Tens of thousands of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) (BRK.B) shareholders will head to Omaha this weekend, where they’ll hear from 94-year-old CEO Warren Buffett on a variety of topics such as the current state of the economy, his plans for Berkshire’s massive cash pile, and how its diverse collection of businesses is performing.
Berkshire shareholders should be in a good mood, with the stock up about 17.5 percent so far in 2025, compared to a 4.5 percent decline for the S&P 500. Investors will be listening closely for clues about how Buffett views the current investing landscape and the impact he thinks tariffs could have on the overall economy.
Here’s what to expect at the 2025 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting.
What is the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting?
The Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting will be held on Saturday, May 3, in Omaha, Nebraska, and the question-and-answer session with Buffett will be broadcast live on CNBC. All public companies hold annual meetings, but Berkshire’s is unique because Buffett and other executives take questions directly from shareholders for several hours. The event has come to be known as “Woodstock for Capitalists.”
Berkshire owns businesses that touch many different industries, which makes the company’s results a revealing window into how the economy is doing. Berkshire owns the BNSF Railway, Geico, Dairy Queen, vast insurance operations, energy companies and much more. It also has a massive stock portfolio that is closely watched by investors and includes companies such as Apple, American Express, Bank of America and Coca-Cola.
Shareholders will also get to hear from Buffett’s named successor, Greg Abel, who currently oversees Berkshire’s non-insurance operations, as well as Ajit Jain, who leads the insurance businesses.
2025 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting: 4 things to watch for
1. First-quarter results and Buffett’s thoughts on the economy
Along with the annual meeting, Berkshire will also report its first-quarter results Saturday morning, which will give a glimpse into how its various businesses are performing. Buffett always emphasizes the importance of a long-term perspective, but he typically makes some brief comments on the businesses’ performance during the first three months of the year.
Buffett has significantly reduced his public appearances in recent years, so the annual meeting will be one of the few times investors will be able to hear his thoughts on investing and the economy. Buffett declined to say much about the economy during an interview with CBS News in March, but did share some brief thoughts on tariffs.
“Tariffs are actually, we’ve had a lot of experience with them. They’re an act of war, to some degree,” Buffett said. “Over time, they are a tax on goods. I mean, the Tooth Fairy doesn’t pay ’em!”
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2. Updates on Berkshire after Buffett
Succession is always a topic for Berkshire, but the issue has been more settled in recent years. Abel and Jain have played more active roles overseeing the conglomerate’s various businesses since being named vice chairmen in 2018, and Buffett wrote in his recent annual letter to shareholders that it “won’t be long” before Abel replaces him as CEO.
Berkshire also has two investment officers, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, who help Buffett invest and manage its investment portfolio. It was once assumed that those two would take over the entire portfolio once Buffett was gone, but Buffett said last year that he thinks Abel, as CEO, should be responsible for capital allocation.
Any further updates on how Berkshire will operate without Buffett will be welcomed by shareholders.
3. Investment outlook and potential uses of large cash pile
A major reason the Berkshire annual meeting is so widely followed is because investors around the world are interested in how Buffett views the current investment landscape. He typically tries to avoid commenting on specific stocks or what Berkshire is buying or selling, but there can be nuggets that slip out. Last year, he elaborated on his decision to sell a major chunk of Apple shares and why he was comfortable holding cash, two moves that now look prescient.
Berkshire held more than $300 billion in cash at the end of 2024, and shareholders will be keen to hear how Buffett plans to invest it. There’s no doubt he’d love to find an elephant-sized deal that uses a large portion of the cash, but those have proven hard to find. There’s also always the chance of a dividend, but Buffett has historically shunned this idea because he believes more value can be generated through other means.
4. Berkshire’s stock outperformance in 2025
Berkshire’s recent strong stock performance, while nice for shareholders, has taken away another possible use of cash in the form of share repurchases. Buffett has said that he’ll only repurchase stock when he’s confident he’s doing so at a meaningful discount to the company’s intrinsic value. As the stock has climbed higher, the gap between its price and its intrinsic value has closed, with some analysts even saying Berkshire is slightly overvalued.
“Berkshire’s track record of finding ways to invest the excess cash provided by its operating subsidiaries into projects that have on average earned more than its cost of capital has gotten thinner over the years,” Greggory Warren, an analyst at Morningstar, wrote in a recent note to clients. Buffett believes Berkshire shares currently trade at a roughly 10 percent premium to their intrinsic value.
Buffett didn’t repurchase any Berkshire shares during the second half of 2024, after buying back nearly $70 billion in shares from 2020 through 2023.
Editorial Disclaimer: All investors are advised to conduct their own independent research into investment strategies before making an investment decision. In addition, investors are advised that past investment product performance is no guarantee of future price appreciation.
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