Berkshire attracts interest as it slips further behind the S&P 500

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Berkshire Hathaway shares fell roughly 1% this week while the S&P 500 edged 0.6% higher, ending the week at a fresh all-time high.

That has increased the B shares' relative underperformance versus the benchmark to 11.3 percentage points for the year so far. It was a 9.7 percentage point gap last Friday.

The A and B shares are now down 13% from their all-time closing highs almost a year ago in early May, just before Warren Buffett revealed he planned to step down as CEO at the end of 2025.

The S&P has gained 26% over the same period.

Berkshire's stock price drop, however, is making the shares more attractive to some.

In a featured Barron's analysis, Andrew Bary writes that at the company's current price "not a lot has to go right ... to generate market beating returns -- even without Warren Buffett at the helm."

Christopher Davis at Hudson Value Partners is quoted as saying investors are overlooking Berkshire when they buy "HALO" (Heavy Assets, Low Obsolescence) stocks like Caterpillar to avoid potential AI disruptions. (The term was coined by "Halftime Report" regular Josh Brown.)

"Berkshire is the ultimate HALO company, given the durability and inflation protection of the insurance business and the very-hard-to-replicate industrial operating businesses," Davis argues.

He calls the stock a "coiled spring" at its current price.

Stock buybacks are another potential positive.

In a note to clients this week, UBS analyst Brian Meredith estimates Berkshire is trading at an 8% discount to its intrinsic value. The company's stated policy is to buy back shares when "the repurchase price is below our intrinsic value, conservatively determined."

In March, a filing revealed Berkshire had resumed buybacks for the first time in almost two years but provided no details.

With the price down almost 4% since then, Meredith expects the company kept buying. He's raising his 2026 repurchase expectations to $1.7 billion, up from 0, which he thinks will make the stock more attractive to investors.

Barron's says, however, there is "probably some room for improvement ... on the operational and investments sides."

CRFA analyst Cathy Seifert is quoted saying, "Operating revenues were flat at Berkshire last year. I'd like to see Greg Abel confront the issues and outline a plan for profit and revenue improvement."

He will have a chance to do that in one week at the Berkshire shareholders meeting, live on CNBC.com.

Abel 'unloaded' Combs' positions after portfolio manager left - WSJ

Abel will also be getting questions about what he plans to do with Berkshire's almost $400 billion in cash and its equity investments.

In a profile of Abel's first 100 days as CEO, The Wall Street Journal dropped some big news in the tenth paragraph.

"People familiar with Berkshire's investments said Abel has already unloaded the stocks managed by Todd Combs, who recently decamped for JPMorgan Chase" and is "unlikely to hire anyone to help manage the portfolio."

That leaves Abel directly responsible for the 94% of the portfolio currently not handled by the other portfolio manager recruited by Buffett years ago, Ted Weschler.

Since Combs was responsible for around 5% of the roughly $320 billion portfolio, if all his stocks were "unloaded" in full, the sales would be somewhere around $16 billion worth.

While Berkshire has generally not specified who buys specific stocks in the portfolio, Combs has been thought to favor technology and financials.

We already know Berkshire sold 77% of its Amazon.com stake during the fourth quarter, which would have been worth $1.8 billion based on the December 31 closing price.

That could have been part of a post-Combs-related selling spree, since he left in early December.

Combs has previously been associated with Berkshire's Visa and Mastercard holdings.

Barron's lists Constellation Brands, VeriSign, Capital One Financial, and Kroger as other possible Combs names.

The Constellation stake was trimmed by 3%, about $55 million, in the fourth quarter.

The total value of all those names was about $16.4 billion as of December 31.

We may learn more about the selling at next week's meeting, and the next required portfolio snapshot will be out in mid-May, covering activity in the first quarter.

Walmart passes Berkshire in market value

Over the past year, shares of Walmart have soared by more than 35% while both classes of Berkshire have dropped by almost 12%.

As a result, Walmart's market value topped Berkshire's this week, making the retailer the new ninth most valuable company in the U.S.

Barron's notes the last time Walmart had a bigger market cap than Berkshire was in April 2013.

Buffett praises outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook

Following the news this week that Apple CEO Tim Cook will be succeeded by hardware executive John Ternus in September, Warren Buffett is among the well-known names praising the man who followed founder Steve Jobs in 2011.

Buffett told CNBC's Becky Quick that "Apple would not be the Apple of today without Tim Cook."

"What he has done with Apple could not be done by anybody I've known.

"Covering the world and getting along with countries with all kinds of histories and doing right by the customer, people who worked for him, certainly the shareholders, which we were lucky enough to be one of... he's one of a kind."

Even though Berkshire's stake in Apple has been cut by 75% since the summer of 2023 through the end of this year's first quarter, it remains the largest position in its equity portfolio with a market value of almost $62 billion.

Buffett also praised Cook at last year's annual meeting. You can see that clip in "Highlights form the Archive" below.

Buffett won't be on stage, but shareholder ticket requests remain roughly in line with recent years

Warren Buffett's absence from the stage at next week's Berkshire annual meeting will not substantially reduce attendance, according to the company.

It tells CNBC credential requests are pretty much in line with past years. They are a bit lower than 2024 and 2025, but not by much, and are running ahead of 2023.

Berkshire also points out Buffett has not been the only draw over the years. It estimates Nebraska residents account for around 60% of the attendance, and they are especially drawn by shareholder discounts at local Berkshire retailers Nebraska Furniture Mart and Borsheims.

Berkshire has posted a map with recommended routes to the CHI Health Center arena to help attendees, especially those driving, avoid snarls caused by construction of a new streetcar system in Omaha.

It also has a new policy this year that restricts shareholders to "clear, uncolored plastic tote bags," "one-gallon clear plastic freezer bags," and "small or clutch-sized opaque purses/wallets" that are not bigger than 4.5 inches tall and 6.5 inches long.

Live streaming coverage on CNBC.com begins at 9:15 AM ET with a pre-game show.

CEO Greg Abel is expected to deliver a Berkshire "business update" at 9:30 AM ET, followed by the first Q&A session at 10:30 AM ET featuring Abel and insurance chief Ajit Jain.

The CNBC Halftime show is scheduled for 11:45 AM ET and the second Q&A session is set to start at 12:45 PM ET with Abel, BNSF CEO Katie Farmer, and Adam Johnson, CEO of NetJets and president of consumer products, service, and retailing.

As in past years, CNBC's Becky Quick will relay shareholders questions she selects from those submitted to [email protected].

Shareholders at the meeting, selected at an 8:15 AM local time drawing at each of 10 microphone locations, will also be asking questions.

The CNBC Post Show starts at 2PM ET.

The formal business session of the shareholders meeting begins at 3 PM ET. It will not be part of CNBC's live coverage.

BUFFETT & BERKSHIRE AROUND THE INTERNET

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HIGHLIGHTS FROM CNBC'S BUFFETT ARCHIVE

'Tim Cook has made Berkshire a lot more money' than I have (2025)

As Buffett is doing introductions at the start of the meeting, he has an embarrassing admission about Tim Cook, CEO of Berkshire's largest equity holding, Apple.

WARREN BUFFETT: It's the only investment quarterly call that I listen to, but I listen to Tim Cook, and I understand — and it'll be tough for me to see him from up here — but Tim Cook — there he is. (Applause)

I'm somewhat embarrassed to say that Tim Cook has made Berkshire a lot more money than I've ever made Berkshire Hathaway. So — (Laughter)

I'd — credit should be given to him for —

I knew Steve Jobs briefly, and Steve, of course, did things that nobody else could've done in developing Apple.

But Steve picked out Tim to succeed him, and he really made the right decision. Steve died young, as you know.

And nobody but Steve could've created Apple, but nobody but Tim could've developed it like it has.

So, on behalf of all of all Berkshire, thank you. (Applause)

BERKSHIRE STOCK WATCH

Four weeks

Twelve months

BRK.A stock price: $704,760.00

BRK.B stock price: $469.32

BRK.B P/E (TTM): 15.12

Berkshire market capitalization: $1,012,661,284,805

Berkshire Cash as of December 31: $373.3 billion (Down 2.2% from Sept. 30)

Excluding Rail Cash and Subtracting T-Bills Payable: $369.0 billion (Up 4.1% from September 30)

Berkshire resumed stock repurchases on March 4, 2026, but has not said whether it made any additional buys after that date.

(All figures are as of the date of publication, unless otherwise indicated)

BERKSHIRE'S TOP EQUITY HOLDINGS - Apr. 24, 2026

Berkshire's top holdings of disclosed publicly traded stocks in the U.S. and Japan, by market value, based on the latest closing prices.

Holdings are as of December 31, 2025, as reported in Berkshire Hathaway's 13F filing on February 17, 2026, except for:

• Mitsubishi, which is as of August 28, 2025
• Mitsui, which is as of September 30, 2025

The full list of holdings and current market values is available from CNBC.com's Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker.

QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS

Please send any questions or comments about the newsletter to me at [email protected]. (Sorry, but we don't forward questions or comments to Buffett himself.)

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Also, Buffett's annual letters to shareholders are highly recommended reading. There are collected here on Berkshire's website.

-- Alex Crippen, Editor, Warren Buffett Watch