Berkshire Q2 Buybacks May Reach $11B, Dwarfing Q1's $235M
N.R. Finch
Berkshire Hathaway's Q2 share buybacks fall in a $5 billion to $11 billion range, a massive leap from Q1's $235 million, making repurchase scale the single most-watched number in Saturday's earnings release.
Buybacks jumped from $235 million to potentially $11 billion — what changed?
Q1 repurchases totalled just $235 million, the first buyback since May 2024. Q2's range leaps to $5 billion–$11 billion.
This means → management's stance on its own stock shifted from a tentative restart to full-scale conviction buying.
The larger the buyback, the stronger the signal: management believes the shares are undervalued.
Why does management think the stock is cheap?
Berkshire is up roughly 3% year-to-date, well behind the S&P 500's approximately 14% total return and trailing peers such as Union Pacific, Chubb, and NextEra Energy.
The stock trades at about 1.4× book value, near the low end of its recent range.
In plain terms = the company sits on $374 billion in cash yet the stock has barely moved — management and some investors see a bargain.
Q2 earnings — how wide is the Wall Street disagreement?
The Street's consensus puts Q2 Class A EPS at roughly $7,553, down about 3% year-over-year.
UBS analyst Brian Meredith disagrees, forecasting EPS of roughly $8,000 — up about 3%.
This means → the bull-bear split comes down to three variables: how much buybacks boost per-share earnings, whether railroad subsidiary BNSF improved, and how far catastrophe losses fell in the property-casualty book.
Buffett bought Google — how has that trade worked out?
Berkshire bought roughly $10 billion of Alphabet stock in June at below $350 per share, surprising the market.
Google shares have since climbed to around $360, producing a visible paper gain.
In Q1, Berkshire was a net seller overall: roughly $16 billion in purchases against $24 billion in sales, including the liquidation of positions left behind after former portfolio manager Todd Combs departed.
What other details are worth watching in the filing?
The Q2 10-Q will disclose total equity purchases and sales but not individual names; stock-by-stock detail arrives in the August 14 13-F filing.
Cash stood at a record $374 billion at Q1-end; the Alphabet purchase likely brings it down somewhat in Q2.
Berkshire holds no earnings call — a tradition continued by successor CEO Greg Abel after Buffett stepped down. This reflects a management team that prefers to let capital-allocation actions speak louder than conference-call commentary.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.