Berkshire Is Finally Deploying Its Cash Hoard Under New CEO Greg Abel

Berkshire Is Finally Deploying Its Cash Hoard Under New CEO Greg Abel

Mon, August 10, 2026 at 7:47 PM GMT+3 2 min read

• BRK-B -2.46%

Key Takeaways

• Berkshire Hathaway's cash reserves dropped in the second quarter, as new CEO Greg Abel made some big moves.

• Monday's rise extends the stock's recent winning streak, and brings it within about 1% of its highs last year.

Berkshire Hathaway is finally putting its massive cash hoard to work under new CEO Greg Abel, and investors are liking what they see so far.

Shares of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B) were up more than 2% in recent trading after the conglomerate released its quarterly earnings report over the weekend. The company's cash pile dropped to $365.5 billion at the end of the second quarter from a record $397.4 billion at the end of the previous quarter, as Abel made some big moves.

Berkshire was a net buyer of stocks for the first time in 14 quarters and acquired homebuilder Taylor Morrison during Abel's second quarter as CEO. It also kept buying back its own stock, in a bullish signal for the shares.

Growing profits across Berkshire's energy, railroad and manufacturing businesses helped offset shrinking profits in its insurance business. Gabelli Funds portfolio manager Macrae Sykes, who called Berkshire's performance outside of insurance "decent," wrote that Abel "continues to build shareholder net worth" in his first year as CEO.

"Investors will be encouraged by the top line growth trends and share repurchases this quarter. Margin expansion at several key units is also commendable," CFRA analyst Cathy Seifert wrote, though she said the results from Berkshire's insurance arm "tempers our enthusiasm."

Monday's rise extends the stock's recent winning streak, and brings it within about 1% of its highs last year, just before Warren Buffett announced he would be stepping down at the end of 2025.

Read the original article on Investopedia