In a few days, tens of thousands of investors will gather in Omaha, Nebraska, for Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s annual shareholders meeting, which is led by 94-year-old billionaire Warren Buffett.
Buffett—also referred to as the “Oracle of Omaha” and the chairman and CEO of Berkshire—is scheduled to field questions from investors on Saturday and offer his thoughts on a variety of subjects, such as financial markets, investing principles, and the specifics of Berkshire’s financial situation, possibly including hints about what he might do with the company’s more than $310 billion in cash holdings.
According to FactSet data, shares of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Class B (BRK.B) have significantly outperformed the overall stock market thus far in 2025, rising more than 17% in contrast to the large-cap benchmark S&P 500 index SPX’s 6.3% decrease.
Investors are increasingly curious about how long Berkshire’s superior performance will continue.
According to Bespoke Investment Group, Berkshire’s stock (BRK.A) has a history of rising year-to-date with a median increase of 4.3% since 1994, ahead of the annual shareholders meeting, which is typically held on the first weekend of May.
But traditionally, the stock gains after Buffett’s attendance at the annual shareholders meeting have been “a bit muted for some time,” according to a client letter distributed on Wednesday by the Bespoke team (see table below).
“One week after the meeting, Berkshire has basically been flat, while one-month and three-month returns have leaned negative, with declines more often than not,” stated the Bespoke team.
Performance often improves six months later, with an average gain of 5.37% and positive returns two-thirds of the time. With an average gain of 14.9% and positive returns 80% of the time, one-year returns are even more robust,” they continued.
See: Warren Buffett’s yearly letter to Berkshire shareholders highlights his preference for equities over cash, among other things.
Berkshire’s portfolio holdings are revealing a different picture, despite the fact that its stock has performed well so far this year.
According to the Bespoke team’s analysis of Berkshire’s most recent 13F filing for the quarter ending December 31, 2024, the prices of just 45% of Buffett’s and Berkshire’s publicly traded stocks have increased so far in 2025.
Apple Inc. (AAPL), the largest holding and roughly 23% of Buffett’s equity portfolio, weighs on Berkshire’s equity portfolio (see table above).
According to its most recent 13F, Berkshire drastically reduced its stake in Apple over the first nine months of 2024, going from about two-thirds to 300 million shares by the end of the year.
According to FactSet statistics, Apple’s stock has dropped more than 15% so far in 2025.
The company driving Berkshire’s portfolio gains is Coca-Cola Co. (KO), which has increased 16.5% so far in 2025. As of December 31, 2024, Coca-Cola shares, valued at $28.9 billion, comprise 9.3% of Berkshire’s portfolio.
Additionally, some of Berkshire’s best-performing investments are in foreign stocks. According to the Bespoke team, Chinese automaker BYD Co. (CN:002594) is the best-performing company in Berkshire’s portfolio with a 38.8% year-to-date return, and three of the five Japanese stocks are among the top 10 for year-to-date performance.
With an 18.5% year-to-date return, Brazil-based Nu Holdings (NU), which makes up less than 1% of the portfolio, is the fourth-best performer, according to the experts.
