Berkshire Hathaway shares have reached an eight-month high, demonstrating significant momentum that analysts believe could continue. This surge is attributed to strong performance in key equity holdings such as Apple, Coca-Cola, and Bank of America, coupled with a recent upgrade from a UBS analyst. Despite lagging in some sectors, Berkshire has substantially narrowed its performance gap with the S&P 500, with indications of accelerated stock buybacks in the second quarter of 2026.
(This is the Warren Buffett Watch newsletter, news and analysis on all things Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway. You can sign up here to receive it every Friday evening in your inbox.)
Berkshire shares hit eight-month high
Berkshire Hathaway shares experienced a significant rally this week, pushing them to an eight-month high, with analysts suggesting potential for further gains if the conglomerate continues to catch up to the broader S&P 500.
The B shares concluded Tuesday's trading at $512.37, marking their strongest close since November 28, when they reached $513.81. By Friday, they settled at $511.54, remaining just 5.2% shy of their all-time closing high of $539.80, set on May 2 of last year—the day before Warren Buffett announced his intention to step down as CEO by the end of 2025.
Similarly, the Class A shares closed Tuesday at $768,010, also their highest level since November 28's $770,100. Friday's close for these shares, at $766,600, was 5.3% below their record high of $809,350.
A recent feature in Barron's suggests that Berkshire's rally 'has room to run,' noting the stock's continued lag behind the benchmark S&P 500, which currently holds a 7.6 percentage point lead. However, Berkshire has managed to erase more than half of its 17.5 percentage point deficit from just two months prior.
Despite these overall gains, Berkshire is observed to be lagging behind its rivals in two key industrial sectors: railroads and insurance.
Further bolstering Berkshire's performance are the robust gains recorded by three of its largest equity portfolio holdings.
- Its top holding, Apple, now valued over $70 billion, has seen a 13.6% increase so far this year.
- Coca-Cola, Berkshire's third-largest position worth $35 billion, surged 25% year-to-date. This week, the beverage giant reported earnings that exceeded expectations and raised its full-year outlook.
- The fourth-largest holding, Bank of America, is up 12.6% for the year, with Berkshire's stake now valued at nearly $32 billion.
Berkshire's approximately 3% gain on Tuesday was potentially fueled by UBS analyst Brian Meredith, who increased his price target on the B shares to $585 (from $570) and on the A shares to $877,848 (from $854,596). While maintaining a 'buy' rating, Meredith also revised his earnings estimates upwards and welcomed a Barron's report from two weeks prior, suggesting Berkshire likely repurchased up to $11 billion of its stock in the second quarter. The definitive buyback figures will be released with Berkshire's second-quarter results, anticipated on Saturday, August 8.
BUFFETT & BERKSHIRE AROUND THE INTERNET
Some links may require a subscription:
- Barron's on MSN: Warren Buffett's worst-ever deal benefits this place the most
- Barron's on MSN: Why Berkshire Hathaway would win if the Fed lifts interest rates
- The Motley Fool: Why Berkshire's stake in Apple still matters more than people think
- The Motley Fool: Warren Buffett's legacy oil bet is paying off under Greg Abel. Nobody's talking about it.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM CNBC'S BUFFETT ARCHIVE
Why Buffett doesn't ask his friends for favors (2003)
Warren Buffett responds to a request from an audience member to enlist the support of his "cousin" Jimmy Buffett in saving the trees in the Florida botanical garden and theme park Cypress Gardens.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Several weeks from now I'll be before [Florida] Governor [Jeb] Bush with the Friends of Cypress Gardens. We have a website ... trying to keep a developer from clear-cutting the trees in Cypress Gardens, a national treasure.
And my question is, would you consider contacting your "cousin," [musician] Jimmy Buffett, about possibly helping us in some way? ...
WARREN BUFFETT: I get asked to contact — probably the one I get asked to contact the most is Bill Gates, but I get asked to contact all kinds of people.
And I mean, everybody is slipping me envelopes with letters in them, sending things to the office and saying, "Won't you get this person?" and all they can say is no.
I don't do — I don't make requests of my friends, basically, for anything.
And I just — I would spend the rest of my life doing it. They would feel — I would never know — (applause) — you know, what they were doing —
You know, I would never know what they were doing because I was asking versus what they really felt.
I mean it's an impossible — from my standpoint at least — that's an impossible game to get into, in terms of that.
I mean when [Washington Post publisher] Kay Graham was alive, everybody, you know, wanted her for one reason or another. And they've all got causes.
And, frankly, they, you know, they want to use me to get her, or Jimmy Buffett, or whomever, to say yes to something that they're saying yes to, partially, because they feel they don't want to say no to me.
And I, you know, that — I just don't want to use my friendship for that purpose, frankly.
And I don't do it, even for things that I strongly believe in, myself...
I've never had one of those honorary dinners where they send out, you know, to all the suppliers to Berkshire and everything and start leaning on them and saying, "We're honoring Warren."
Well, hell, if they want to honor me, they can honor me without soliciting all my friends for money. I mean, I don't consider that much of an honor if the reason they picked me was because I got rich friends.
So, I just don't do that.
BERKSHIRE STOCK WATCH
Four weeks
[Chart: Berkshire Hathaway stock performance over the last four weeks]
Twelve months
[Chart: Berkshire Hathaway stock performance over the last twelve months]
BRK.A stock price: $766,600.01
BRK.B stock price: $511.54
BRK.B P/E (TTM): 15.23
Berkshire market capitalization: $1,102,963,354,142
Berkshire Cash as of March 31: $397.4 billion (Up 6.5% from Dec. 31)
Excluding Rail Cash and Subtracting T-Bills Payable: $380.2 billion (Up 3.0% from Dec. 31)
Berkshire repurchased $234 million of its shares in Q1 2026.
(All figures are as of the date of publication, unless otherwise indicated)
BERKSHIRE'S TOP EQUITY HOLDINGS - July 31, 2026
[Table/Chart: Berkshire's top publicly traded stock holdings]
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 March 31, 2026, as reported in Berkshire Hathaway's 13F filing on May 15, 2026, except for:
- Alphabet, which includes the $10 billion in shares that Berkshire agreed to buy directly from the company, as announced on June 1, 2026. Berkshire has not yet formally disclosed whether the transaction has been completed. The entry is a combination of Class A and Class C Alphabet shares. The market price is a weighted average of the prices of the two classes.
- Mitsubishi, which is as of April 30, 2026
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 alex.crippen@nbcuni.com. (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. They are collected here on Berkshire's website.
-- Alex Crippen, Editor, Warren Buffett Watch
