Berkshire touched its highest point in eight months this week. Class A finished at $768,010 on Tuesday, also its best close since Nov. 28's $770,100. Friday's closes were $511.54 for Class B and $766,600 for Class A.
Class B ended 5.2% under its record close of $539.80 from May 2, 2025; Buffett announced the next day that he would leave the CEO role at the end of 2025. The Class A close was 5.3% below its all-time closing high of $809,350.
Tuesday's roughly 3% advance may have been supported by UBS analyst Brian Meredith.
Barron's wrote that Berkshire's shares remain far behind the S&P 500, which is ahead by 7.6 percentage points, and that the rally may continue. It has closed more than half of the 17.5-percentage-point deficit it faced just two months ago. The company also trails railroad and insurance competitors.
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Three of Berkshire's biggest equity holdings have gained this year. Apple, the largest Berkshire stake and currently worth over $70 billion, has gained 13.6% this year. Coca-Cola, the third-biggest holding at $35 billion, has surged 25% year-to-date, beat expectations this week, and raised its full-year outlook. Bank of America, the number four position at almost $32 billion, is up 12.6% on the year.
The company's top-holdings disclosure is dated March 31, 2026, with two exceptions: Alphabet's stake includes the $10 billion share purchase from the company announced June 1, 2026, and Mitsubishi's stake is dated April 30, 2026.
At the end of March, Berkshire's cash stood at $397.4 billion, 6.5% above its Dec. 31 level. With railroad cash set aside and Treasury-bill obligations deducted, cash was $380.2 billion, 3.0% higher. During Q1, the company bought back $234 million of stock.
The second-quarter report, due Aug. 8, will provide more detail on buybacks and the company's cash position. Berkshire ended March with $397.4 billion in cash and repurchased $234 million of stock during Q1. Meredith's price-target increase adds to the positive tone as the stock works its way back toward the S&P 500's performance. Buffett's planned transition out of the chief executive role, scheduled for late 2025, has kept investors focused on how Berkshire's portfolio and cash pile are managed.
The stock's recent climb has narrowed its gap with the S&P 500, but Berkshire still trails the index and some competitors. Investors are waiting for the Aug. 8 report to see whether buybacks accelerate and how the cash pile changes. With Buffett's succession scheduled for late 2025, capital allocation decisions remain a central theme for the company.
An archived 2003 Berkshire annual meeting clip includes Buffett responding to an audience member's request to contact Jimmy Buffett about saving Florida's Cypress Gardens. In the clip, Buffett said: "I don't make requests of my friends, basically, for anything."
A linked headline from The Motley Fool says Warren Buffett's legacy oil bet "is paying off under Greg Abel. Nobody's talking about it."
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