Berkshire Portfolio Shifts As Abel Reshapes Buffett’s Playbook

Berkshire Hathaway’s Top Ten Holdings

Berkshire’s $263.1 billion investment portfolio consists of 29 companies, 13 fewer than last quarter. It looks like Berkshire was a net seller of publicly traded stocks during the quarter. Berkshire was a net seller of almost $8.2 billion in publicly traded stocks in the first quarter, the fourteenth straight quarter of Berkshire Hathaway’s net sales of stocks. Berkshire bought $15.9 billion of stocks while selling $24.1 billion. The top five holdings, in order of holding size, are Apple (AAPL), American Express (AXP), Coca-Cola (KO), Bank of America (BAC), and Chevron (CVX). The top 5 holdings account for 67.1% of the total portfolio. The investment portfolio became even more concentrated, with 91% of assets in the top ten holdings, and only 29 total positions.

Berkshire Hathaway’s Portfolio By Sector

While Berkshire Hathaway made no change to its Apple (AAPL) position in the quarter, after trimming it in the last three quarters. Before the 2024 sales, Apple stock comprised over 50% of its publicly traded portfolio, but it remains the most significant holding at almost 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.

Despite continued trimming of Bank of America (BAC) in the quarter and other sales, the financial sector remains the portfolio’s most significant overweight at 34% 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 in Occidental, which, combined with Chevron, leads to 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 stocks, Berkshire Hathaway initially announced the acquisition of about 5% of 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

At Berkshire, equity investments are fundamental to our capital allocation activities; responsibility ultimately resides with me as CEO. Ted Weschler manages about 6% of our investments, including a portion of the portfolio formerly overseen by Todd Combs. – Greg Abel in his 2025 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholder Letter

n the first quarter, Berkshire added three new holdings: Delta Air Lines (DAL), Alphabet Class C (GOOG), and Macy’s (M). Buffett bought stakes in four airlines in 2016: Delta, American Airlines (AAL), Southwest Airlines (LUV), and United Airlines (UAL). In the wake of the pandemic, Berkshire sold their entire airline holdings in 2020. Prior to the pandemic, Delta had posted ten straight years of profits. Delta returned to profitability in 2022 and has reported annual profits ever since. Berkshire’s new $2.6 billion stake in Delta makes it the third largest owner of the company at 6.06% of outstanding shares.

Macy’s is a fairly small position at just $55 million, making it highly unlikely that Buffett was involved in this selection. Macy’s has been hurt by e-commerce, but on the positive side, the retailer trades at very low valuations. Outside of the pandemic and global financial crisis, it is selling at the highest free cash flow yield in the last 20 years.

Berkshire also added Alphabet – Class C. In the third quarter of 2025, Berkshire added Alphabet – Class A (GOOGL), which just expanded the portfolio’s exposure to the company. Between the new purchase of Class C shares and additional purchases of Class A shares, Berkshire’s stake in Alphabet is its 7th-largest position, with a value of over $16.6 billion. Alphabet’s 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 internet browser and search. Buffett had previously said about missing Google that “I didn’t know enough about technology to know whether this really was the one that would stop the competitive race.”

Berkshire added to its positions in Alphabet – Class A (GOOGL), New York Times – Class A (NYT), Lennar Class A (LEN), and Lennar Class A (LEN). 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.

As reported in the Wall Street Journal in April, Greg Abel stated that he had sold the stocks managed by Todd Combs after he left for JPMorgan (JPM). Berkshire eliminated 16 positions: Visa (V), Mastercard (MA), Unitedhealth Group (UNH), Domino’s Pizza (DPZ), AON PLC – Class A (AON), Pool Corp. (POOL), Amazon.com (AMZN), Heico Class A (HEI/A), Liberty Media (FWONK), Charter Communications (CHTR), Lamar Advertising-A (LAMR), Allegion PLC (ALLE), Diageo PLC ADR (DEO), Liberty Latin America – Class A (LILA), Liberty Latin America – Class C (LILAK), and Atlanta Braves Holdings – Class C (BATRK).

Berkshire reduced its positions in Bank of America (BAC), Chevron (CVX), Davita (DVA), Liberty Live Holdings (LLYVK), Nucor (NUE), and Constellation Brands (STZ). Notably, Berkshire entered into an agreement with DaVita in 2024 under which DaVita will buy back shares quarterly from Berkshire when its stake exceeds 45%. It seems likely that Liberty Live, Nucor, and Constellation Brands will be completely eliminated by the time Berkshire’s next 13F is filed. They are all small positions and are possibly connected to Todd Combs. Berkshire generally does not identify who purchased a position, but it makes sense that others may have less conviction in some of the holdings originally selected by Combs.

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 similar 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

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 was a net seller of publicly traded stocks during the quarter. Berkshire was a net seller of almost $8.2 billion in publicly traded stocks in the first quarter, the fourteenth straight quarter of Berkshire Hathaway’s net sales of stocks. While Buffett and Abel spoke at the annual meeting about being unable to find enough attractive acquisition targets within their circle of competence at valuations they are willing to pay, the net reduction in stock was a function of the sale of Todd Comb’s portfolio. Berkshire added a significant stake in Delta Air Lines and increased its holdings in Alphabet to $16.6 billion.

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. The stock repurchases in the first quarter were made at around 1.4 times book value, which is where we have seen previous buybacks. Still, Greg Abel’s judgment about its intrinsic value relative to other uses of capital can differ from the simple price-to-book ratio. After a rally following the annual meeting and better-than-expected profits, Berkshire sells for 1.43 times book value.

Year-to-date through May 15, Berkshire’s shares are down by 4.1%, while the S&P 500 has had a total return of 8.7%. Berkshire’s price-to-book value is back to 1.4 times, which should limit downside risk should the valuation continue to recede. Its massive cash pile allows Berkshire to buy back shares in large quantities when the opportunity arises. There were questions about Abel’s ability to keep track of Berkshire’s publicly traded securities, but the trimming of the portfolio and further concentration helped ease that burden. Further, Berkshire can deal with the concentration in the publicly traded portfolio due to its many operating businesses and cash hoard. Beyond his deep understanding of Berkshire’s many business units and a commitment to continuous improvement at the annual meeting, investors should be comforted that Abel has continued the Buffett blueprint for allocating capital.