Berkshire Hathaway Started Buying Back Its Own Stock Again This Year. Should You Buy It at a Record High?
The conglomerate bought back its shares in June for around $488 each. Are they still a buy at a record?
Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA -0.84%)(BRKB -0.87%) stock reached a record high on Oct. 20, 2025, closing at $539.82, just ahead of the May 2, 2025 record close following Warren Buffett's announcement to hand the CEO position to Greg Abel. Since then, the shares have traded near $548, marking a 9% gain this year.
Berkshire resumed its stock buybacks in the first half of 2026, totaling around $4.8 billion. In May and June 2026, the company repurchased Class B shares for approximately $476 to $488, indicating that the stock was trading at a discount to its intrinsic value, which Berkshire CEO Greg Abel determined conservatively.
The Class B shares have since climbed nearly 12% above their June average buyback price and about 15% higher than May's average. With Berkshire reporting $747.9 billion in shareholders' equity on June 30, up $30.5 billion from the end of 2025, the company's book value per Class B share is around $348. The stock's current valuation stands at approximately 1.4 times book value, and nearly 1.6 times by today's price.
Despite currency fluctuations affecting the comparison, Berkshire's second-quarter operating earnings rose by 16% year-over-year, reaching around $13 billion, up from $11.2 billion in the prior year and $11.3 billion in 2025's first quarter. While currency adjustments added a $326 million after-tax gain in the second quarter, excluding these gains, operating earnings grew by around 5%.
This steady growth suggests that Berkshire's value estimate may have increased with the business, justifying consideration of purchasing the stock at its current high price.
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