(This is the Warren Buffett Watch newsletter, news and analysis about Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway. Sign up here to receive it in your inbox every Friday night.)
Abel Overhaul Portfolio
Notable positions cut, Alphabet more than tripled, Delta back
Berkshire Hathaway’s stock portfolio underwent its biggest shake-up ever during Greg Abel’s first three months as CEO, according to a new SEC filing.
Two new names, delta airlines and Macy’swas added to the list, increasing our holdings by 4 stocks.
Google’s parent company alphabet Berkshire received the biggest boost after increasing its holdings by 224% in the first quarter.
Given its size, the increase is almost certainly an Abel move supported or hinted at by Warren Buffett.
With a market value of $16.6 billion at the end of the first quarter, Google’s parent company is Berkshire’s seventh largest holding.
The decision to buy so many stocks has been a spectacular success, at least in the short term.
The stock is up 38% since the end of the first quarter, just over six weeks ago.
Abel significantly reduces the number of companies included in its portfolio
As The Wall Street Journal previewed last month, Mr. Abel appears to have actually sold many or all of the stocks handled by portfolio manager Todd Combs, who left for JPMorgan in early December.
Portfolio manager Ted Weschler, also known as Abel, who is still at Berkshire, likely sold shares other than Todd’s, but we don’t know for sure because the company generally doesn’t publicly identify individuals in charge.
Holdings eliminated in the first quarter included:
After Berkshire sold 7.7 million of its 10 million shares in the fourth quarter, it was left with all of the 2.3 million Amazon shares it sold in the first quarter.
constellation brandThere was a relationship with Combs, but it was almost eliminated with a 95% cut.
bank of america and applewhich had been slashed in previous quarters, was spared.
BofA’s cut was less than 1%, leaving Apple’s position unchanged.
A table showing Berkshire’s entire stock portfolio is included later in the newsletter.
Chevron is the biggest cut
Measured by market value, chevron This was the largest decrease in the first quarter.
The value of the shares subject to the 35% reduction was more than $8 billion at the end of the first quarter. The remaining shares were worth more than $17 billion at the time.
It’s hard to think of it as a Comms stock, especially given its large size.
Berkshire’s stock price rose in the first quarter as Berkshire was sold, but it has fallen 7.6% since the end of the quarter.
The price has continued to rise by 25.4% since the beginning of the year, due to the soaring price of crude oil due to the Iran war.
Return to the sky with Delta
The company had the second-largest increase in the first quarter after Alphabet. delta airlines.
Berkshire bought 39.8 million shares, now worth $2.8 billion.
He had bought the stake in 2016 after consolidation gave the carrier more pricing power.
“It’s true that airlines had a bad 20th century. They’re like the Chicago Cubs, and I hope they get through that bad century,” he told CNBC’s Becky Quick in early 2017.
As such, it was a return to an area he had avoided for years after his 1989 investment in US Airways failed.
In a letter to shareholders in 2007, Buffett wrote, “The worst kind of business is one that grows rapidly, requires a lot of capital to generate that growth, and yet makes very little profit.Think of airlines.” Lasting competitive advantage has proven elusive here since the days of the Wright brothers.Indeed, if there had been a far-sighted capitalist at Kitty Hawk, he would have done his successor a huge favor by defeating Orville.
Given his background in airlines, it’s hard to imagine that Buffett was behind this latest return to the skies.
(CNBC’s Buffett archive includes a collection of clips of his thoughts on airlines over the years.)
Macy’s and the Times
Berkshire tripled its stock new york times has reached 15.1 million shares and is currently worth more than $1.1 billion.
and a new position Macy’s sent the department store chain’s stock price up 5.3% after the closing bell, even though it was worth just $59 million, including late-stage gains.
Buffett Curry’s charity lunch auction sells for $9 million
Buffett and Berkshire on the Internet
Some links may require a subscription.
complete portfolio
berkshire stock watch
BRK.A stock price: $723,821.00
BRK.B stock price: $482.70
BRK.BP/E (TTM): 14.37
Berkshire Market Capitalization: $1,041,004,861,297
Berkshire Cash as of March 31st: $397.4 billion (up 6.5% from December 31st)
Excluding railroad cash and outstanding Treasury bills: $380.2 billion (3.0% increase from Dec. 31)
Berkshire repurchased $234 million of its own stock in the first quarter of 2026.
(All figures are as of the date of publication, unless otherwise noted)
Berkshire’s Top Stock Holdings – May 15, 2026
Berkshire’s top U.S. and Japanese listed stocks by market capitalization, based on the latest closing prices.
Asset holdings are as of March 31, 2026, as reported in Berkshire Hathaway’s 13th Floor filing dated May 15, 2026. However, the following cases are excluded.
A complete list of holdings and current market value is available on CNBC.com’s Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker.
Question or comment
If you have any questions or comments about the newsletter, please send them to alex.crippen@nbcuni.com. (Sorry, we do not forward questions or comments to Mr. Buffett himself.)
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I also highly recommend Buffett’s annual letter to shareholders. It’s collected here on Berkshire’s website.
— Alex Crippen, Warren Buffett Watch Editor
