The CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, Greg Abel, has been at the helm as the company's shares have seen a recent uptick.

Despite a recent increase, Berkshire Hathaway (ASX: BRK.B) shares are still underperforming the S&P 500 index as the latter half of 2026 gets underway.

With more than half of 2026 now complete, the Class B shares of Berkshire Hathaway have declined by 1.8% year-to-date. This performance lags significantly behind the S&P 500, which has gained 10.7% over the same period, creating a performance gap of 12.4 percentage points. When dividends are included, the S&P 500's total return rises to 11.4%, widening its lead over Berkshire to 13.1 percentage points.

The company experienced a strong performance in June, which helped to erase nearly one-third of the 17.5 percentage point deficit it faced as of June 1st, which was the largest underperformance gap seen so far this year.

However, even with the June rebound, the second quarter—along with the first ten days of July—proved challenging for Berkshire Hathaway. Its shares gained just over 3%, while the benchmark index surged 16% on the back of strong technology stocks. This rally completely erased the modest 1.8 percentage point lead that Berkshire had held over the index at the end of March.

Looking back to the previous year, Berkshire Hathaway's share price performance, excluding dividends, trailed the S&P 500 by approximately 5.5 percentage points. When dividends are factored in, the underperformance gap widened to 7.0 percentage points.