$592.94. Friday's close for Berkshire Hathaway's B shares, up $3.11, or 0.53%, on the session. It was the fourth session in a row to end at a new closing peak, capping a week where each Berkshire class added 3.9% while the index managed 2.5%, per CNBC.
CNBC puts both classes up 19.1% since October 1, with 11 closing peaks for the A shares and 10 for the B shares. The S&P 500 fell 1.2% over the same stretch, and that split explains why money has treated the conglomerate as shelter while artificial-intelligence names slide. For 2026, the B shares lead the index by 7.5 points; the gain stands near 18%.
The record run, date by date
Monday, November 9, broke the pattern: the B shares ended at $575.25, under the $579.09 peak of November 4, per FrontierPicks. Then came four peaks in four sessions.
| Date | BRK.B close | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 4 | $579.09 | First peak; old peak $557.07 |
| Nov 9 | $575.25 | Slipped back under the peak |
| Nov 10 | $583.34 | Peak one of four |
| Nov 11 | $588.24 | Peak two; Apple, Coca-Cola also peaked |
| Nov 12 | $589.83 | Peak three; session high $596.92 |
| Nov 13 | $592.94 | Peak four; session high $595.15 |
November 11 also saw Apple finish at $355.63 and Coca-Cola at $97.57, per the Motley Fool. Apple tops Berkshire's disclosed stock list; Coca-Cola sits fourth. A shares ended Friday at $889,793.83, per CNBC; company value $1.26 trillion.
How the rally built
Back in May, the stock lagged the index by 14.3 points, per the Economic Times, via the Kobeissi Letter. A 33.5-point swing has followed, built on three strands.
First, the AI trade cracked: the Nasdaq dropped more than 10% from its recent high, the line that marks a correction. The CNBC read is that buyers want shelter while AI stocks and spending stay under a cloud.
Second, the leadership change stopped weighing on the stock. Warren Buffett stepped down as chief executive, per the Economic Times, and Greg Abel took over. Three weeks back, the stock clawed back everything lost after the chief-executive announcement, per CNBC, and it now stands close to 10% higher than at the 2025 annual meeting.
Third, the November 7 earnings release gave buyers a reason to stay. Operating earnings came in at $12.705 billion, against $13.485 billion a year earlier, per FrontierPicks. The Motley Fool puts the slide at around 6% from a year earlier, with insurance underwriting profit off about 43%. The same release showed buybacks of about $9.6 billion, the biggest quarterly total on record, topping the $9.3 billion set in the third quarter of 2020, per the Motley Fool. July's average was $496.24 a share; August's $503.99; September's $506.64, per the same reading of the 10-Q.
Berkshire against the S&P 500
The table below lines the two up on the same windows. Every figure comes from CNBC or the Economic Times.
| Window | Berkshire B | S&P 500 |
|---|---|---|
| Past month | +13.2% | -3.7% |
| Fourth quarter, Oct 1 to Nov 13 | +19.1% | -1.2% |
| This week | +3.9% | +2.5% |
| Year to date | about +18% | 7.5 points behind Berkshire |
Over the last month the B shares added 13.2% while the benchmark lost 3.7%, leaving a 19.2-point edge, the widest monthly margin since 2010, per the Economic Times, and the fourth widest in three decades. The 2008 crisis peak stands at 29.6 points; 2000 and 2009 reached 24.1 and 21.7.
What the filings point to next
Monday brings the next hard numbers: the third-quarter 13F lands November 16. The Bank of America selling continued, per CNBC, a ninth quarter in a row of net selling.
At June 30 the count stood at 483.4 million shares, worth $24.7 billion, the fifth biggest stock position. In June 2024 the holding topped a billion shares, carrying a $41.1 billion value. The count has shrunk 53.2% since then; the price has climbed 28.3%, per CNBC. A $372 million drop in the book cost of bank, insurer and finance holdings points to more sales, per CNBC. Barron's puts the quarter's Bank of America sales at 30 million to 40 million shares, per CNBC, close to the 30.2 million offloaded in the three months before.
Barron's also sees Alphabet buying in the quarter, per CNBC, based on a $2.3 billion rise in the book cost of the bucket holding Google's parent. American Express looks untouchable: Abel's February letter named it among four stocks to hold for decades, per CNBC.
A second filing landed on Friday: a yen issue topping 182 billion yen, near $1.1 billion, maturities 2029-2056, coupons 2.6%-4.6%, per CNBC. Bloomberg notes the rates run higher than the previous sale, and a fund manager quoted there said sentiment "has become more sensitive". April brought a 272 billion yen issue, about $1.7 billion.
Why it matters
Berkshire's run is a vote on what investors want now: cash, operating earnings and buybacks over AI spending promises. Our November 7 report tracked the first leg of the same move, when the stock gained more than 5% in a week as the S&P 500 lost 2.7% and the record buyback landed. The November 13 futures read showed the other side of the trade. Berkshire's 7.5-point lead for the year is the scoreboard for that rotation.
What to watch
- Monday's 13F: Bank of America share count, and any Alphabet buying.
- $600 line: a weekly close above $600 is the run's test, per FrontierPicks; Friday's close sits $7.06 below it.
- December 8-9 Fed meeting: 25bp hike fully priced, 50bp chance 14.5% (November 13), per Reuters and CME FedWatch.
- Fourth-quarter report, late February 2027: next check on buybacks, cash, earnings.
Key points
- B shares ended Friday at $592.94, up $3.11 (0.53%), a fourth straight session at a new closing peak.
- Fourth-quarter gain: 19.1% for both classes since October 1; S&P 500 fell 1.2%, per CNBC.
- Past month: B shares +13.2%, benchmark -3.7%, a 19.2-point edge, the widest since 2010, per the Economic Times.
- May lag: 14.3 points behind the index; the swing since then measures 33.5 points.
- Buybacks in the third quarter ran to about $9.6 billion, the biggest quarterly total on record, per the Motley Fool.
- Cash at September 30: $377.4 billion, 3.3% higher than at June 30, per CNBC; company value $1.26 trillion.
- Bank of America count at June 30: 483.4 million shares, worth $24.7 billion, down from a billion-plus shares valued at $41.1 billion in June 2024.
MarketRadar take
Berkshire's rally has a clean driver: money leaving AI names is landing in a stock with $377.4 billion of cash, a record buyback and businesses that keep earning. The 19.2-point monthly edge over the S&P 500 is the widest since 2010, yet the shares sit only $7.06 below the $600 weekly-close line that FrontierPicks tracks, so the next test is whether the run holds its pace into Monday's 13F.
