Berkshire Hathaway Q2 Valuation Update

Aug 12, 2026

∙ Paid

Disclosure: Long BRKB

Subscribers have access to the valuation model on Google Sheets, which includes a per-share valuation and earnings calculator.

Greg Abel is wasting no time putting his mark on Berkshire.

$11.6 billion net purchases of stocks ($39.4 billion purchases less $27.8 billion sales)
Growth capex of $3.5 billion
Acquisitions of $9.7 billion, including $9.4 billion spent on OxyChem on January 2. The deal was technically arranged during Buffett’s tenure as CEO, but Greg should get credit as it fell under his purview as vice chairman of non-insurance operations.
Share repurchases of $4.762 billion. Note that the cash flow statement shows $4.444 billion; however, this is only the cash outlaid for purchases during the period. The difference was settled after the quarter ended.
These add up to about $30 billion or $6 billion more than the $24.3 billion operating earnings during the period.
Total cash (including BNSF and BHE) declined $8 billion from $373 billion at year-end 2025 to $365 billion as of June 30, 2026. Cash fell from 31% of total assets to 29%, and Berkshire ended the quarter with a net cash position (including all BNSF and BHE debt) of -31%

But wait, there’s more…

The figures above don’t account for the $6.8 billion Berkshire laid out for homebuilder Taylor Morrison on July 24, 2026. Nor does it account for additional buybacks that we can glean from the filing date share count.

Berkshire had 1,427,140 shares outstanding as of July 29 compared to 1,431,693 as of June 30. This implies another 4,553 A-equivalent shares were repurchased during the month of July. At an average price of $745,000 per share, that’s another $3.392 billion.
These two actions alone (not considering any additional repurchases) will likely consume most of Q3 cash generation.

Overall, Berkshire had a good quarter, with operating earnings adjusted for forex coming in at $12.7 billion, or 5.2% greater than last year. On a TTM basis, operating earnings were 12.9% greater at $51.3 billion.
Float increased to $177.5 billion.

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