Share price reaches eight-month peak
Berkshire Hathaway shares rallied to an eight-month high during the week, according to reporting published on August 1 and 2. Class B shares closed Tuesday at $512.37, the highest level since November 28, when they finished at $513.81. By Friday's close, the B shares stood at $511.54, still 5.2% below the all-time closing high of $539.80 set on May 2 of the prior year, the day before Warren Buffett announced he would step down as chief executive at the end of 2025. Class A shares also touched their highest close since late November, ending Tuesday at $768,010, compared with a Friday close of $766,600 — about 5.3% below their all-time closing high of $809,350.
Valuation gap with the S&P 500 and sector peers
Barron's argued that Berkshire's rally "has room to run" because the stock remains "well behind" the benchmark S&P 500, which is 7.6 percentage points ahead on a year-to-date basis. Berkshire has nonetheless erased more than half of a 17.5 percentage point deficit it carried just two months earlier. The conglomerate is also trailing competitors in two of its largest business segments — railroads and insurance — even as shares rebounded.
Cash hoard and share repurchases
Berkshire's market capitalization stood at roughly $1.10 trillion in the latest data, supported by a cash position of $397.4 billion as of March 31, up 6.5% from the end of the previous year. Excluding rail cash and subtracting Treasury bills payable, the cash figure was $380.2 billion, up 3.0% from year-end. During the first quarter of 2026, Berkshire repurchased $234 million of its own stock.
Top equity holdings and the Alphabet stake
The company's largest disclosed publicly traded positions in U.S. and Japanese equities, based on its March 31, 2026 13F filing submitted May 15, 2026, are listed at current market values. Two exceptions are noted: the Alphabet position incorporates the $10 billion of shares Berkshire agreed to purchase directly from the company, as announced on June 1, 2026, though Berkshire has not yet formally disclosed whether that transaction has been completed; and the Mitsubishi stake is reported as of April 30, 2026. The full portfolio tracker is maintained by CNBC.com.
Leadership transition backdrop
The recent price action comes against the backdrop of Buffett's announced departure as CEO at the end of 2025. Berkshire's all-time closing high for Class B shares was reached the day before that disclosure, underscoring how closely the stock's narrative has remained tied to the leadership change even as fundamentals — including cash levels, buybacks, and large strategic stakes — continue to attract investor attention.
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