Berkshire Hathaway Hits Eight-Month High
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- Berkshire Hathaway B shares closed Tuesday at $512.37, the highest level since November 28, while Class A shares ended at $768,010 — also their highest close since that date.
- Barron's reported Berkshire's rally "has room to run" since the stock remains 7.6 percentage points behind the S&P 500, though Berkshire has erased more than half of its 17.5 percentage point deficit from just two months ago.
- UBS analyst Brian Meredith raised his price target on B shares to $585 from $570 and on A shares to $877,848 from $854,596, while maintaining a "buy" rating and edging earnings estimates higher.
- Apple, Berkshire's largest holding at over $70 billion, is up 13.6% year-to-date; Coca-Cola ($35 billion stake) has surged 25% YTD after raising its full-year outlook; Bank of America (~$32 billion stake) is up 12.6%.
- Berkshire may have repurchased as much as $11 billion of its stock in Q2, per a Barron's report, with the official figure due when Berkshire releases second-quarter results expected Saturday, August 8.
- Despite the rally, B shares remain 5.2% below their all-time closing high of $539.80 set May 2 of last year — the day before Warren Buffett announced he would step down as CEO at the end of 2025.
Why it matters: With Berkshire trailing the S&P 500 by 7.6 percentage points year-to-date and sitting roughly 5% below its all-time high, the August 8 earnings release will test whether the recent rally has staying power — and whether the rumored $11 billion in Q2 buybacks signals management's confidence that the stock can close the gap to the benchmark.
