Berkshire Hathaway BRK-B
- Market cap
- $1.2T
- PE
- 13.6×
- 10y median 14.5×
- Forward PE
- 24.7×
- 10y median 22.4×
- Price to sales
- 3.0×
- Revenue, 12 months
- $384.7B
- +4% on a year ago
- Net margin
- 22.3%
A Superworth story
The Buffett premium is gone, but the stock still isn't cheap
Price to book sits at its ten-year median while a new CEO starts spending the cash
Priced at its ten-year median on book value
Price to book, the price divided by net assets per share, is 1.4, its ten-year median. Over five years it is lower than on about two thirds of days, well below the 1.8 of May 2025. Berkshire is mostly insurers, listed stocks and cash, so book value is a fair yardstick for it.
The peak came the day before Buffett said he would go
The stock hit 539.80 on May 2, 2025. The next day Warren Buffett told shareholders Greg Abel would take over as CEO, and the shares have not been back. At 506.25 they are 6.2% below that high and up 0.8% over the past year. Buffett handed the chairman role to his son Howard on September 18, 2026, and the price is little changed over the past month.
Reported earnings swing with the stock market
Accounting rules count paper gains and losses on Berkshire's stock portfolio as profit, so reported earnings swing with the market. Earnings per share over four quarters went from 5.06 in mid 2022 to a loss by year end, then 44.25 a year later. Strip out investment gains and the last four quarters earned 21.72 a share, not 39.77. That is why the stock looks nearly twice as expensive on forward earnings.
The businesses are near their most profitable
Operating margin over the last four quarters is 16.3%, close to the ten-year high of 16.5% and above 95% of days in the decade. Revenue grew 3.9% to 384.69 billion dollars. Insurance profit swings with catastrophes, so a quiet stretch can flatter this line.
The argument is about 365 billion dollars of cash
Berkshire held 365.5 billion dollars in cash and Treasury bills at June 30, about a third of its market value. In the June quarter, insurance investment income fell to 3.06 billion from 3.37 billion a year earlier. Operating earnings still rose 16%, and it bought back about 4.5 billion of stock. The hope is that Abel puts the cash to work at better returns. The fear is a pile that earns less as rates fall.
On operating earnings it is not cheap
Consensus adjusted earnings for the next twelve months are 21.83 a share, about flat, which puts the stock at 23.2 times, near its five-year median. Peers trade at 14.1. Free cash flow is 2.2% of the price, against a ten-year median of 4.1%. Forward PE before late September is rebuilt with hindsight, and only one or two analysts publish estimates. The November 7 report tests the earnings and the cash.
What has happened lately
- CNBC, Warren Buffett steps down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway: 'Father Time always wins'Howard Buffett becomes chairman and Warren Buffett chairman emeritus, finishing the handover that began when Greg Abel became CEO on January 1.
- SEC, Berkshire Hathaway Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026The balance sheet shows 40.6 billion dollars of cash and 324.9 billion of Treasury bills at June 30, 365.5 billion in all, down from 373.3 billion at the end of 2025.
- Berkshire Hathaway, Berkshire Hathaway second-quarter 2026 operating earnings of $12.98 billionOperating earnings rose from $11.16B a year earlier. Insurance investment income fell to $3.06B from $3.37B, and Berkshire bought back about $4.5B of its own shares.
- CNBC, Berkshire shares drop double digits as 'Buffett premium' disappearsReports the shares falling more than 10% after Buffett's May 2025 announcement that he would hand the CEO job to Greg Abel.
Headlines link to the original source.
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Why a stock is priced where it is, one chart at a time.
Charts
Financials
| Income statement | Q3 FY23 | Q4 FY23 | Q1 FY24 | Q2 FY24 | Q3 FY24 | Q4 FY24 | Q1 FY25 | Q2 FY25 | Q3 FY25 | Q4 FY25 | Q1 FY26 | Q2 FY26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $93.2B+21% | $93.4B+20% | $89.9B+5% | $93.7B+1% | $93B−0% | $94.9B+2% | $89.7B−0% | $92.5B−1% | $95B+2% | $94.2B−1% | $93.7B+4% | $101.8B+10% | |
| Cost of revenue | $50.9B−4% | $52.8B−1% | $60.6B+20% | $62.9B+23% | $62.4B+23% | $61.6B+17% | $60.5B−0% | $61.2B−3% | $62B−1% | $63.5B+3% | $63B+4% | $68.4B+12% |
| Gross profit | $42.3B+75% | $40.6B+63% | $29.2B−17% | $30.7B−26% | $30.6B−28% | $33.3B−18% | $29.2B−0% | $31.4B+2% | $32.9B+8% | $30.8B−8% | $30.7B+5% | $33.4B+7% |
| SG&A | $5.1B+26% | $6.9B−7% | $5.5B−1% | $6B+21% | $8.2B+61% | $5.8B−15% | $7.7B+39% | $7.9B+32% | $6.3B−24% | $7.8B+34% | $6.6B−15% | $6.7B−15% |
| Interest expense | $1.3B+15% | $1.3B+12% | $1.3B+8% | $1.2B−2% | $1.2B−4% | $1.4B+13% | $1.3B−5% | $1.3B+2% | $1.3B+4% | $1.3B−10% | $1.3B+4% | $1.3B+7% |
| Pre-tax income | −$17B+298% | $46.9B+112% | $15.7B−65% | $38.1B−16% | $32.5B | $24B−49% | $5.1B−67% | $14.8B−61% | $38.1B+17% | $24.5B+2% | $12.3B+139% | $32.1B+117% |
| −$4.4B+182% | $9.2B+137% | $2.9B−68% | $7.6B−17% | $6B | $4.3B−53% | $476M−83% | $2.3B−70% | $7.2B+20% | $5.2B+21% | $2.1B+350% | $6.3B+174% | |
| Net income | −$12.8B+356% | $37.6B+107% | $12.7B−64% | $30.3B−16% | $26.3B | $19.7B−48% | $4.6B−64% | $12.4B−59% | $30.8B+17% | $19.2B−3% | $10.1B+120% | $25.7B+108% |
| −$5.88+363% | $17.36+110% | $5.88−64% | $14.08−15% | $12.18 | $9.13−47% | $2.13−64% | $5.73−59% | $14.28+17% | $8.90−3% | $4.68+120% | $11.91+108% | |
| 2.2B−1% | 2.2B−1% | 2.2B−1% | 2.2B−1% | 2.2B−1% | 2.2B−0% | 2.2B−0% | 2.2B+0% | 2.2B+0% | 2.2B+0% | 2.2B+0% | 2.2B−0% |
Gross profit: 46 periods, Q1 FY15 to Q2 FY26: not printed by the filing, worked out from its own lines.
Net income: 5 periods, Q4 FY21 to Q4 FY25: printed in the fourth-quarter results release.
EPS, diluted: 9 periods, Q4 FY10 to Q4 FY25: quarter's net income to common over its shares, to the cent.
Diluted shares: 66 periods, Q1 FY09 to Q2 FY26: not printed by the filing, worked out from its own lines. Q4 FY10: share-days: the 12-month average less the 9-month, weighted by days.
From each company's 10-Q and 10-K filings, the newest version of each figure. Quarters are as filed (a fourth quarter is the year less its first nine months), fiscal years as the 10-K prints them, restated where a later 10-K restated them, and balance sheet lines as of the period's end. A quarter whose 10-Q isn't filed yet is from the company's results release. Growth is on the same period a year earlier. A dash is a period with no figure for the line: the filing doesn't print it, or it hasn't been read yet.
Estimates
Next earnings report: .
| Quarter | Revenue | Range | EPS | Range | Analysts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q3 FY26 | $101B | $5.88 | $5.60 to $6.17 | 2 | |
| Q4 FY26 | $99.8B | $5.29 | $4.72 to $5.86 | 2 | |
| Q1 FY27 | $99.1B | $5.41 | 1 | ||
| Q2 FY27 | $104.6B | $5.38 | 1 | ||
| Q3 FY27 | $103.5B | $5.75 | 1 | ||
| Q4 FY27 | $102.6B | $5.42 | 1 | ||
| Q1 FY28 | $102B | $5.70 | 1 | ||
| Q2 FY28 | $107.6B | $5.65 | 1 |
Peers
Companies in Financial Services nearest Berkshire Hathaway's size, closest first.
| Company | Market cap | PE | Its 10y median PE | Fwd PE | P/S | Revenue growth | Net margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BRK-BBerkshire Hathaway | $1.2T | 13.6× | 14.5× | 24.7× | 3.0× | +4% | 22.3% |
| JPMJPMorgan Chase | $881.4B | 13.9× | 12.9× | 13.2× | n/m | +13% | 32.5% |
| VVisa | $761.6B | 34.7× | 33.8× | 28.2× | 17.1× | +14% | 50.8% |
| MAMastercard | $546.3B | 34.3× | 38.5× | 29.3× | 15.6× | +16% | 46.3% |
| BACBank of America | $353.6B | 12.0× | 13.5× | 10.3× | n/m | n/m | n/m |
| MSMorgan Stanley | $281.9B | 14.2× | 13.7× | 13.4× | n/m | +16% | 25.5% |
| GSGoldman Sachs | $255B | 12.6× | 13.6× | 12.1× | n/m | +19% | 31.8% |
| WFCWells Fargo | $249.1B | 11.6× | 12.7× | 10.5× | n/m | +5% | 26.3% |
| AXPAmerican Express | $211.5B | 17.6× | 18.7× | 16.8× | 2.7× | +10% | 15.8% |
| CCitigroup | $202.3B | 11.8× | 10.5× | 9.9× | n/m | +10% | 20.8% |
| BLKBlackRock | $181.7B | n/m | 20.8× | 17.9× | 6.4× | +25% | 24.2% |
| Peer median | $268.4B | 13.9× | 13.7× | 13.3× | 11.0× | +14% | 26.3% |
Investors who own it
Investors we follow who held Berkshire Hathaway at the end of Jun 30, 2026, from their 13F filings.
- Chris BloomstranSemper Augustus15.5% of portfolioadded
- Li LuHimalaya Capital15.0% of portfolioadded
- Tom RussoGardner Russo & Quinn6.1% of portfoliotrimmed
- Tom GaynerMarkel Group5.8% of portfolio
- François RochonGiverny Capital4.2% of portfoliotrimmed
- Ruane, Cunniff & GoldfarbRuane, Cunniff & Goldfarb (Sequoia Fund)2.3% of portfoliotrimmed
- Chuck AkreAkre Capital Management0.1% of portfoliotrimmed
- Bill NygrenHarris Associates (Oakmark)0.0% of portfoliotrimmed
- Baillie GiffordBaillie Gifford0.0% of portfolionew
More on Berkshire Hathaway
Each number over time
- PE ratio
- Forward PE
- Price to sales ratio
- Price to book ratio
- Market cap
- Revenue
- EPS
- Profit margin
- Shares outstanding
Its groups
About
- Industry
- Insurance - Diversified
- Sector
- Financial Services
Valuation data, not investment advice. Prices as of .