MW Will Berkshire Hathaway stock be a buy after Warren Buffett's annual shareholders meeting?

By Isabel Wang

A look at how Berkshire's stock - and its equity holdings - have fared ahead of the annual shareholders meeting on Saturday

In just a few days, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., led by 94-year-old billionaire Warren Buffett, will bring tens of thousands of investors together for its annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, Neb.

Buffett, also known as the "Oracle of Omaha" and Berkshire's chairman and chief executive, on Saturday is expected to take questions from investors and share his perspectives on a range of topics including financial markets, investing principles and the nitty-gritty of Berkshire's finances - including perhaps clues on what he might do with Berkshire's more-than-$310 billion of cash holdings.

Shares of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Class B $(BRK.B)$ have notably outperformed the broader stock market so far in 2025, up over 17% compared with the 6.3% decline in the large-cap benchmark S&P 500 index SPX, according to FactSet data.

Now investors are eager to know how long Berkshire's outperformance can last.

History shows that, since 1994, Berkshire's stock $(BRK.A)$ has tended to rise year-to-date ahead of the annual shareholders meeting - which is generally held during the first weekend of May - with a median gain of 4.3%, according to Bespoke Investment Group.

However, the stock returns after Buffett makes his appearance at the annual shareholders meeting have historically been "a bit muted for some time," the Bespoke team said in a Wednesday client note (see table below).

"One week after the meeting, Berkshire has basically been flat, while one-month and three-month returns have leaned negative, with declines more often than not," said the Bespoke team.

"It isn't until six months later that performance tends to improve, with positive returns two-thirds of the time and an average gain of 5.37%. One-year returns are even stronger, with a 14.9% average gain and positive returns 80% of the time," they added.

See: Warren Buffett prefers stocks over cash and other takeaways from his annual letter to Berkshire shareholders

While Berkshire's stock has done well so far this year, its portfolio holdings are telling a different story.

Only 45% of the publicly traded stocks owned by Berkshire and Buffett have seen their prices rise so far in 2025, according to data compiled by the Bespoke team, citing Berkshire's latest 13F filing for the quarter ending Dec. 31, 2024.

Weighing on Berkshire's equity portfolio is Apple Inc. $(AAPL)$, the largest holding that accounts for about 23% of Buffett's portfolio (see table above).

Berkshire sharply cut its holding in Apple during the first nine months of 2024 - by about two-thirds to 300 million shares by the end of the year, according to its latest 13F.

Shares of Apple have fallen over 15% so far in 2025, according to FactSet data.

Powering the portfolio gains of Berkshire is Coca-Cola Co. $(KO)$, which has risen 16.5% so far in 2025. With a value of $28.9 billion, shares of Coca-Cola make up 9.3% of Berkshire's portfolio as of Dec. 31, 2024.

International equities also represent some of Berkshire's best-performing positions. Three of the five Japanese stocks rank in the top 10 for year-to-date performance, in addition to Chinese automaker BYD Co. (CN:002594), whose 38.8% year-to-date gain is the best performer in Berkshire's portfolio, the Bespoke team said.

The analysts also said that Brazil-based Nu Holdings $(NU)$ is the fourth-best performer with an 18.5% year-to-date gain, although it accounts for less than 1% of the portfolio.

-Isabel Wang

This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 01, 2025 07:45 ET (11:45 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.