the iPhone maker's stock price rose 23%. Berkshire still owned about 400 million shares worth $84.2bn (€77.1bn) as of June 30.

The second quarter was the seventh straight quarter that Berkshire sold more stocks than it bought.

Berkshire also repurchased just $345m (€315.9m) of its own stock, down from $2.57bn (€2.4bn) in the first quarter, and none in the first three weeks of July.

"Buffett doesn't seem to think there are attractive opportunities in publicly traded stocks, including his own," said Jim Shanahan, an Edward Jones analyst with a "hold" rating on Berkshire. "It makes me worry what he thinks about markets and the economy."

Berkshire pledges to keep a minimum $30bn (€27.5bn) of cash, but often lets it build up when it can't find whole businesses or individual stocks to buy at fair prices.

"We'd love to spend it, but we won't spend it unless we think we're doing something that has very little risk and can make us a lot of money," Buffett said at Berkshire's May 4 annual meeting, referring to Berkshire's cash.

Reuters