(This is the Warren Buffett Watch newsletter, reporting and analyzing everything related to Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway. You can sign up here to receive it every Friday evening in your inbox.)
Berkshire Hathaway reached a new high, but the rebound momentum in October slowed down.
During the generally sluggish trading this week, Berkshire Hathaway's stock still managed to briefly reach several new historical highs.
Class A shares closed at a record high of $821,931 on Monday, but this week they only rose by 0.3% to close at $815,600.
On Friday, the stock price soared to nearly $822,929, but it was still not enough to surpass the intraday record of $824,765 set last Thursday. Berkshire Hathaway has completely wiped out the previous drawdown that once reached 15%; that round of decline began after Warren Buffett announced his intention to step down as the company's CEO last year.
The more widely held Class B shares also set a new closing high on Monday, closing at $548.56 that day.
However, Class B shares reached a high of $550.47 during trading on Friday, which is sufficient to set a new intraday record, slightly higher than the $549.96 from last Thursday.
However, when calculated on a weekly basis, the increase in Class B shares is still less than 0.1%.
Despite a weakening of momentum this week, Berkshire Hathaway's stock price still recorded a strong increase at the end of October, especially when compared to the S&P 500 Index and the Nasdaq Composite Index.
The latter fell 2.9% on Friday, recording the largest single-day decline since June, due to market concerns about spending that led to the withdrawal of funds from the soaring AI and tech stocks.
Berkshire seems to have benefited from this rotation back to fundamentals.
At the end of this month, the stock price rose by 8.9%, while the S&P 500 index fell by 0.9%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell by 5.3%.
BRK.B Since the beginning of this year, the lag relative to the benchmark S&P 500 index has narrowed from 3.5 percentage points last week to 2.8 percentage points this week.
As shown in the chart “Berkshire Stock Watch” below, over the past 12 consecutive months, its performance has been more than two percentage points higher than that of the S&P 500 index.
AI Concerns That Berkshire's Bet on Alphabet Has Shrank by Billions of Dollars
While Berkshire's stock benefited from Wall Street moving away from AI stocks, a major position in its stock portfolio suffered a heavy setback.
Google's parent company, Alphabet, saw its market value evaporate by about $500 billion on Thursday, with its stock price plummeting by nearly 13%, marking its worst single-day performance since its listing in 2004.
The company's third-quarter financial report, released on Wednesday evening, showed a negative free cash flow of $9.1 billion, far exceeding analysts' forecast of a negative $2.7 billion, which has raised concerns among investors about the huge costs of building the AI infrastructure.
At the same time, online search revenue fell short of expectations for the second consecutive quarter, which CNBC.com referred to as "the first substantial sign that AI has begun to truly erode the core business of Alphabet."
A large portion of the Alphabet shares held by Berkshire were initiated by Buffett last year, and further increased in the second quarter of this year through a $10 billion private placement. This position once rose to a high of $40 billion in the third quarter at the beginning of August.
Since then, its value has shrunk by a quarter, dropping to $29.6 billion on Friday, making it Berkshire's fourth-largest stock holding.
(This valuation is based on the number of shares held as of June 30. The valuation in October may change according to the portfolio snapshot for September 30 that Berkshire will announce two weeks later.)
Coca-Cola has clearly risen to third place, with its holding value increasing from a low of $32.5 billion in late July to the current $37.6 billion, representing an increase of nearly 16%.
According to Barron, when Berkshire Hathaway purchased Alphabet, they may have paid over $300 per share, "perhaps close to $320", which means that as of now, this investment is still in a loss-making state.
Under the agreement to maintain an unchanged shareholding ratio, DaVita's holdings have been reduced again.
In a disclosure filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this week, Berkshire stated that the company sold DaVita shares worth $69 million on Tuesday.
The remaining 28.3 million shares of this dialysis service provider in its portfolio are worth $5.3 billion.
Don't interpret this reduction in holdings as Berkshire Hathaway changing its opinion about the company.
This is the most recent in a series of quarterly reductions by Berkshire Hathaway since reaching an agreement with DaVita in 2024. Under that agreement, Berkshire agreed to maintain its stake in DaVita at 45% or below.
As DaVita reduces the number of outstanding shares through repurchases, Berkshire Hathaway also needs to reduce its holdings in sync to maintain this ratio unchanged.
Despite DaVita's stock price falling by more than 23% within a week after the company released disappointing earnings in August, the stock has still risen by 65% this year. That decline occurred a few days before Berkshire's last reduction of its holdings in accordance with the agreement.
Berkshire Hathaway and Buffett on the Internet
Some links may require a subscription:
- Business Wire Press Release: Berkshire Hathaway Completes an Additional $330 Million Investment in Bending Spoons (This investment was initially announced last week)
- Zacks on Yahoo Finance: Analysts expect Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares (BRK.B) to report declining profits: What to pay attention to
- MSN's Barron: Alphabet should emulate Berkshire Hathaway's approach in terms of performance
- The Motley Fool: Warren Buffett invested $10 billion when the stock prices of two banks were under pressure. What lessons can those transactions bring us today?
- Yahoo Finance on Simply Wall St: Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) shows enhanced momentum, but its valuation still deserves attention
- MSN on MarketWatch: Can you also buy private equity in 401(k) plans? Please pay attention to Warren Buffett's warnings
- Investopedia: How Warren Buffett's emotional intelligence drives his investment success, and how you can learn from it
- MSN on Business Insider: Warren Buffett hasn't drunk a single drop of water in 50 years. At least, that's what he told Bill Ackman.
CNBC A Selection from Warren Buffett's Profile
Robinhood Exploits the "Gaming Instinct" (2021)
Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger discussed the widely popular Robinhood trading app, criticizing it for encouraging customers to make short-term bets on stocks and options. Munger called it “extremely wrong.”
BECKY QUICK: This question comes from Robert Miles in Nebraska.
"What about these trading applications? What are your thoughts on Robinhood and other trading applications, or fintech companies, that allow people of all ages and experience levels to participate in the stock market?"
WARREN BUFFETT: (laughs) Well, I'm really looking forward to reading Robin – that is, the S-1 document you submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission when preparing to issue securities.
You know, it has become a very important part of the casino sector over the past year or so – that is, the group of casinos that have entered the stock market.
I also want to say that I'm concerned about how they handle their revenue sources when they claim to "not charge customers." I mean, I'd really like to see how they describe that.
However, they – perhaps intentionally – did attract attention, and indeed they did. The figures I read indicated that 12% to 13% of their casino participants were trading (options) put and call contracts.
I checked the data from Apple Inc., and you know, I looked at the numbers of unexercised 7-day and 14-day call options. I’m pretty sure that a large portion of these were executed through Robinhood. In other words, it’s a group of people placing bets on Apple’s stock price over the next 7 or 14 days.
There's nothing illegal about it. And there's also nothing unethical about it.
But—I don’t think you would build a society around such behavior. What I mean is, if a group of us were stranded on a deserted island, knowing we would never be rescued, and I were one of them, I might say, “Okay, then I’ll set up an exchange over there.” (Laughter) And then we would trade things like corn futures and so on…
I believe that the extent to which a very wealthy society is able to reward those who know how to exploit—essentially, the gambling instinct—in people, not just the American public but the global public as well, is not the most commendable aspect of this achievement.
But I think that, overall, the achievements made by the United States are quite commendable. (Laughter)
And I believe that, in fact, American companies have become an excellent place for people to save money and invest. But they have also become great gambling chips.
If you cater to these gamblers, telling them that they can make 30, 40, or even 50 trades a day when they first have money on hand, and that you don’t charge any commission, but you’re selling the order flow or something else—
I hope this kind of situation doesn't happen more often. That's all I have to say. I would really like to read the prospectus as well.
Charlie?
CHARLIE MUNGER: Hmm, that's really like waving a red flag at the bulls. (Laughter)
I think it's absolutely terrible that such things can attract investments from civilized people and decent citizens. It's fundamentally wrong from the start.
We don't want to make money by selling things that are harmful to people.
WARREN BUFFETT: But you know, the state government does the same thing with lotteries.
CHARLIE MUNGER: No, but that's also terrible.
WARREN BUFFETT: Yes, I know. I understand. What I mean is—
CHARLIE MUNGER: That's really terrible. That's really terrible—
WARREN BUFFETT: Once you――
CHARLIE MUNGER: That's one of the issues. Doing these things has become more respectable now.
Every state is just as bad as Robinhood.
WARREN BUFFETT: Well, in a sense, they are even worse. I mean, they are actually causing...
CHARLIE MUNGER: I know, I know.
WARREN BUFFETT: Yes. They are trying to impose taxes.
CHARLIE MUNGER: It's not just that...
WARREN BUFFETT: And the taxes they collect from me and Charlie are more than those collected from——
CHARLIE MUNGER: The states of the United States have replaced the mafia and become operators of digital games. That's how it happened.
WARREN BUFFETT: Yes.
CHARLIE MUNGER: They pushed the mafia aside, saying that's our business, not yours. This doesn't make me proud of my government.
WARREN BUFFETT: When I was a child, my father (Howard Buffett) held a position in Congress. In fact, there was also a digital betting broker in the House of Representatives office building (laughs).
Berkshire Hathaway Stock Observations
Surrounding
Twelve months
BRK.A Stock Price: $815,600.00
BRK.B Stock Price: $542.49
BRK.B Price-Earnings Ratio ( TTM ): 13.64
Berkshire's market value: $1,162,224,814,491
Berkshire's cash as of June 30: $365.5 billion (a decrease of 8.0% from March 31)
After deducting railway cash and reducing the amount payable to treasury bonds: $359.2 billion (a decrease of 3.8% compared to March 31).
Berkshire repurchased $4.5 billion of its own shares in the second quarter of 2026.
Berkshire's top ten stock holdings – October 30, 2026
Berkshire's top holdings of listed stocks disclosed in the United States and Japan, valued at their latest closing prices.
As of June 30, 2026, based on Berkshire Hathaway's 13F filing submitted on August 14, 2026, except for the following circumstances:
Mitsubishi's data as of April 30, 2026
The complete list of holdings and the current market value can be viewed in Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio tracker at CNBC.com.
Questions or comments
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Additionally, it is highly recommended to read Warren Buffett's annual letter to shareholders, which can be found on the Berkshire Hathaway website.
—— Edited by Alex Crippen and Warren Buffett Watch
