Berkshire Hathaway Turns Buyer As Buffett Backs Alphabet

Berkshire Hathaway’s Top Ten Holdings

We apply the same fundamental value of capital discipline to Berkshire’s portfolio of equity securities as we do to our operating businesses. A large portion of our portfolio is concentrated in a small number of American companies such as 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. This concentrated approach will continue, with limited activity in these holdings, though we may significantly adjust a holding if we see fundamental changes in its long-term economic prospects. – Greg Abel in his 2025 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholder Letter

Berkshire’s $299.3 billion investment portfolio consists of 29 companies, unchanged from last quarter. Berkshire was a net buyer of almost $19.8 billion in publicly traded stocks in the second quarter. Berkshire bought $23.5 billion of stocks while selling $3.7 billion. The top five holdings, in order of holding size, are Apple (AAPL), American Express (AXP), Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG), Coca-Cola (KO), and Bank of America (BAC). The investment portfolio became even more concentrated, with the top 5 holdings accounting for 76.5% of the total portfolio. Further, 91% of assets are invested in the top ten holdings, with only 29 total positions.

Berkshire Hathaway’s Portfolio By Sector

Berkshire Hathaway made no change to its Apple (AAPL) position in the quarter, after trimming it in the last three quarters of 2025. Before some 2024 sales, Apple stock comprised over 50% of its publicly traded portfolio, but it remains the most significant holding at 22%. The Berkshire portfolio was overweight technology due to its massive Apple stake, but the selling since 2024 has taken technology to an underweight relative to the S&P 500. Due to the significant additional purchases of Alphabet this quarter, the portfolio now has a significant overweight to the communication services sector relative to the S&P 500.

Despite continued trimming of Bank of America (BAC) and other financial companies in the quarter, the sector remains the portfolio’s most significant overweight at almost 35% of assets. Due to its top five holdings, plus Occidental Petroleum (OXY) and Kraft Heinz (KHC), the portfolio remains considerably overweight in consumer staples and energy relative to the S&P 500. Berkshire controls 26.9% of the outstanding shares of Occidental, which, combined with Chevron, results in a significant energy sector overweight. A deeper analysis of the probable reasons behind the Occidental purchase can be found here. Berkshire continues to own no publicly traded utilities. However, Berkshire’s wholly owned entities include a large railroad, Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF), and multiple regulated utilities and pipelines through Berkshire Hathaway Energy (BHE).

Because the 13F does not include international holdings, Berkshire Hathaway initially announced the acquisition of about 5% stakes in five Japanese trading companies at the end of August 2020. These holdings are Itochu Corp., Marubeni Corp., Mitsubishi Corp., Mitsui & Co. Ltd., and Sumitomo Corp. According to Greg Abel’s annual letter, Berkshire now holds 9.7% to 10.8% of these trading companies with a total value of over $35 billion as of year-end. Notably, Greg Abel traveled to Japan with Buffett in 2023 when they met with the management of the five companies, and he stated in his annual shareholder letter that these stocks are “comparable to our major U.S. holdings in importance and long-term value creation opportunity.”

Portfolio Changes

“I had seen the product work, and I knew the kind of margins [they had]. GEICO was paying them $10 or $11 per click, or something like that, and any time you’re paying somebody $10 or $11 bucks every time [someone clicks on a line] where you have no cost at all, that’s a good business. I knew the guys and … I had plenty of ways to ask questions and educate myself, but I blew it.” – Warren Buffett speaking about not buying Google (Alphabet) at the 2017 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting.

In the second quarter, Berkshire added one new holding: D.R. Horton (DHI). Berkshire’s stake in D.R. Horton is quite small, worth less than $600,000. Berkshire previously bought a larger stake in the first quarter of 2025, but liquidated the position in the third quarter of 2025. The portfolio holds other homebuilders and added to some this quarter. Clearly, they feel the sector is attractive because Berkshire acquired Taylor Morrison Home Corporation, a homebuilder, on July 24, 2026, for about $6.8 billion in cash, with a total enterprise value of about $8.5 billion.

Berkshire added to its positions in Alphabet – Class A (GOOGL), Alphabet Class C (GOOG), Delta Air Lines (DAL), Lennar Class A (LEN), New York Times – Class A (NYT), Macy’s (M), and Lennar Class B (LEN/B). As previously reported, Berkshire bought $10 billion in Alphabet shares at a discount from the company: $5 billion in Class A and $5 billion in Class C. Beyond that roughly 29 million-share purchase, Berkshire added about 20 million more shares between the two share classes. Since Berkshire began amassing the shares in the third quarter of 2025, the stake has increased to its third-largest in its publicly traded stock portfolio, now worth $36.6 billion. Google is the leading internet search engine, with its revenues primarily generated by advertising. It hosts a vast array of businesses, including YouTube and Google Cloud. Google is also active in artificial intelligence (AI) with its Gemini platform, which has been integrated into Alphabet’s Chrome web browser and search engine.

The New York Times position was first initiated in the fourth quarter of 2025. The initial stakes in Lennar’s two share classes were taken in the third quarter of 2025. Berkshire’s $5.4 billion stake in Delta, accumulated in the first half of this year, makes it the second-largest owner of the company, with 8.7% of outstanding shares.

Berkshire eliminated 1 position: Constellation Brands (STZ), which had already been significantly reduced in the previous quarter.

Berkshire reduced its positions in Bank of America (BAC), DaVita (DVA), Kroger (KR), Ally Financial (ALLY), Capital One Financial (COF), and Nucor (NUE). Notably, Berkshire entered into an agreement with DaVita in 2024 under which DaVita will buy back Berkshire’s shares quarterly when Berkshire’s stake exceeds 45%. Berkshire has trimmed its Bank of America stake for eight straight quarters, but it remains one of Berkshire’s top 5 holdings at 9.2% of the portfolio.

Portfolio Valuation Metrics

This analysis looks at the Berkshire portfolio across a host of measures, including 12-month forward estimated: price-to-earnings (P/E), price-to-sales (P/S), enterprise value-to-earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EV/EBITDA), price-to-book (P/B), dividend yield, current debt-to-EBITDA, current free cash flow yield, return on equity (ROE), long-term estimated earnings growth, and current operating margin.

Overall, the Berkshire portfolio analysis shows a lower valuation than the S&P 500, with lower debt levels and better return on equity. Notably, Buffett’s preference for high-quality companies that generate significant cash flow for shareholders remains evident in their superior free cash flow yields.

Summary

“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.” – Warren Buffett speaking about Greg Abel on CNBC, July 15, 2026.

After being a net seller of publicly traded equities for fourteen straight quarters, Berkshire was finally a net buyer of almost $19.8 billion in publicly traded stocks in the second quarter. Additionally, Berkshire acquired Taylor Morrison Home Corporation, a homebuilder, on July 24, 2026, for about $6.8 billion in cash.

Berkshire only intends to repurchase shares when the “repurchase price is below Berkshire’s intrinsic value, conservatively determined.” The price-to-book ratio remains a reasonable proxy for gauging Berkshire’s intrinsic value. The price-to-book ratio remains a reasonable proxy for gauging Berkshire’s intrinsic value. Still, Greg Abel’s judgment about its intrinsic value relative to other uses of capital can differ from the simple price-to-book ratio. The stock repurchases in the second quarter were made at around 1.4 times book value, which is where we have seen previous buybacks. After some small purchases in the first quarter, Berkshire repurchased over $4.5 billion of its stock in the second quarter. Based on disclosures in Berkshire’s 10-Q filing, share repurchases continued in July and totaled an estimated $3.5 billion. Berkshire currently sells for 1.45 times book value.

Year-to-date through August 14, Berkshire’s shares are essentially unchanged, while the S&P 500 has had a total return of 14.5%. Berkshire’s price-to-book ratio is back to 1.45x, which should limit downside risk if the valuation continues to recede. Its massive cash pile, with cash and equivalents of $365.5 billion, allows Berkshire to buy back shares in large quantities when the opportunity arises. True to his word, Abel has continued the concentrated approach to stocks and, in fact, increased the concentration. Further, Berkshire can withstand the concentration in its publicly traded portfolio through its diversified operating businesses and cash hoard. Although operating earnings growth seems likely to be sluggish in 2026 due to headwinds in insurance, significant capital employed in the second quarter (and July), including the repurchase of shares at an attractive price, bodes well for continued intrinsic value growth.