In This Article:
With chairman and CEO Warren Buffett at the helm, Berkshire Hathaway's (BRK-B, BRK-A) stock has outperformed the S&P 500 (^GSPC) for the last 60 years.
Yahoo Finance markets and data editor Jared Blikre — who also hosts the Stocks In Translation podcast — lays out Berkshire's holdings across each sector and how these allocations stack up to the S&P 500.
At the company's annual shareholders meeting in May, Buffett, 94, announced his plans to step down as chief executive at the end of 2025, to be succeeded by Berkshire Hathaway Energy Chair Greg Abel.
Twice a week, Stocks In Translation cuts through the market mayhem, noisy numbers and hyperbole to give you the information you need to make the right trade for your portfolio. You can find more episodes here, or watch on your favorite streaming service.
To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Wealth here.
Over the past 60 years, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has significantly outperformed the S&P 500. So let's take a closer look at some of the sector breakdowns between the two. I'm Jared Blikre, host of Stocks and Translation. Buffett took control of Berkshire Hathaway 60 years ago in '65, and in that time, the conglomerate is up nearly 700 times more than the S&P 500. That's some four million percent compounded. Yesterday, we looked at Berkshire's top five holdings, and we're looking at some of the biggest sector holdings today. So here's how Buffett's portfolio stacks up sector by sector against the S&P 500 as of the end of last year, 2024. You can immediately see how financials dominate at 39%, almost triple the index weight. Tech, once his largest possession, is now a bit underweight after trimming Apple and checking out consumer staples and energy. Guess what? Those two have significantly higher and outperformed the broader market. Now, Buffett is a fan of concentrated portfolios with those with stock-picking skills. So it's no surprise to see that Berkshire's holdings, they trail in sectors that he doesn't favor right now. So let's explore some of those top sectors. And first up, financials. We're going to go back to that. That is the white line here, and it is Buffett's largest sector at 39%. Not a surprise since Berkshire itself is classified in the S&P 500 as a financial company. That has a lot to do with Berkshire's Geico insurance company ownership, which I should note is not included since it is owned outright. Today, we're only looking at portfolio holdings here. Now, Buffett made an iconic bet on Bank of America coming out of the global financial crisis in 2011, and he's also held American Express since the 1960s. He also likes financial data firms like Moody's. Now, let's shift over to tech because this is interesting. Back to our chart in green, we have Buffett's tech holdings. They are topping out at over $170 billion in 2023. That's a peak there. And that's thanks to his huge position in Apple. Now, Buffett shocked many in 2016 by investing in Apple, calling it the ultimate consumer brand powerhouse. But he substantially trimmed that stake last year and the year before to about $75 billion. Now, Buffett has also been pretty honest about some of his tech missteps as well. If you remember Big Blue, beginning in 2011, Berkshire acquired about a 5 and a half percent stake in IBM. But by 2018, Buffett threw in the towel saying, "I was wrong about IBM." He also recently sold out of another tech bet, Snowflake. Now, let's shift over to staples because that is Buffett's comfort zone. And that's in blue here. You can see his dedication as he sips his can of Coke on stage, and his iconic Coca-Cola holdings, that goes all the way back to 1988, and he's never sold a single share. See's Candies, that is another favorite of his, wholly owned by Berkshire, and it's given him steady profits since the 1970s. But Buffett admits that even he can misprice a seeming bargain like with Kraft Heinz. After a painful $15 billion write-down in 2019, he famously said, "I overpaid." Finally, we have energy, and this is in orange. Buffett has been building a huge position in Occidental Petroleum since 2019. But here's why most of us cannot copy Buffett. He got a sweetheart deal with preferred shares paying an 8% dividend, and that is an example of Buffett level leverage. Chevron's also a big holding picked up in 2020 for the dividends and simple economics. And yes, Buffett has made mistakes in energy too, like ConocoPhillips in 2008. And this reminds everybody that commodities can burn even the best investors. So after 60 years, Buffett's magic is simple. Buy great brands, be patient, admit your mistakes, and let time do the rest.