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FRI, APR 11, 2025
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As stocks gyrate this week, Berkshire starts syncing with S&P |
When the S&P 500 stock index retreated from its mid-February record high, Berkshire Hathaway shares rallied as an apparent safe haven from the global uncertainty generated by President Trump's undulating tariff threats. |
In the last week, however, even as Trump shocked investors with his biggest tariff reversal so far, Berkshire and the benchmark have been moving in tandem.
Over the past five sessions, both BRK's Class A and Class B shares are up around 6%, matching the S&P.
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Berkshire still retains its year-to-date lead over the S&P but that lead hasn't been increasing lately.
The B shares' outperformance over the S&P rose to 25.2 percentage points on April 3, the largest it has been so far this year. Today, the gap is 24.4 percentage points. |
Berkshire's immunity from the steep slide that has hit most stocks, helped by Buffett's build-up of the company's cash to a record $334 billion as of December 31, has boosted his reputation as a master strategist.
(Berkshire's stock may also be getting a boost from the relative lack of exposure to international trade of its sizable insurance operations.)
His decision to sharply cut Berkshire's Apple position, still the largest equity holding in its portfolio, by two-thirds between October 2023 and October 2024, reduced the company's exposure to Apple's 20.9% year-to-date stock price slide.
(Apple is, however, still up 15.7% since Berkshire began to reduce the stake.) |
* 2025-Q1 and April 11 Apple holdings assume no change from 2024-Q4 disclosure. We won't know the actual number for the end of Q1 until next month. The Q2 number won't be available until mid-August. |
On CNBC last week, "Squawk Box" co-anchor Becky Quick noted Buffett "will say that he won't be able to time the market, that that's not his game, but he knows when stocks look expensive, and he knows when things look like bargains. "My read [on Berkshire's big cash position] is they are waiting for the 'slow pitch,' ready to be doing things ... "He'll be there when he thinks prices are right."
We'll see if Berkshire was doing any buying in the first quarter when the company files its next portfolio snapshot with the SEC in mid-May.
Buffett may also have something to say on the subject at the Berkshire annual meeting next month.
We do know, however, that at least so far, Berkshire hasn't added to its $10 billion Occidental Petroleum stake even though the oil giant's stock has dropped into the mid-$30s, well below the $60 level that has triggered buying in the past. (Berkshire has to disclose any moves within two business days because it owns more than 10% of OXY's shares.) |
Buffett-watcher Steve Hanke at Johns Hopkins University tells Business Insider if Berkshire starts buying it is a signal Buffett sees the Trump tariffs as just a "minor economic annoyance."
On the other hand, he thinks Buffett may be remembering the 1930 Smoot-Hawley tariffs that "broke the back of the stock market and helped plunge the world into the Great Depression."
His "tentative guess" is that Buffett's long memory will have him "remain on the sidelines, at least for a while." |
Trump shares false claim Buffett supports his 'economic moves' |
After President Trump shared a video falsely quoting Warren Buffett as saying, "Trump is making the best economic moves he's seen in over 50 years," Berkshire Hathaway said in a news release that reports on social media about "comments allegedly made" by Buffett are "false." Speaking by phone to CNBC's Becky Quick, Buffett added that Berkshire is being very alert about knocking down misinformation, since it can spread so quickly. Buffett also told her he is not going to say anything related to the markets, the economy, or tariffs until he appears at Berkshire's annual shareholders meeting on May 3.
(Buffett's Q&A session will be shown live on CNBC television and CNBC.com.) |
The Truth Social post by @realDonaldTrump last Friday shared, without any additional comment, a video posted on X headlined "Trump is Purposely CRASHING The Market" to force the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, a strategy that Buffett supposedly supported. The clip no longer appears on X. |
BUFFETT AROUND THE INTERNET Some links may require a subscription |
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HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE ARCHIVE |
The stock market is sometimes a 'psychotic drunk' (2012) |
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BERKSHIRE'S TOP U.S. STOCK HOLDINGS - Apr. 11, 2025 |
Berkshire's top holdings of disclosed publicly traded stocks in the U.S., Japan, and Hong Kong, by market value, based on today's closing prices. Holdings are as of December 31, 2024 as reported in Berkshire Hathaway’s 13F filing on February 14, 2025, except for: The full list of holdings and current market values is available from CNBC.com's Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker. |
Please send any questions or comments about the newsletter to me at alex.crippen@nbcuni.com. (Sorry, but we don't forward questions or comments to Buffett himself.) If you aren't already subscribed to this newsletter, you can sign up here. Also, Buffett's annual letters to shareholders are highly recommended reading. There are collected here on Berkshire's website.
-- Alex Crippen, Editor, Warren Buffett Watch |
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Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes. Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes and Market Data and Analysis. Data also provided by THOMSON REUTERS |
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