Source: Barron's Chinese
Berkshire Hathaway's fourth-quarter holdings will be disclosed, with the focus on positions in Apple and Bank of America. Additionally, the handling of Todd Combs' holdings has become another key point of interest.
Berkshire Hathaway is expected to file its fourth-quarter stock holdings report on Tuesday, and the public will closely examine what moves Warren Buffett and his investment deputies made during his final quarter at the helm.
Buffett will hand over the CEO position to Greg Abel by the end of 2025 but will remain as chairman.
Key issues that the market will focus on include: $Berkshire Hathaway-B (BRK.B.US)$ whether it continued to reduce its stake in $Apple (AAPL.US)$ and $Bank of America (BAC.US)$ , and whether the company sold any positions previously established by investment manager Todd Combs. Combs left the company in December to take on an investment-related role at JPMorgan.
Followers of Berkshire will also watch to see if the company increased its stake in Alphabet after initiating a position in the third quarter of last year, and whether any new stocks were purchased in the fourth quarter.
Berkshire is likely to disclose its U.S. stock portfolio through the quarterly 13-F filing after the U.S. market closes on February 17.
Berkshire's activities were relatively muted in the first three quarters of 2025. Buffett, along with investment managers Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, found few attractive buying opportunities in the stock market. Buffett once remarked that for Berkshire, with a market value of approximately $1 trillion, there were very limited options available in the market for stocks that could significantly impact the company’s performance while still being 'mega-cap'.
In the first nine months of 2025, Berkshire purchased $13.5 billion worth of stocks while selling $24 billion worth of stocks, with its total stock portfolio valued at approximately $300 billion.
The company timed the market well in the third quarter, purchasing nearly 18 million shares of stock at an average price of approximately $210 per share. $Alphabet-C (GOOG.US)$With the stock currently trading at $305, this position is now valued at approximately $5.5 billion.
This Alphabet holding has sparked market discussions: was it Buffett's move, or a decision by Combs or Weschler? The latter two jointly manage about 10% of Berkshire Hathaway's equity portfolio. Given its relatively small size, it seems likely to have been executed by Combs or Weschler, though Berkshire does not disclose specific details on which holdings are managed by which investment manager. It is widely believed that Berkshire's major holdings are primarily overseen by Buffett.$Apple (AAPL.US)$ 、$Coca-Cola (KO.US)$、$American Express (AXP.US)$、$Occidental Petroleum (OXY.US)$、 $Bank of America (BAC.US)$Another key focus is the positions in Apple and Bank of America. In the third quarter, Berkshire continued to reduce its stakes in both companies: its Apple holdings were cut by 42 million shares, a 15% reduction to 238 million shares; during the same period, its Bank of America stake decreased by 37 million shares, a 6% reduction, to 568 million shares.
Berkshire’s Apple holdings have been reduced by approximately 75% from their peak, while its Bank of America stake has halved since the summer of 2024. Apple remains Berkshire’s largest holding, with a market value of approximately $60 billion.
In the third quarter of last year, Berkshire purchased an additional 4 million shares of Chubb Ltd, increasing its stake to 31 million shares, with a market value exceeding $9 billion; the company may continue to increase its stake in the insurer during the fourth quarter.
Another question is whether Berkshire will divest some of the positions accumulated by Combs during his 15-year tenure as one of Berkshire’s investment managers.$Chubb Ltd (CB.US)$The company may further increase its stake in this insurer during the fourth quarter.
Another open question is whether Berkshire will sell some of the positions accumulated by Combs during his 15 years as an investment manager at the firm.
Some observers of Berkshire Hathaway believe that the company's holdings in $Amazon (AMZN.US)$、$VeriSign (VRSN.US)$(VeriSign), Capital One Financial ($Capital One Financial (COF.US)$), Visa ($Visa (V.US)$), and $MasterCard (MA.US)$(Mastercard) could potentially be investments made by Todd Combs.
Approximately 15 years ago, when Berkshire’s investment manager Lou Simpson left the company, it sold many of the stocks he held. Similarly, after acquiring Alleghany in 2022, Berkshire also divested the stock portfolio originally held by Alleghany.
Berkshire Hathaway's stock trading activities often trigger market reactions, especially when the company initiates a new investment. Investors typically drive up the prices of related stocks, even though Berkshire's average holding period has been shortening.
Editor/Rice