Warren Buffett spent decades building Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK-B)’s famous cash pile, and his successor Greg Abel, who took over as CEO in January 2026, is now the one deciding how to spend it.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK-B)’s cash and Treasury bill holdings fell to $364.7 billion on June 30, 2026, down 4% from three months earlier and the first sequential decline in more than three years. Net income more than doubled to $25.67 billion.
That raises the real question: does this quarter mark a genuine shift in strategy, or just a few opportunistic deals in an otherwise cautious approach?
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The Bull Case
Berkshire struck two of its biggest deals in years during the quarter, a $6.8 billion purchase of homebuilder Taylor Morrison and a $10 billion investment in Alphabet shares. It also repurchased $4.5 billion of its own stock and bought $23.5 billion of other equities while selling just $3.7 billion, making it a net buyer for the first time in more than three years. Operating earnings, which Buffett has said is the better measure of performance, rose 16.3% to $12.98 billion. Profit from Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK-B)’s manufacturing, service, and retail businesses jumped 24% to $4.47 billion.
UBS analyst Brian Meredith called the cash deployment “meaningful” and rates the stock a buy. Shares rose as much as 3.3% on August 10, 2026, to their highest level since Buffett announced his departure in May 2025.
The Bear Case
Berkshire’s insurance business reported weaker underwriting earnings, dragged down by rising accident claims and advertising spending at Geico. Paul Lountzis, president of Lountzis Asset Management, said it is “very hard to want Greg to be making big deals” in a market this expensive. He noted that private markets look overheated and public markets “kind of silly, too.” Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analyst Meyer Shields still rates Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK-B) “underperform” despite calling the quarter “very solid” and pointed out macroeconomic uncertainty and pricing pressure in property and casualty insurance.
Insider Monkey’s Hedge Fund Data
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK-B) was held by 126 hedge funds as of Q1 2026, down from 133. Apple, one of Berkshire’s largest equity holdings, was held by 170 hedge funds over the same period.
Conclusion
Greg Abel made big real investments this quarter, but with $364.7 billion still sitting in cash. So the bigger question of how aggressively he’ll spend Berkshire’s fortune remains unanswered.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
