Berkshire Class B Shares Hit All-Time High as Defensive Appeal Attracts Capital
nashnova research
Berkshire Hathaway's Class B shares closed at a record $556.11 while the Nasdaq fell 5.3% in October — as doubts mount over Big Tech's AI spending payoff, cash-rich, steady-earning Berkshire is back in favour as a defensive haven.
Tech is selling off — why is Berkshire hitting new highs?
The Nasdaq dropped 5.3% in October as markets questioned whether Big Tech's massive AI capital spending will pay off any time soon.
Berkshire's stock rose roughly 5% over the past month; Class B shares touched an intraday high of $557.59.
This means → capital is rotating: away from "spend now, monetise later" AI narratives, and toward assets that already generate cash and sit on large reserves.
How thick is Berkshire's armour?
Market cap exceeds $1.1 trillion. The portfolio spans insurance, rail, energy, and industrial businesses, generating nearly $50 billion in after-tax annual profit.
Cash and equivalents top $365 billion — in plain terms = the cash pile alone could buy most individual S&P 500 members outright.
The equity portfolio, worth roughly $360 billion, is anchored by Apple and Coca-Cola, both of which have performed well recently, further underpinning asset value.
Buffett stepped down — why has the panic faded?
In May 2025 Warren Buffett announced he would leave the CEO role by year-end; Greg Abel formally took over in late 2025, triggering an initial sell-off.
In his first annual shareholder letter, Abel committed to keeping the decentralised management structure, broad autonomy for business-unit heads, and the long-term core equity holdings.
This reflects a market coming to terms with a simple point: Berkshire's system has run for decades — changing the leader is not the same as changing the system.
Only 11 down years since 1965 — what does that track record mean?
From 1965 to 2025, Berkshire's cumulative return was roughly 6,099,294%, or 19.7% annualised. The S&P 500 returned about 46,061%, or 10.5% annualised, over the same period.
In those six decades, only 11 years ended in the red.
This means → the track record itself is a credit asset — markets are willing to give new management time precisely because the system has six decades of proof behind it.
Where to deploy $365 billion — Abel's real exam?
The Apple stake has been trimmed from nearly 50% of the equity portfolio at its peak to about 22% (roughly $66 billion); Berkshire cut roughly 75% from a peak of about 915 million shares and has not sold further since late 2025.
In Q2 2026 Berkshire bought approximately $17 billion in Alphabet stock, of which about $10 billion was purchased directly from the company — put simply = this was not quiet open-market accumulation but a negotiated block deal.
Berkshire has never paid a dividend. The market tolerates that policy only because it trusts management to deploy capital better than shareholders could themselves. For a trillion-dollar company, finding investment targets large enough to move the needle is Abel's true long-term test.
市场有风险，内容仅供研究参考，不构成投资建议。