Warren Buffett Just Dumped the Last of His BYD Stock. Should You Give Up, Too?
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) (BRK.B) portfolio is one of the most closely watched on Wall Street. The Oracle of Omaha is a master of buy-and-hold investing, and over his 60-year tenure, he transformed the struggling textile company into a powerhouse conglomerate with a market capitalization of more than $1 trillion.
Under Buffett’s leadership, Berkshire owns positions in dozens of stocks—and what he invests in matters. When Berkshire Hathaway disclosed taking a new position in UnitedHealth Group (UNH) in August, picking up 5.04 million shares as part of its $1.5 billion stake, UnitedHealth shares rocketed higher. The insurance company was the best-performing stock in the Dow Jones Industrial Average in August.
Now Berkshire Hathaway has made a new disclosure, showing that it has exited its position in the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) company BYD (BYDDY) after 17 years. Berkshire Hathaway’s most recent 10-Q shows that it had $415 million in BYDDY stock at the end of 2024, but that position was zero by March 31, 2025—the period covered in the regulatory filing.
BYDDY stock fell 3% on the news. Now investors are surely wondering—should they follow Buffett’s lead and give up on BYD as well?
Headquartered in China, BYD is the leading electric vehicle manufacturer in the nation, owning a 26.5% market share, more than double the No. 2 distributor, Geely (GELHY). It’s a lucrative market, as sales of battery-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids accounted for 2.63 million units in China in the first quarter of 2025—up 43% from a year ago.
The company sells in over 110 countries, making inroads this year into the U.K., Brazil, and Singapore. And beyond the sheer sales, BYD is also building its brand image. The company’s Yangwang U9 “Xtreme” supercar set a top speed of 308 miles per hour over the weekend on a German test track, which is a new record for a production car. It’s also the first time that the title of world’s fastest car is held by an EV.
BYD has a market capitalization of $121.2 billion. Shares are up 27% over the last year, which outperforms the broader market but lags gains realized by Xiaomi (XIACY) (167%) and XPeng (XPEV) (122%).
The company’s price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 0.6 is lower than its five-year median of 0.72, indicating that BYDDY stock is not overpriced based on its historical norms.
In addition, the company’s sales figures remain strong. Sales in August were 373,083 units, up 23% from a year ago. Most of the sales were in passenger vehicles, where battery electric vehicles were just over 1 million units, up 39.4% from last August. Plug-in hybrid vehicle sales were 1.31 million, up 8.4% from last year.
It’s not all roses for BYDDY stock. Revenues in the second quarter were RMB 201 billion ($28.1 billion), up 14% from a year ago. But the company’s net income dropped to $895 million, down nearly 30% from a year ago.
The problem isn’t with the vehicles—it’s that BYD is facing some stiff competition. Other Chinese brands are gunning to take some of BYD’s market share, and management acknowledged in its report that “increased price competition” among Chinese EV brands took a toll on its business.
Vehicle prices in China have declined by 19% in the last two years, shrinking BYD’s profits even as it sells more vehicles.
While BYDDY stock is facing some challenges—as well as Berkshire Hathaway calling it quits—many analysts remain bullish. Eleven analysts are currently covering the stock, with eight of them rating it a “Strong Buy” and three others placing a “Hold” rating. The consensus price target of $18 indicates potential short-term upside of 33%.
While Berkshire Hathaway no longer has a position, analysts are seeing potential from BYD. But the increasingly competitive Chinese market may continue to stress the company’s financials, so the consensus price target seems to be an optimistic viewpoint at best.
On the date of publication, Patrick Sanders did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Barchart.com