Akcie Berkshire Hathaway B za měsíc od posledních výsledků klesly asi o 3 % a zaostaly za indexem S&P 500. Ve 2. čtvrtletí ale provozní zisk vzrostl o 16,3 % na 13 miliard USD a tržby o 10 % na 101,8 miliardy USD.
A month has gone by since the last earnings report for Berkshire Hathaway B (BRK.B - Free Report) . Shares have lost about 3% in that time frame, underperforming the S&P 500.
But investors have to be wondering, will the recent negative trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is Berkshire Hathaway B due for a breakout? Before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late, let's take a quick look at its most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the important drivers.
BRK.B Q2 Earnings & Revenues Rise Year Over Year on Diversified Growth
Berkshire Hathaway delivered second-quarter 2026 operating earnings of $13 billion, which increased 16.3% year over year. The increase was due to higher earnings in BNSF; Berkshire Hathaway Energy Company; Manufacturing, service and retailing; and Other.
Behind the HeadlinesRevenues rose 10% year over year to $101.8 billion due to an increase in revenues in Insurance and Other and Railroad, Utilities and Energy. The metric surpassed the consensus estimate by 6.8%.
Costs and expenses increased 8.4% year over year to $86 billion, largely driven by increases in Insurance and Other and in Railroad, Utilities, and Energy.
Segment Performance
Berkshire’s Insurance and Other segment revenues increased 10.1% year over year to $88.5 billion in the reported quarter due to higher insurance premiums earned, sales and service revenues and leasing revenues.
Insurance underwriting produced operating earnings of $1.7 billion, which decreased 13.1% year over year.
Railroad operating revenues rose 14.6% year over year to $6.6 billion, primarily due to increases in car/unit volume of 6.5% in the second quarter as well as an average revenue per car/unit increase of 7.6% in the second quarter primarily from higher fuel surcharge revenues and higher yield. Pre-tax earnings increased 13.9% in the second quarter of 2026.
Operating earnings from the Railroad business increased 12.8% year over year to $2.3 billion.
Total revenues at Manufacturing, Service and Retailing increased 15.2% year over year to $61.5 billion. Pre-tax earnings increased 25.8% year over year to $5.8 billion.
In the second quarter of 2026, after-tax earnings from manufacturing, service and retailing businesses increased 24.1% year over year. Earnings increases in industrial products manufacturing and services businesses drove the increases.
Results among the numerous operations in the quarter improved, with overall earnings increases in the manufacturing and service businesses and in the retailing businesses.
Financial PositionAs of June 30, 2026, consolidated shareholders’ equity was $750.2 billion, up 4.2% from the level as of Dec. 31, 2025. At the end of the quarter, cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash were $41.4 billion, down 59.1% year over year.
Berkshire exited the second quarter of 2026 with a float of about $177.5 billion, which grew $1.1 billion from Dec. 31, 2025.
Cash flow from operating activities totaled $21.7 billion in the first six months of 2026, up 3.2% from the year-ago period.
How Have Estimates Been Moving Since Then?Since the earnings release, investors have witnessed a upward trend in fresh estimates.
VGM ScoresCurrently, Berkshire Hathaway B has a poor Growth Score of F, however its Momentum Score is doing a lot better with a B. However, the stock was allocated a grade of D on the value side, putting it in the bottom 40% for value investors.
Overall, the stock has an aggregate VGM Score of F. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in.
OutlookEstimates have been trending upward for the stock, and the magnitude of these revisions looks promising. It comes with little surprise Berkshire Hathaway B has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). We expect an above average return from the stock in the next few months.
Performance of an Industry PlayerBerkshire Hathaway B belongs to the Zacks Insurance - Property and Casualty industry. Another stock from the same industry, NMI Holdings (NMIH - Free Report) , has gained 0.5% over the past month. More than a month has passed since the company reported results for the quarter ended June 2026.
NMI Holdings reported revenues of $187.89 million in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +8.1%. EPS of $1.38 for the same period compares with $1.22 a year ago.
NMI Holdings is expected to post earnings of $1.30 per share for the current quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +7.4%. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate has changed -0.8%.
NMI Holdings has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) based on the overall direction and magnitude of estimate revisions. Additionally, the stock has a VGM Score of C.
Greg Abel z Berkshire Hathaway varuje, že odpor vůči výstavbě datových center v USA sílí. Pensylvánie zároveň podmínila nové projekty podporou místních komunit.
A White House AI adviser is selling data centers as economic lifelines while Berkshire's Greg Abel warns of a full-blown revolt taking shape in communities across the country. One of them is reading a very different map of where a…
On September 2, 2026, three things happened within roughly 24 hours. Craft Ventures co-founder and White House AI adviser David Sacks amplified a political messaging script coaching candidates to frame data centers as “life preservers” for “drowning American towns.” Berkshire Hathaway‘s (NYSE:BRK-A | BRK-A Price Prediction)(NYSE:BRK-B) Greg Abel told CNBC there is “a lot more pushback” on data center construction across the country. And Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed an executive order making local community support a permit prerequisite for new sites. Three separate signals, one message: the roughly $1 trillion in AI capital expenditure that investors are underwriting has run into a political problem large enough to require coordinated damage control.
Buildout Meets Backlash Sacks himself has quantified the scale. “Something like $800 billion of capex is being invested this year. I’ve seen forecasts for 1.4 trillion next year,” he said last week, adding that he would not be surprised if 2026 clears $1 trillion. The demand side of that number lives inside NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA), which reported $96.22 billion in quarterly revenue and told investors it expects fiscal 2028 growth of approximately 70%, capped only by supply. CEO Jensen Huang put the cloud-industry backlog at greater than $2 trillion, with the top five hyperscalers on pace to spend $1.3 trillion in 2027.
The physical footprint of that money is what towns are now fighting. Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) has 1.4 gigawatts under construction at a total cost of $20 billion and a growth runway of 9 gigawatts. CEO Andy Power conceded on the July call that “as an industry, we are becoming significantly more visible” and that “it is becoming more and more challenging to deliver the critical digital infrastructure” customers want.
The power side is tighter still. Constellation Energy (NASDAQ:CEG) signed 920 megawatts of long-term nuclear power purchase agreements last quarter at durations of 18 and a half years, and PJM’s 2028/2029 capacity auction cleared at $325/MW-day. That price is exactly what residential ratepayers in the mid-Atlantic will see on their bills, and it is the number driving statehouse letters and county-commission fights.
Congressional research on the sector concluded that “data center load growth is the primary reason for recent and expected capacity market conditions” in PJM. Vertiv (NYSE:VRT), which supplies the cooling and power gear, just announced an acquisition explicitly aimed at accelerating “time to power” for AI data centers. The picks-and-shovels names powering, cooling, and networking these sites are the ones we profiled in a free report on seven AI infrastructure stocks that aren’t chipmakers.
Why Buffett’s Successor Is the Tell Berkshire Hathaway is the skeptical voice that matters because Berkshire Hathaway Energy owns regulated utilities across six states and Abel spent his career running them. Berkshire’s operating earnings rose to $12.98 billion last quarter, and the company deployed roughly $23.5 billion into equities including a $10 billion Alphabet stake. When Abel flags a revolt, he is speaking as the operator who has to file the rate cases the revolt shows up in. BRK-B is up just 0.52% year to date; NVDA is up 20.47%; VRT is up 58.52%. The gap prices in a world where the buildout continues without friction.
What to Watch Before the Midterms Shapiro’s Pennsylvania order is the template. Watch whether Virginia, Ohio, Texas, and Georgia adopt similar community-consent triggers before November, and watch PJM’s response to FERC on co-location rules, which Constellation expects in the first to second quarter of 2027. A single high-profile permit denial in Loudoun County or a rate-shock headline out of Ohio would validate Abel over Sacks and force NVIDIA’s hyperscaler customers to explain how a supply-constrained pipeline gets built when the constraint moves from wafers to zoning boards. The AI trade has priced in the chips. It has not priced in the county commission.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Greg Abel z Berkshire Hathaway uvedl, že v USA sílí odpor vůči výstavbě datových center. Berkshire chce být u těchto projektů, pokud nezdraží elektřinu pro ostatní zákazníky.
Berkshire Hathaway CEO Greg Abel noted the growing resistance to the construction of data centers across the U.S. in an interview with CNBC's Becky Quick on Wednesday morning.
"There is a lot more pushback in the communities across the U.S.," Abel said.
Berkshire's interest in the ongoing computing facility buildout is mostly related to power and electricity generation for the sites, Abel commented, noting that the conglomerate wants to be in business with supercomputing companies provided they keep their costs contained.
"We are interested in serving these hyperscalers ... if there was no impact to the rates of our other customers," he said.
Investors and analysts on Wall Street have echoed Abels comments, pointing to increasing organized political resistance to major computing construction projects that can siphon local natural resources.
New York State has enacted a moratorium on data center construction, while many other states have pending bans and restrictions of varying intensity. There are about 4,700 data centers in the U.S. and the number is growing.
Analysts at Mizuho said in a Tuesday note to clients that investors think data centers could be a significant issue in the midterm elections.
"This is clearly an evolving situation as some investors question the set-up with upcoming mid-term elections and validity of claims around resource consumption and limited long-term job creation," Vikram Malhotra at Mizuho wrote on Tuesday.
Google parent Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) remained in focus Wednesday after Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK) CEO Greg Abel backed the company’s artificial intelligence position and revealed a sharp increase in the conglomerate’s stake. The vote of confidence comes as investors assess Alphabet’s heavy AI infrastructure spending and its potential returns.
Berkshire Sees Alphabet As A Major AI PlayerAbel said that the conglomerate views Alphabet as a significant artificial intelligence player, pointing to Berkshire’s firsthand experience using AI across its portfolio companies.
He told CNBC on Wednesday that Berkshire has visibility into how its businesses use AI and the benefits the technology delivers, which increased the firm’s interest in the sector.
“We have a lot of visibility from within our companies as to how we’re using AI, what type of benefits it’s delivering, so that brought incremental interest, and then we saw Google as a significant player,” Abel said.
Berkshire initially invested $10 billion in Alphabet about 15 months ago at a 6.5% discount. Abel said he and Warren Buffett discussed both the size of the investment and the discount before completing the transaction.
Berkshire Builds Its Alphabet PositionBerkshire added $17 billion of Alphabet shares during the second quarter, making the Google parent the third-largest holding in its equity portfolio.
According to Berkshire’s latest filing, the conglomerate owned about 106 million Alphabet Class A and Class C shares, valued at roughly $36.6 billion. Alphabet was Berkshire’s largest portfolio addition during the quarter.
Alphabet’s Google is also among the major technology companies spending heavily to expand computing capacity for AI workloads.
Abel’s comments highlight Berkshire’s confidence in Alphabet’s AI position as the conglomerate increases its exposure to the Google parent while observing AI benefits across its own businesses.
Alphabet carries a consensus Buy rating. Its average price forecast is $429.15. Recent analyst actions include:
Rosenblatt maintained a Buy rating with a $410 price forecast on Aug. 20. UBS maintained a Neutral rating and cut its price forecast to $379 on July 23. Morgan Stanley maintained an Overweight rating and lowered its price forecast to $400 on July 23. Top ETF ExposureAlphabet has a large weighting in several growth-focused exchange-traded funds:
Franklin Focused Dynamic Growth ETF (NASDAQ:FFOG): 9.22% CastleArk Large Growth ETF (NYSE:CARK): 9.91% Hartford Large Cap Growth ETF (NASDAQ:HFGO): 9.83% Significance: Because GOOG carries such a heavy weight in these funds, any significant inflows or outflows for these ETFs will likely force automatic buying or selling of the stock.
Technical AnalysisAlphabet is trading below several key short-term averages. The stock sits 2.9% below its 20-day simple moving average of $346.43. It is also 3.6% below its 50-day average of $348.91 and 6.2% below its 100-day average of $358.45.
However, shares remain 0.4% above the 200-day average of $335.05. That keeps the longer-term trend intact for now.
The 20-day average is below the 50-day average, which signals weaker short-term momentum. Still, the 50-day average remains above the 200-day average. Therefore, the broader technical structure remains constructive.
The MACD sits below its signal line, while the histogram is negative. Both readings suggest buying pressure has faded.
Alphabet shares have gained 58.51% over the past 12 months. However, the recent price action points to a period of consolidation rather than a fresh breakout.
Resistance stands near $375.50. A move above that level could strengthen the bullish case. Support sits near $315. A break below the 200-day average could put that level in focus. Price ActionGOOG Stock Price Activity: Alphabet shares were up 0.31% at $333.07 during premarket trading on Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Berkshire Hathaway v pondělí vzrostla o 1,3 %, zatímco většina velkých čipových titulů klesla. Firma drží zhruba 360 miliard USD v hotovosti a v krátkodobých státních dluhopisech.
Berkshire Hathaway's (BRKA +1.63%)(BRKB +1.71%) B shares rose about 1.3% Monday morning, to about $502 as of this writing, while the market's chip complex went the other way.
Nvidia fell about 2%, down for a seventh session in a row. Advanced Micro Devices dropped about 3%, Broadcom about 2%, Intel about 3%, and Micron Technology about 5%.
That is every major chip stock down on a day the S&P 500 (^GSPC -0.28%) slipped only modestly, and the biggest conglomerate in the index up more than a percent.
A divergence this clean on one day can be noise. But this one has a logic to it, and I think the logic is worth understanding even if Monday doesn't repeat.
Image source: Getty Images.
A $360 billion pile of cash and Treasury billsBerkshire attracts money on days like this because of what it owns.
At the end of June, the conglomerate held about $35 billion in cash and about $325 billion in short-term U.S. Treasury bills in its insurance and other businesses -- about $360 billion combined. That money is not a bet on anything. It earns interest while it waits, and no sell-off in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure touches a dollar of it.
The operating businesses sit just as far from the build-out. Berkshire's earnings come from car insurance and reinsurance, a railroad, electric utilities, and dozens of manufacturers and retailers.
Second-quarter operating earnings rose 16% year over year to about $13 billion. The manufacturing, service, and retailing group grew 24%, Berkshire Hathaway Energy's earnings climbed 27%, and the BNSF railroad earned about $1.6 billion, up 6% year over year.
Insurance was the soft spot. Underwriting earnings fell 13% year over year, and insurance investment income slipped 9% to about $3.1 billion. None of those results depends on the price of a graphics processing unit.
Even the stock portfolio leans away from the theme.
Berkshire's biggest holdings are Apple, American Express, Alphabet, Coca-Cola, and Bank of America -- consumer and financial franchises, except for one. The Alphabet stake, worth about $37 billion after roughly $17 billion of buying in the second quarter, is Berkshire's one large bet adjacent to AI. The portfolio holds no chipmaker at all.
Earnings that don't need the boomOf course, Berkshire isn't immune to a market decline. In a real downturn, its railroad hauls less freight and its stocks fall with everyone else's.
The point is narrower. Berkshire's earnings power doesn't require the AI spending boom to continue. Monday, that independence was what investors paid for.
The nervousness has been building for a week. The iShares Semiconductor ETF fell 5.5% last week before Monday's drop, and Nvidia reports earnings Wednesday after the close. Gold, meanwhile, hit its highest level since May. Money is playing defense.
Berkshire has also been supporting its own stock. The company repurchased about $4.5 billion of its shares in the second quarter, a sharp step-up from the $235 million it spent on buybacks in the first. And Berkshire was a net buyer of about $20 billion of stocks during the quarter -- evidence the conglomerate still sees value in equities.
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Defensive day or rotation?So is Monday the start of something, or just a nervous session?
One day can't say. After all, Berkshire's B shares remain nearly 7% below their 52-week high of $537.74. The stock has hardly been the market's darling this year while AI growth stocks soared, and a single green Monday doesn't reverse that.
What can be said is what a buyer pays for the defensive qualities. At about $502, Berkshire's market value is about $1.1 trillion, which works out to about 21 times its annualized operating earnings. The reported price-to-earnings ratio is lower, at about 12, but that figure includes large investment gains that swing from quarter to quarter. On the steadier operating basis, Berkshire is arguably not the discount it was a few years ago.
Still, the stock offers something scarce right now, and Monday showed there's demand for it. Berkshire's earnings arrive either way, because premiums and freight don't wait on the AI build-out. And the $360 billion in cash and Treasury bills becomes more useful, not less, as other assets get cheaper.
At about 21 times operating earnings, none of that comes at a discount anymore. But on the first day in a while that investors seriously doubted the chip complex, Berkshire is what they bought. I don't think that is a coincidence.
Berkshire Hathaway ve 2. čtvrtletí zvýšila sázku na Alphabet, jehož podíl je už třetí největší v portfoliu, na 36,6 miliardy USD. Akcie Alphabetu za posledních 12 měsíců vzrostly o 70 %.
Berkshire Hathaway's (BRKA +0.80%) (BRKB +0.74%) most recent 13F was just filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the company made a notable move. During the second quarter, it increased the size of its bet on Alphabet (GOOGL -0.54%) (GOOG -0.50%), thanks to the $10 billion private placement in June and open market transactions.
Oracle of Omaha Warren Buffett, who is now chairman of Berkshire after retiring as CEO at the end of 2025, revealed that he initiated this position last year. Combined, the Class A and Class C shares make up the conglomerate's third-largest position, valued at $36.6 billion. It's now larger than the Coca-Cola stake.
Berkshire and Buffett have made it crystal clear just how bullish they have become on Alphabet, whose share price has surged 70% over the past 12 months. Alphabet is one of the major hyperscalers in artificial intelligence (AI).
Image source: The Motley Fool.
Alphabet passes the test Notably, Buffett led the decision to buy Alphabet during the third quarter last year, although he did discuss the move with now-CEO Greg Abel. Buffett's philosophy has seen him shy away from internet enterprises in the past. This is no longer the case, of course. It's even more interesting that the Alphabet position was started during the ongoing AI revolution.
Berkshire must be optimistic about Alphabet's prospects over the coming five years and beyond. This is easy to believe, given that the business possesses a wide economic moat. There are network effects at play for Google Search and YouTube. Google Cloud has a notable scale advantage, and its customers face switching costs. And valuable intangible assets, such as the Google brand name and the company's ability to collect and leverage data, bolster its competitive position.
Abel must also favor Alphabet's position in the ongoing AI data center boom. Investors are already familiar with Alphabet's capital expenditure (capex) surge, as it now plans to spend $200 billion (at the midpoint) in 2026, with a higher outlay next year. The hyperscalers are sparing no expense to build AI infrastructure.
Rising capex has officially resulted in negative free cash flow (FCF), to the tune of a $5.9 billion loss in the second quarter. It might not be long until sell-side analysts update their spreadsheets to forecast that Alphabet will post negative FCF for the full year.
Alphabet is a wildly profitable company on the income statement, despite the massive hit to its FCF. Its operating margin over the first six months of 2026 was a superb 35%. And its balance sheet has $242 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities.
Buffett wouldn't have made a sizable capital outlay if he didn't appreciate Alphabet's financial position. This tells me that Berkshire's investment team believes it can accurately predict Alphabet's FCF well into the future. Buffett and Abel must have concluded that the multi-hundred-billion-dollar capex plan will generate a satisfactory return on invested capital.
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This AI stock has gotten cheaper Over the past year, Alphabet shares have soared 70%. After a fantastic gain like that, investors are forgiven for assuming the stock is expensive now. This isn't the case, though. You'd be surprised to learn that the valuation has become cheaper. The AI stock trades at a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 17.4 today. This multiple has declined by 20% in the last 12 months.
One of Warren Buffett's core investing guidelines is never to overpay for any company. Buying at an attractive valuation is preferred. Alphabet shares are at a P/E ratio that's 34% below the S&P 500's multiple.
Berkshire Hathaway will file its next 13F in about three months. When this happens, the world might find out that it further added to its Alphabet stake in the current quarter. The conglomerate certainly has enough cash on hand to do so.
Berkshire Hathaway v 1. čtvrtletí ukončila 16 pozic a byla čistým kupcem akcií, což naznačuje další nové pozice pod Gregem Abelem. Nejvíc se čeká na možné změny u Constellation Brands a Jefferies Financial.
New Stock PositionsBerkshire Hathaway made major changes to their investment portfolio in Q1, the first without legendary investor Warren Buffett as CEO.
For the first time in a while, the conglomerate was a net buyer of equities, buying more than it sold. This signals that more new positions could be on the horizon.
The last three stocks bought, and first under Abel as CEO, covered airlines, tech and retail. Based on those purchases and Abel’s limited public buying history, it’s hard to determine which stocks or sectors the company looked at for the second quarter.
These are only loose predictions based on Abel’s recent buying history and investors will have to wait until Friday to find out if there are indeed new positions.
Exited PositionsBerkshire Hathaway exited 16 positions in Q1. While Q2 isn’t expected to bring another wave of major exits, Abel could still make significant adjustments to reshape the portfolio.
“Our investment in Kraft Heinz has been disappointing,” Abel previously said. “Even after considering the preferred equity component in our original Heinz investment, our return has been well short of adequate.”
Another position likely due for a complete exit is alcoholic beverage company Constellation Brands (NYSE:STZ). Abel cut the position by 95% in Q1, not leaving many shares left to sell.
Jefferies Financial (NYSE:JEF) was among the smallest positions in the first quarter and Abel could look to exit the small stake.
“Apple, American Express, Coca-Cola, and Moody’s — businesses we understand well, have a high regard for their leaders, and expect will compound over decades,” Abel previously wrote.
That leaves remaining holdings vulnerable to further cuts or full liquidations this quarter.
Changes to PortfolioIn Q1, Abel increased four stakes and reduced six. Multiple positions are likely to see activity in the second quarter as Abel reshapes the portfolio.
Outside of Apple, American Express, Coca-Cola, and Moody’s, all holdings are on watch for potential trims or exits.
Following recent additions, the Alphabet position has grown and is expected to rank among Berkshire’s top holdings by the end of Q2.
Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) has been a core holding for years, though the position was trimmed slightly in Q1. Given Abel’s exits across other financial stocks earlier this year, he could look to trim the Bank of America stake further.
Another position that could see a boost is The New York Times (NYSE:NYT). As one of the final buys initiated under Buffett, Abel may have taken advantage of Q2 stock pullbacks to build the position in honor of his mentor.
After 16 exits, two new additions, and several adjustments in the first quarter, Q2 may feature fewer moving pieces—offering a clearer picture of which sectors Abel favors for the long haul.
Image via Shutterstock
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Berkshire Hathaway ve 2. čtvrtletí zvýšila tržby v divizi výroby, služeb a maloobchodu na 61,5 miliardy dolarů a čistý zisk na téměř 4,5 miliardy dolarů. Tato část firmy nyní tvoří téměř 40 % disponibilního cash flow.
Given that the stock's only a tad below analysts' consensus price target of $525.08 following the recent release of its second-quarter results, Berkshire Hathaway's (BRKA -0.42%) (BRKB -0.47%) Class B shares appear to be fully and fairly valued. And maybe they are.
Dig deeper, though. There may be something the analyst community isn't fully appreciating. And it's not the fact that CEO Greg Abel is finally starting to do something with all that idle cash the company's been sitting on, either. It's how well its biggest cash cow is now doing.
Berkshire's breadwinner is now firmly growing It's easy to forget that Berkshire Hathaway isn't just a basket of hand-picked stocks. It's also a collection of privately held, cash-generating businesses like Duracell batteries, Pilot Travel Centers, Clayton Homes, Shaw flooring, and Dairy Queen, just to name a few. This is where most of the conglomerate's quarterly cash flow comes from, in fact, which of course is eventually invested for growth (one way or another). These businesses collectively contributed $11.7 billion worth of after-tax earnings in Q2 of this year, despite headwinds on the insurance front.
Image source: Getty Images.
Still, the grouping that includes Berkshire's manufacturing, retailing, and services ventures like Precision Castparts, Lubrizol, International Metalworking, Clayton Homes, and others performed phenomenally well last quarter, turning $61.5 billion worth of revenue into net earnings of nearly $4.5 billion. Those numbers are up 15.2% and 24.1%, respectively, accelerating Q1's already healthy growth pace.
Indeed, as the graphic below illustrates, last quarter's profit growth of the conglomerate's manufacturing, services, and retailing arm extends and accelerates long-standing forward progress that hasn't necessarily been mirrored by all of Berkshire's other businesses, or, for that matter, every business that's not part of the Berkshire Hathaway family.
Data source: Berkshire Hathaway. Chart by author. Figures are in millions of dollars.
It matters simply because -- as the chart above also illustrates -- manufacturing, services, and retailing are now collectively Berkshire Hathaway's single-biggest and most consistent cash cow, accounting for nearly 40% of the company's spendable cash flow. Remember, Berkshire's investment gains don't become liquid cash until and unless those positions are sold.
Potential not fully reflected in the target price One quarter doesn't necessarily start a new trend. All long-lived trends, however, start out with that first good quarter. And given the nature of most of this arm's businesses -- manufacturing -- strength on this front against the backdrop of a lethargic economy is encouraging to be sure. It says that what these businesses are making is in demand even if the economy remains hampered by slow growth, lingering inflation, and an uptick in job losses. In that sort of environment, reliable cash flow has a funny way of suddenly becoming very important.
More to the point for interested investors, many of the analysts who are conservatively pricing this stock based on the company's still-limited interest in putting more of its cash hoard (now roughly $360 billion) to work may not be pricing in the full potential of these privately held ventures. This, of course, bolsters the already bullish case for buying a stake in Berkshire Hathaway here.
Michael Burry uvedl, že Berkshire Hathaway už nepovažuje za atraktivní investici. Kritizuje, že první kroky Grega Abela působí spíše jako marketingový rámec než skutečné investice.
Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRKA) (BRKB -2.46%) has generated market-crushing returns for roughly six decades.
Investors attribute the superior performance largely to its longtime former chief executive officer, Warren Buffett, who stepped down from the role at the end of last year. The loss of Buffett seemed to remove some of the premium that investors paid for Berkshire's stock, which has underperformed the broader market this year.
While Buffett handpicked new CEO Greg Abel to lead the company, the market hasn't been completely sold. However, Berkshire's stock has bounced back during the past month, up 4.6% (as of Aug. 11), as Abel has begun to deploy some of Berkshire's huge cash pile.
Still, this hasn't convinced The Big Short's Michael Burry, who recently said on Substack that he no longer finds Berkshire to be "an attractive investment." Does Burry know something that Wall Street doesn't?
Image source: Getty Images.
Concerns about the long-term strategy It's not a surprise that Abel will have nearly impossible shoes to fill as Buffett's successor. Warren Buffett became an icon in the stock market for his investing prowess, so that would be true for anyone stepping into the role.
One issue investors have had in recent years is Berkshire's towering cash pile, which reached almost $400 billion at the end of the first quarter.
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Although Buffett has expressed concern about speculation and frothiness in the market in recent years, investors have surely been hoping that Berkshire could make more productive use of the staggering amount of cash the company has been sitting on.
Abel has started to do this. Abel has significantly increased Berkshire's equity position in Alphabet, which is now a top-five holding in the portfolio.
Berkshire also announced the acquisition of Taylor Morrison Homes in the second quarter for $6.8 billion, and repurchased roughly $4.5 billion of its own stock, more than the company had repurchased in either 2024 or 2025.
Furthermore, Berkshire was a net buyer of stocks in the second quarter, breaking a 14-quarter streak of net selling. Still, Burry has concerns that Abel may not take the same approach as Buffett.
"My biggest fear for Berkshire Hathaway was that when Warren finally stepped down, the successor would be too old and otherwise not Warren, so would not have his patience for the fat pitch," Burry wrote on Substack. "I believe this fear has come true. I do not find Berkshire an attractive investment going forward. I realize not too much of the cash pile has been spent, and the cash pile remains large. However, these first steps look to be more framing moves than investment moves."
By "fat pitch," Burry is using to a baseball term that refers to a pitch right down the middle of home plate, which looks like it is perfect to hit. Buffett made this term famous in his investing philosophy by likening the "fat pitch" to an obvious, low-risk opportunity that the market is mispricing.
While I am just speculating, it's quite possible that Burry is not pleased with Abel's decision to invest so heavily in Alphabet, a company that, along with other major artificial intelligence (AI) players, he's been critical of, particularly some of its accounting practices regarding how it estimates the useful life of equipment.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't Burry is considered one of the brightest investors around, so perhaps he's right. But it also seems as if he's being a bit harsh toward Abel.
Although Buffett wasn't penalized by the market for carrying nearly $400 billion of cash without paying a dividend, the market may not have the same patience for Abel, so the new CEO is damned if he puts cash to work and damned if he doesn't.
It's true that Alphabet is beholden to the AI trade and will likely see its stock suffer if AI suffers a significant setback. However, there are worse AI stocks to invest in, and Alphabet probably can weather a crash better than most AI stocks.
Furthermore, sitting on the sidelines while AI booms is easier said than done. Sure, investors who manage to avoid a crash will certainly be rewarded. But they can also be punished if they avoid AI and it goes on to generate gigantic returns.
Berkshire probably isn't going to be a real growth stock again, but it still could serve as a good hedge in the portfolio, especially if the market falters. The stock will generate solid long-term returns through the entire economic cycle.
Berkshire Hathaway pod vedením Grega Abela začala po letech poprvé výrazněji nasazovat hotovost: ve 2. čtvrtletí zpětně odkoupila akcie za 4,5 miliardy USD a byla čistým kupcem akcií za téměř 20 miliard USD. Hotovostní zásoba přesto klesla jen na 365,5 miliardy USD.
During his last few years at the helm of conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA +1.76%) (BRKB +1.46%), Warren Buffett took a very conservative view of stocks. While he maintained that equities were still the best way to invest for the long term, he sold a lot more stocks than he bought, significantly cutting stakes in the company's top holdings, including Apple and Bank of America.
Between late 2022 and the end of the first quarter of this year, Berkshire was a net seller of stocks for 14 straight quarters. At the same time, Berkshire also stopped buying back its own stock, doing no share repurchases for more than a year and a half, from June 2024 until March 2026. The combination of net stock sales, solid cash flow generation, and a lack of buybacks led Berkshire to accumulate a huge stockpile of cash near $400 billion at the end of Q1.
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Putting cash to work However, with Buffett officially retiring at the end of 2025, new Chief Executive Officer Greg Abel has begun to deploy the company's cash. He restarted the company's buyback program in early March, repurchasing $235 million worth of shares in Q1. That continued in Q2, with $4.5 billion in share repurchases.
On top of that, for Q2, Berkshire was a net buyer of stocks for the first time in more than three years. The conglomerate made nearly $20 billion in net purchases in the quarter, headlined by a $10 billion private placement investment in Alphabet to help the cloud computing giant build out its artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. While big tech investments haven't been typical for Buffett, he has come out and said that Berkshire's initial investment in the search behemoth in Q4 2025 was at his behest and in consultation with Abel. Alphabet is now one of Berkshire's top five equity holdings, along with Apple, American Express, Coca-Cola, and Bank of America.
During the quarter, the company also closed on its acquisition of homebuilder Taylor Morrison. Berkshire has a pretty strong presence in the U.S, housing market, also owning manufactured-home builder Clayton Homes, several building products companies, and residential real estate brokerage franchise network Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices. It was the first deal made under Abel, whom Buffett has praised for his deal-making skills.
Image source: The Motely Fool
All these moves reduced Berkshire's cash hoard from a record $497.4 billion at the end of Q1 to $365.5 billion at the end of June. However, it still gives Abel more than enough dry powder to continue to invest in equities, buy back Berkshire stocks, and make large deals.
Berkshire's Q2 earnings report shows that the company's operating earnings climbed 16%, from $11.2 billion a year ago to almost $13 billion. The growth was led by its manufacturing, service, and retailing segment, which saw growth soar 24% to $4.5 billion, and Berkshire Hathaway Energy, where profit surged 27% to $891 million . Profit at BNSF, its railway segment, meanwhile, rose 6% to $1.6 billion.
The company's insurance segment saw some pressure, with underwriting profits sinking 13% from almost $2 billion a year earlier to $1.73 billion. Insurance investment income, meanwhile, fell by 9% to $3.06 billion. Berkshire's insurance segment can be lumpy quarter to quarter depending on when claims come in, but its enormous float -- money collected from policy holders before claims are paid -- provides the company with a steady, zero-cost pool of capital to help fund its investment portfolio.
It's good to see Berkshire finally using some of its cash instead of sitting on it. The stock dropped to one of its lowest price-to-tangible book value in several years, at 1.85, so the return of buybacks makes sense and isn't just something Abel decided to do arbitrarily. At the same time, while the market has performed well, there are certainly some pockets where value can be found.
Given an improved valuation and Berkshire and Abel having plenty of cash for work with, now looks like a good time to buy the stock for the long haul.
Geico ve 2. čtvrtletí 2026 snížila pojistný zisk před zdaněním na 994 mil. USD z 1,82 mld. USD, tedy téměř o 45 %. Počet škod z úrazů vzrostl v prvním pololetí 2026 o 5 % a průměrné náklady na ně o 10 %.
ToplineGeico, Berkshire Hathaway's largest insurance business, saw earnings decline nearly 45% last quarter as American drivers filed more auto claims and injury costs sharply spiked, delivering a hit to the conglomerate’s most profitable sector.
A Geico insurance office on July 20, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Getty Images
Key FactsGeico's pre-tax underwriting earnings fell to $994 million in the second quarter of 2026, down from $1.82 billion a year earlier—for a decline of nearly 45%, according to Berkshire's quarterly Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Geico's loss ratio—the share of premiums paid out in claims—rose to 76.6% in the second quarter and 75.3% for the first half of 2026, up nearly five percentage points from the same periods a year earlier.
The filing says the number of bodily injury claims rose 5% in the first half of 2026 and injury claim costs on average jumped 10%, both measures worsening when compared to 2025.
Berkshire's filing reflects a broader trend in the insurance industry where bodily injury claims have surpassed auto physical damage payouts for the first time in history.
WHY HAVE BODILY INJURY CLAIMS INCREASED? CCC Intelligent Solutions, an auto insurance software company, reports bodily insurance claim frequency is up 11% over the past two years and the cost of those claims has jumped 10.3% over the last year and 32% over the last four years. CCC says the increase is not because car crashes are becoming more frequent or more severe, instead pointing to changes in the social environment surrounding injury claims. General affordability, higher medical costs and more aggressive legal strategies have all made alleging injuries and filing lawsuits more attractive, according to industry analyst Erik Bahnsen. In other words, people are more likely to win lawsuits and, in doing so, can avoid shouldering the burden of medical costs on their own. For insurance companies, those bodily injury claims are becoming more expensive due to higher rates of attorney involvement, longer negotiations, higher legal fees and rising health care expenses.
SURPRISING FACTWhile the number of bad car accidents hasn’t substantially changed, the number of minor ones has. What are known as Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, like automatic emergency braking, have successfully cut down on the number of minor, low-speed fender benders. And because there are fewer of those lower-severity collisions, the remaining claims pool is disproportionately weighted toward more intense crashes that may result in physical injuries.
Key backgroundGeico was one of Berkshire Hathaway’s strongest performers heading into 2026, recovering from a period of underwriting losses that prompted significant cost cuts and premium increases in previous years. That turnaround made this year’s second-quarter reversal even more striking when underwriting expenses at Geico surged about 28% in the first half of 2026 versus a year earlier. The filing discloses no significant catastrophe losses in the first half of 2026, meaning the Geico deterioration is purely operational rather than weather-driven. Berkshire’s broader operations held $359.2 billion in cash and Treasury bills as of June 30 and generated about $177.5 billion in insurance float—a financial cushion that masks how sharply Geico's underwriting performance has deteriorated.
FORBES VALUATIONWarren Buffett, the investor known as the "Oracle of Omaha," is worth an estimated $151.4 billion as of Monday, making him the 10th-richest person in the world. Buffett took control of Berkshire Hathaway in 1965 and turned the struggling textile company into a giant holding company, of which he was CEO until stepping down in December at age 95. He remains chairman of the board.
further readingForbesBerkshire Hathaway Earnings Beat As Abel Deploys Buffett’s Cash HoardBy Bill StoneForbesBerkshire Hathaway Stock’s 2026 Outlook And What It Means For Your PortfolioBy Catherine Brock
Berkshire Hathaway shareholders walk by a video screen at the company's annual meeting in Omaha May 4, 2013. REUTERS/Rick Wilking/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
CompaniesAug 8 (Reuters) - Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N), opens new tab on Saturday reported a higher quarterly operating profit, benefiting from higher earnings in manufacturing, service and retail operations, while net income was bolstered by double-digit gains in common stock investments such as Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab and Alphabet (GOOGL.O), opens new tab.
Second-quarter operating profit rose 16% to $12.98 billion from $11.16 billion a year earlier.
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Net income more than doubled to $25.67 billion from $12.37 billion.
Berkshire also repurchased $4.5 billion of its own stock in the second quarter, accelerating repurchases it had begun in March following a nearly two-year hiatus.
Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Sharon Singleton
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab
Warren Buffett plánuje do 31. prosince 2034 rozdat zbytek svých akcií Berkshire Hathaway v hodnotě kolem 140 miliard USD. Převod vlastnictví má být postupný a nemusí výrazně ovlivnit cenu ani řízení firmy.
Warren Buffett started giving away his Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA -0.75%) (BRKB -0.54%) shares 20 years ago, but the legendary investor is speeding up the process. Last month, Buffett announced his plans to dispose of his remaining shares between now and Dec. 31, 2034.
On the same day as the press release, Buffett converted $6 billion in Berkshire Class A shares into Class B shares and donated them to several private foundations.
Interestingly enough, for the first time in 20 years, Buffett gave nothing to the Gates Foundation, opting instead to give only to various affiliated foundations, including The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, as well as the private foundations run by each of his three children.
While there's rampant speculation about why Buffett skipped out on the Gates Foundation this time, there is one more pertinent question on the minds of Berkshire Hathaway stock investors: How will this accelerating transfer of Buffett's stake impact the company and its shares moving forward?
Image source: The Motley Fool.
Buffett and the big transfer Currently, the Oracle of Omaha holds a 13.2% economic interest in Berkshire Hathaway. This position is worth around $140 billion, implying that Buffett will give away an average of $17.5 billion each year for the next eight years.
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However, it's as if these shared, once transferred, will immediately hit the market. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) may require private foundations to donate 5% of their overall assets annually.
While Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings from The Gates Foundation suggest that it has sold off the bulk of the $47 billion in Berkshire shares it has received over the past 20 years , Buffett's family foundations may opt to hold on to their gifted positions.
Even if the family foundations liquidate their positions, this is likely to happen gradually. Furthermore, Berkshire's present and future share repurchase plans could mitigate the impact of some of these shares hitting the open market.
A shift, but not necessarily a dramatic one At the same time Buffett is initiating this great transfer, Berkshire Hathaway is seemingly shifting back to "buyback mode." According to published reports, the company has bought back between $5 billion and $11 billion worth of its own shares.
Berkshire has typically repurchased shares when it believes the company is trading below its intrinsic value. With nearly $400 billion in cash on hand, the company has plenty of capital it could return to investors. That said, it's not as if newly appointed CEO Greg Abel is looking to "dismantle" the Berkshire empire or even shrink it.
Although it still sits on a relatively large cash reserve, the company, under new leadership, has continued to make major deals and investments so far this year. Major transactions include Berkshire's $8.5 billion acquisition of Taylor Morrison and its $10 billion participation in Alphabet's $80 billion equity offering.
In short, while Berkshire's ownership may shift between now and 2034, it's not necessarily a dramatic one. Until subsequent developments suggest otherwise, don't expect Buffett's large transfer to materially affect the company's corporate governance, strategy, or price action.
Berkshire Hathaway ve 2. čtvrtletí zřejmě odkoupila vlastní akcie až za 11 miliard USD, což by byl rekord firmy. Tento signál naznačuje, že vedení považuje titul za podhodnocený.
Earlier this year, CEO Greg Abel announced that Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA +0.21%) (BRKB +0.36%) resumed its share repurchase program in March. But much to investors' disappointment, the company's first-quarter earnings report revealed just $235 million in total share repurchases that month. That's practically unnoticeable for a company with a market cap of more than $1 trillion.
It looks like Abel stepped up the repurchase activity in the second quarter. A Barron's analysis of Warren Buffett's SEC filings in July indicates Berkshire Hathaway's Class A share count declined by around 11,000 between April 14 and July 14. Due to rounding and estimating the average share price of repurchases, the actual amount spent buying back shares won't be known until Berkshire releases its Q2 earnings results. However, Barron's suggests the amount could be as high as $11 billion.
That's a bullish sign for shareholders.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
Should you buy Berkshire Hathaway stock now? When Berkshire Hathaway buys back its own shares, it's usually a good sign that management believes its shares are undervalued. Chairman Warren Buffett has decried companies that repurchase shares without regard for their stock's price or value. Conversely, Berkshire's share repurchase authorization permits repurchases only when "Berkshire's Chief Executive Officer, after consultation with the Chairman of the Board, believes that the repurchase price is below Berkshire's intrinsic value, conservatively determined."
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If Berkshire did buy back $11 billion worth of shares in Q2, it would be the largest repurchase in the company's history. The previous record was in the fourth quarter of 2020, when Buffett bought back $9 billion worth of Berkshire stock. As such, it would indicate extreme bullishness on the part of Abel and Buffett, and help decumulate the massive cash pile on the company's balance sheet.
Berkshire Class A share price averaged about $721,000 per share between April 14 and the end of the quarter, which is the best estimate for the average purchase price for share repurchases during the period. Shares have climbed since the end of May, but the valuation remains compelling.
The stock trades for just 1.5 times book value, based on data from the end of Q1. That number may be closer to 1.4 times book value based on up-to-date data. Investors will have to wait until the Q2 financial release to get more exact numbers.
Data by YCharts.
The stock's performance in the first half of 2026 also suggests investors may be undervaluing the conglomerate. While railroad and insurance stocks have climbed higher, Berkshire stock has remained relatively flat. That's despite the fact that its marketable equity portfolio has significantly increased in value, approaching $360 billion as of this writing.
Given all the evidence, now may be a great time to add Berkshire shares to your portfolio.
Berkshire Hathaway výrazně zvýšila podíl v Alphabetu a z firmy udělala pátou největší pozici v portfoliu, kde tvoří zhruba 8,1 %. Buffett ale varuje, že masivní výdaje na AI infrastrukturu mohou dál držet volný peněžní tok v záporu.
One of the biggest stories surrounding Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB +0.10%)(BRKA +0.24%) this year is the company's large purchases of Alphabet (GOOG -0.62%) (GOOGL -0.91%) stock for its massive, nearly $359 billion equities portfolio.
Alphabet has quickly become a top position for the conglomerate. It's an interesting move for Berkshire, as it's the first time it's gone all-in on an artificial intelligence (AI) stock. Will CEO Greg Abel and executive chairman Warren Buffett make Alphabet Berkshire's next Apple?
Image source: The Motley Fool.
Berkshire's artificial intelligence horse Berkshire initiated its Alphabet position last year. Recently, Buffett actually revealed that he was the one who initiated it. Under Abel's leadership, Berkshire has significantly increased its position.
In the first quarter, Berkshire's holdings of Alphabet class A and C shares increased by over $11 billion. Then Berkshire acquired an additional $10 billion from Alphabet in a private placement at an average price of about $350 per share across class A and C shares.This makes Alphabet the fifth-largest position in Berkshire's portfolio.
While Alphabet has a wide variety of large tech businesses that had been doing quite well before AI, the company is a hyperscaler driving the AI revolution by investing heavily in AI infrastructure, so this is Berkshire making a real bet on AI.
Sure, Apple is set to benefit from AI in several ways, but Apple is not one of the large cloud providers and is not spending massively on AI.
On its recent earnings call, Alphabet management raised its capital expenditure guidance to $200 billion or potentially more, almost all of which will be for AI infrastructure.
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In a CNBC interview regarding the Alphabet position, Buffett said, "The trick in life is to find -- I mean investing -- is to find businesses that are going to earn high returns on capital for an extended period of time."
While Alphabet has done this historically, the $200 billion-plus in capital expenditures (capex) this year and likely more in 2027 will put Buffett's theory to the test. Free cash flow has already turned negative, and that trend is likely to accelerate.
Buffett also expressed concerns about all the AI spending, so the question becomes whether this is a company that Berkshire can really live and die with, given that the AI trade is likely to face significant obstacles at one point.
Could Alphabet be Berkshire's new Apple? At roughly 8.1% of the portfolio, Berkshire's Alphabet position still pales in comparison to Apple, which currently accounts for 21.6% of Berkshire's portfolio. At one point, Apple consumed roughly 40% of the portfolio.
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While Buffett certainly loves Apple's business due to its strong moat, he also likes how shareholder-friendly the company has been. Since its share repurchase program began in 2012, Apple has repurchased over $850 billion worth of stock.
Now, Alphabet has also repurchased a massive amount of stock over the past decade -- $346 billion since 2016.
However, large amounts of spending on AI infrastructure led Alphabet to halt buybacks earlier this year. And it seems likely that repurchases will be on pause for the foreseeable future, with free cash flow expected to remain negative.
While I don't know the exact thinking of Abel and Buffett, they may have felt they had to invest in some level of AI for the same reason Alphabet feels like it has to invest in all this AI infrastructure: Missing the revolution could be just as costly as getting burned by it. And Alphabet is a safer pick in AI than some other stocks trading at massive valuations that lack the ancillary businesses, scale, and earnings power that Alphabet has.
While I wouldn't expect Berkshire to make Alphabet as big as Apple, especially while they are investing in all this capex, if there is more evidence that the capex will yield adequate returns, Berkshire might then likely consider increasing the position.
Famed investor Warren Buffett is usually not one to seek out recognition, but in a recent interview, the Oracle of Omaha took credit for Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA 0.34%) (BRKB 0.42%) taking a large stake in Alphabet (GOOGL 2.05%) (GOOG 2.06%). Buffett has never been known as a tech investor, so when this value-oriented guru takes a big stake in a leading tech company, the stock should probably be on your list of stocks to strongly consider.
Berkshire first took a position in Alphabet in the third quarter of last year, right before Buffett was set to retire at the end of 2025. It added to that position earlier this year when it invested $10 billion in a private placement to help Alphabet raise money to build out its AI infrastructure.
In the interview, Buffett said the key to investing was finding businesses that can earn a high return on capital for a long period of time. He and current Berkshire CEO Greg Abel appear to believe that Alphabet can do this with its AI infrastructure investments, and there is good reason to believe this will be the case.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
A long runway of growth As with the other big three cloud computing giants, Alphabet benefits from being able to split its computing power between its own internal needs and third-party demand. This gives it flexibility to help it generate the best return on its investments. What really separates the company from the pack, though, is its Tensor Processing Units (TPUs). It developed these chips more than a decade ago and has been improving upon them with new iterations ever since. It has also optimized its entire software and hardware stack around them.
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This gives the company a big cost advantage versus both AI model competitors and those in the cloud computing space that tend to rely mostly on Nvidia's much more expensive graphics processing units (GPUs). Alphabet's TPUs allow it to train its Gemini frontier models at a much lower cost than competitors like OpenAI. They also help the company save on inference expenses, giving it a structural cost advantage. This, combined with its distribution and ad-network edges, is why it can run a strong and profitable consumer AI business.
Alphabet's custom chips also give the company a cost edge in its fast-growing cloud computing business. It's seeing rapid cloud revenue growth, including 63% last quarter, but its cloud profits are climbing even faster, with cloud operating income tripling. Meanwhile, Alphabet's TPUs are so well regarded that Anthropic has started placing big TPU orders through its partner Broadcom, opening up another potential high-margin revenue stream.
Backed by Buffett's approval, Alphabet is a top AI stock to buy right now, with a long runway of growth ahead.
Geoffrey Seiler has positions in Alphabet and Broadcom. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Berkshire Hathaway, and Broadcom. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Greg Abel říká, že Berkshire Hathaway Energy už dodává 8 % své potenciální výroby elektřiny v Iowě do AI datacenter a v příštích pěti letech to může růst o 50 % i více. Pro Berkshire to ale zatím není zásadní tahoun.
Although the company holds a sizable stake in Alphabet, much like his predecessor, Warren Buffett, current Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA +0.73%) (BRKB +1.71%) CEO Greg Abel isn't making any major, hyperaggressive bets on artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
He's certainly not unaware of the industry's rapid growth, though, and is making a point of preparing one of Berkshire's subsidiaries for what seems inevitable. That's soaring demand for the electricity that powers AI data centers.
The question is, will this meaningfully move the needle for Berkshire Hathaway and its shareholders?
Image source: Getty Images.
AI and energy is definitely on Abel's radar Given everything else happening that busy day, it would have been easy to miss. Nevertheless, as Abel commented during Berkshire's annual shareholder meeting in early May, "One of the core inputs to all those data centers -- hyperscalers -- associated with artificial intelligence is energy. Our businesses have that opportunity in front of them at Berkshire Hathaway Energy." He then added, "And yes, we're pursuing them."
Abel went on to point out that, unlike so many other players in the utility business, Berkshire Hathaway Energy is already sending 8% of its potential electricity production in Iowa, for instance, to the AI data center industry that's set up shop there. He goes on to suggest that this figure could grow by 50% (or more) over the next five years.
In other words, Berkshire's energy arm is already ready for what awaits.
But what does this opportunity practically mean for Berkshire Hathaway shareholders?
It takes some digging, but it's not a secret -- Berkshire's energy business added nearly $4 billion worth of earnings to the conglomerate's bottom line last year. That's roughly 10% of its total profits, excluding the ever-changing gains from its stock portfolio. That's not huge, but it's not insignificant either.
Data source: Berkshire Hathaway 2025 investor report.
For all the opportunity Abel says he sees on this front, however, it's not exactly a game changer.
AI takes a relatively small part of overall energy production There's no denying the utility industry as a whole wasn't -- and still isn't -- ready for the rapid growth in electricity demand driven by the proliferation of AI data centers.
In the grand scheme of things, though, it's not as if artificial intelligence is consuming the vast majority of the nation's produced power. Recent number crunching by Pew Research indicates that data centers accounted for only about 4% of the United States' total electricity generation in 2025. The rest is still being used by everything else and everyone else. Even Pew's forecast for a doubling of this consumption by 2030 would put the AI industry's portion of power consumption in the ballpark of 8%, which is still a small minority.
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So why all the angst? The capital-intensive utility business wasn't ready for any major surge in demand, having managed paper-thin differences between supply and consumption for decades.
More to the point for interested investors, while AI-driven energy demand is undeniably growing rapidly, it's growing from a small baseline. There's not enough whole-dollar opportunity here to consider it a core part of any bullish thesis for Berkshire Hathaway... at least not yet.
That doesn't mean Berkshire isn't a buy, though. If nothing else, the conglomerate remains an incredible cash cow, with a portfolio of great stocks.
Warren Buffett went on CNBC this morning and took personal credit for one of the more surprising moves in Berkshire Hathaway‘s (NYSE:BRK-B | BRK-B Price Prediction) recent history. Speaking with Becky Quick, the 95-year-old chairman said, “I initiated it” when asked about the conglomerate’s expanding stake in Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), offering his first public explanation of how Google’s parent became one of Berkshire’s largest technology holdings.
The remark resolves the question of whether new CEO Greg Abel or Buffett drove the pivot toward Big Tech, and it comes as Alphabet uses fresh capital, including a roughly $10 billion private placement from Berkshire earlier this year, to fund an AI infrastructure buildout that is straining even the largest hyperscalers’ cash flows.
The “Decider” Dynamic With Greg Abel Buffett announced he would step down in May of last year and formally handed the reins to Abel at the start of this year. That timing had led many to assume Abel authored the Alphabet position, which Berkshire first disclosed in Q3 2025 and has since expanded.
Buffett described the working arrangement plainly: “I am not doing anything that he doesn’t approve of. He’s not doing anything I don’t approve of. We talk all the time, but he is the decider,” referring to Abel. He also expressed regret over the delay, saying he “made a mistake” by not investing in Alphabet sooner, echoing his long-standing frustration at missing Google’s early rise despite seeing its advertising strength through Geico.
Even so, Buffett kept his enthusiasm measured. On Alphabet’s place in the portfolio, he said: “I would say that I don’t like it as well as at least four or five other businesses that we own.”
Berkshire’s Q1 2026 8-K, filed with the SEC on May 7, 2026, reported operating earnings of $11.35B and indicated that the company remained a net seller of equities. Berkshire shares trade around $500, up just under 1% year to date.
Why the $10 Billion Alphabet Placement Matters Alphabet is spending at a pace that reframes the tech capex conversation. Management guided to $175 billion to $185 billion in 2026 capital expenditures, and Q1 2026 capex more than doubled year over year to $35.67 billion. Google Cloud Q1 revenue reached $20.03 billion, up 63% year over year, with backlog nearly doubling quarter over quarter to more than $460 billion.
That backlog is the demand signal Buffett appears to be underwriting. He framed the competitive stakes directly: “The real question with Google and all of its competitors now, because they’re all laying out hundreds of billions, and that’s real money. That’s the game they’re playing now. They weren’t playing that game with computer software.”
Alphabet’s stock has responded to the disclosure and capex trajectory. Shares trade near $342.78, up 8% year-to-date and roughly 86% over the past year. The forward P/E sits around 25.
Berkshire as a Recurring Capital Partner? The forward question is whether the Alphabet placement is a one-off or a template. Berkshire ended Q1 2026 with a record $380 billion in cash. Hyperscalers are entering a phase in which AI-related capex is outpacing operating cash flow, creating an opportunity for large, patient private capital providers. Buffett’s other Big Tech position, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), was built entirely in the public market. The Alphabet deal is structured differently, and the “I initiated it” comment suggests Buffett himself sees value in being a preferred financing partner rather than just a market buyer.
For readers assembling a longer view of the portfolio’s next chapter, our 7 Warren Buffett Stocks to Buy Now briefing walks through which existing Berkshire holdings look most durable alongside the new tech tilt.
What to watch next: whether Berkshire’s next 13F expands the Alphabet position further, whether Abel signals appetite for similar structured deals with other hyperscalers, and how Alphabet’s AI monetization keeps pace with the capex line.
Warren Buffett řekl, že právě on inicioval nedávnou velkou investici Berkshire Hathaway do Alphabet. Berkshire ji odhalila ve 3. čtvrtletí 2025 a minulý měsíc přidala dalších 10 miliard USD.
Warren Buffett said Wednesday he — not Berkshire Hathaway's new CEO Greg Abel — was the driving force behind the recent big investment in Alphabet.
"I initiated it," Buffett said in an interview with CNBC's Becky Quick. "I am not doing anything that he doesn't approve of. He's not doing anything I don't approve of. We talk all the time, but he is the decider."
Berkshire first disclosed a stake in Alphabet during the third quarter of 2025 and has dramatically increased its investment since. Last month, the conglomerate invested an additional $10 billion through a private stock purchase.
"The trick in life is to find — I mean investing — is to find businesses that are going to earn high returns on capital for an extended period of time," Buffett said.
Buffett, who stepped down as Berkshire's chief executive earlier this year but remains chairman, said he and CEO Greg Abel continue to work closely together on investment decisions.
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