Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (B)BRK.BBUYJun 01, 2026Stock price when the opinion was issued
As of Jun 01, 2026. Market Open.
Results haven't been as stellar as some were expecting, insurance business and other parts haven't been tremendous.
He's excited to see how it does under Greg Abel, who seems to be a terrific operator and is promising to use his salary to buy shares. Share buybacks restarted. Valuation quite attractive here. Betting on growth of the US, and that's a pretty safe bet.
By the way, Buffett's still coming to work every day.
Diversified portfolio masquerading as a single stock. Insurance has been a long-standing pillar of the organization, potential cyclical headwinds brewing for P&C insurance. More competition on policy pricing. Lower interest rates will pressure its income from bond portfolios.
Great portfolio of iconic, buy-and-hold-forever businesses. On that basis, he could get behind buying this dip.
Warren Buffett is one of his all-time heroes. The first acquisition made by the "new" guy, Greg Abel, will be very much scrutinized. Reminds him of when Steve Jobs had to leave Apple -- there would never be another Steve Jobs. Tim Cook came in, not a visionary, but now people are worried about when Tim retires.
Phenomenal selection of assets. Abel's been there for many years. A company you can hold for a long time.
Biggest holding is Geico, which is insurance. Insurance companies are facing headwinds because of price competition -- can't raise prices by 15% a year as in the past. This will have a huge impact on BRK. Compounded by the selloff due to Buffett's retirement, and uncertainty on management moves going forward. As insurance goes, so will Berkshire.
Law of diminishing returns again. Sitting on so much cash, but it's so big that it's very difficult to make acquisitions that will move the needle. ROIC is 8%, but so is its cost of capital. Needs to get its bottom line growing again. He's wary.
A great investor and great human being. His main claim to fame is using coming sense when making deals. He expects the new managers to do a fabulous job, but they can't live up to Buffet and Munger. The stock has a lot of cash to make interesting acquisitions. He would own companies that BRK owns.
You must give tremendous credit to the work that Warren Buffet and his team have done this year. He's setting the team that replaces him with flexibility; they have over $300 billion in cash, have no concentration risk and are in a great position if there is a serious market decline in the coming year or so.
Doesn't pay a dividend, and TFSA's are never taxed. So those are good points. TFSA's are not for current income, so it would be fine. You could get an equivalent low-cost ETF, but BRK.B doesn't have a management fee.
In the last 26 years, it's marginally underperformed the S&P 500. Slightly outperformed the global word market. Great vehicle, but looks a lot like the market. Best returns were when it was a lot smaller. Nothing wrong with management. Could argue that they've been carrying cash for so many years that they're missing out.
So you have some things to think about. He'd have no problem putting it as a core holding into any portfolio.