Berkshire Hathaway: Greg Abel Goes Conservative With His Debut Annual Letter to Shareholders

Key Morningstar Metrics for Berkshire Hathaway

• Fair Value Estimate
  : USD 510.00
• Morningstar Rating
  : ★★★
• Morningstar Economic Moat Rating
  : Narrow
• Morningstar Uncertainty Rating
  : Low

Along with Berkshire Hathaway’s BRK.B release of its fourth-quarter earnings results on Feb. 28, new CEO Greg Abel shared his thoughts on a post-Warren-Buffett era in his first annual shareholder letter.

Why it matters: Abel’s letter was slightly different from those from former CEO Buffett, as he laid out his thoughts on Berkshire’s past and future.

• Abel emphasized the importance of maintaining Berkshire’s culture, decentralized business model, integrity, financial strength, and capital discipline. While praising many of Berkshire’s businesses, he highlighted the need for some, like BNSF, to improve.
• Abel also hinted at changes in the equity investment portfolio—with Kraft Heinz labeled as disappointing—but he noted that Ted Weschler will continue to oversee a portion of the portfolio.
• Abel reaffirmed Buffett’s long-standing belief that retained earnings are better used for internal growth and acquisitions, noting that dividends are off the table for now and highlighting that share repurchases will be made sparingly at discounts to intrinsic value.

The bottom line: Abel stayed conservative in his debut annual letter, which was not unexpected, as Berkshire remains in good shape, highlighting continuity over dramatic change.

Key stats: Although Berkshire had a stellar run of results under Buffett’s leadership, returns have been more pedestrian during the past decade.

• Book value per share increased at an 18.1% compound annual growth rate during 1965-2025, compared with a 10.5% annualized return for the S&P 500 TR Index. That said, over the past decade, Berkshire’s annualized growth in book value per share of 12.4% trailed the index’s 14.8% CAGR.
• While Berkshire’s stock generated an annualized return of 19.8% during 1965-2025, its share price performance of 14.3% per year on average during the past decade was slightly behind the index.