Berkshire Hathaway reports 10th straight quarter of stock sales

Warren Buffett has sold stocks from his company’s portfolio for the tenth quarter. This move shows a change in Buffett’s usual approach to investing as the market changes. Buffett is known for investing in value stocks and holding them for a long time. However, the recent selling suggests he is being more careful because of economic uncertainty and market ups and downs. The company has not shared details about which stocks were sold and why. The sales come at a time when investors are watching the market closely. https://x.com/ETNOWlive/status/1919376825433637100 Inflation, rising interest rates, and tensions between countries are impacting. Experts think Buffett may be adjusting his portfolio to do better in light of these factors. Many people pay attention to what Buffett does because he has a history of successful investments. https://x.com/DivesTech/status/1919727697627902311 He also has a lot of influence in the finance world. Any changes in his company’s portfolio usually get a lot of interest and can affect how the market feels. More details and analysis on Warren Buffett’s recent investment moves will be shared in future updates. https://x.com/Schuldensuehner/status/1919401336795263100 These updates will also look at what his actions could mean for the market. Over the past 30 months, Warren Buffett’s company has sold $174 billion more in stocks than it has bought. Even though Buffett is usually positive about the future, he doesn’t like how expensive stocks have been. The good news is that Buffett is known for being patient and taking advantage of chances to buy when prices eventually drop. Berkshire Hathaway, the company Buffett leads, recently held its yearly meeting with shareholders. The meeting used to be small, with only about 24 shareholders. But now it’s a big event that draws around 40,000 people. At the meeting, Berkshire announced some strategic moves and shared its financial results for the first quarter of the year. The results showed that Buffett and his team sold more stocks than they bought for the tenth quarter. Buffett has a reputation for making smart investment choices. However, the recent stock sales are a warning to Wall Street. Berkshire has sold $174.425 billion more in stocks than it bought over the last 30 months. Although the S&P 500 index has recently decreased, the stock market is still very expensive. Some investors might feel better because Berkshire isn’t selling as much now. However, the company’s financial statements show that Buffett isn’t happy with stock prices. Although Buffett is usually very positive about the U.S. economy and stock market, he sometimes is more cautious in the short term because he cares a lot about value.

Buffett’s cautious investment strategy signals

When the S&P 500 hit a record high in February, the “Buffett Indicator” was almost 206%. That’s much higher than its long-term average of 85%. Another measure called the Shiller P/E ratio also suggests being careful. It was almost 39 in December, which is very high based on history. When the Shiller P/E is high, the market will drop significantly later. Buffett’s constant selling is a warning that stock prices can’t stay this high forever. But there’s a bright side. Because Berkshire has been selling stocks and its businesses are making money, it now has a massive pile of cash. At the end of March, it had $347.7 billion in cash and investments like U.S. Treasury bonds. Buffett and his team have dealt with times when stocks were too expensive. They are known for being patient and buying a lot when prices drop. For example 2011, Buffett invested $5 billion in Bank of America, which was a very good deal. This history suggests that Berkshire, with almost $348 billion ready to invest, is in a good position to take advantage of opportunities in the future. So in summary, while Buffett’s recent moves show he is worried about high stock prices, his strategy of being patient and ready to invest will likely keep working well for Berkshire and its investors. Berkshire Hathaway, the company led by Warren Buffett, reported its earnings for the first quarter of 2025. The results were pretty solid, even though the company faced some challenges like disaster losses and uncertainty around tariffs. At the end of the quarter, Berkshire had a record $333.3 billion in cash and cash-like investments. This was up from $321.4 billion at the end of last year. The company’s revenue for the quarter was $83.3 billion, down 9.2% from the same period a year ago. This included some investment losses that affected the total. If those losses are removed, the revenue will be $89.7 billion, which is down only 0.2%. Berkshire’s operating earnings, which don’t include the investment losses, were $9.6 billion. This was a drop of 14.1% from the first quarter of 2024. Most of the company’s businesses did well, but the insurance part had significant losses because of wildfires in Southern California. A measure called book value per share went up, which helps track changes in Berkshire’s actual value. It increased 0.8% from the end of 2024 and 14.4% from March 2024. Berkshire generated $6.2 billion in free cash flow during the quarter. The company sold a net $1.5 billion of its stocks, but it didn’t buy back any of its own shares. Warren Buffett plans to step down as CEO of Berkshire at the end of 2025. The company’s board has already chosen Greg Abel as its next CEO. The author of this article doesn’t own any shares of Berkshire Hathaway or the other companies mentioned. Image Credits: Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash