Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway largely remained on the sidelines last quarter, even as the stock market cratered on President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs and briefly presented steep bargains.
Second-quarter results released on Saturday revealed that the conglomerate was a net seller of stocks for the 11th straight quarter. Berkshire offloaded $6.92 billion during the quarter and bought $3.9 billion.
Meanwhile, Buffett’s cash pile kept getting bigger, hitting a fresh high of $344 billion at the end of June, up from $333 billion at the end of March. Berkshire also refrained from stock repurchases for the fourth consecutive quarter.
The legendary value-conscious investor has bemoaned the lack of good deals for years now. That includes possibilities for large acquisitions of companies that could be folded into Berkshire as well as major stock purchases for the portfolio.
At the same time, Buffett has also avoided knee-jerk moves, and the stock market saw a head-spinning plunge and rebound in April as Trump shocked Wall Street with his aggressive tariffs then put them on hold just days later.
During the selloff, the S&P 500 flirted with bear market territory, diving nearly 20% from its prior high. But the index has since shot back up to fresh records.
Still, the swoon also highlighted Buffett’s uncanny timing, as he appeared to anticipate a market downturn last year by selling $134 billion in equities in 2024—when the bull market was still raging.
The stock market swings also came as Buffett was contemplating a transition away from his leadership role. In May, he announced that his anointed successor, Greg Abel, should take over as Berkshire Hathaway CEO by the of the year.
While Buffett is expected to stay on as chairman, he may be staying away from dramatic moves to clear the decks for Abel, who had already been taking on a bigger leadership role before May.
Despite his aversion for major purchases lately, Buffett’s annual letter to shareholders in February reaffirmed his commitment to staying invested in stocks and companies, even as cash continued to mount.
“Berkshire shareholders can rest assured that we will forever deploy a substantial majority of their money in equities—mostly American equities although many of these will have international operations of significance,” he wrote. “Berkshire will never prefer ownership of cash-equivalent assets over the ownership of good businesses, whether controlled or only partially owned.”
Berkshire also reported that its operating earnings, which exclude the impact of its investments, fell 4% to $11.16 billion in the second quarter as insurance-underwriting results weakened. The company booked a $3.8 billion impairment on its Kraft Heinz stake as well, marking down its value to $8.4 billion.
