New York, March 3, 2026, 04:57 (ET) — Premarket
- BRK.B hovered near $480 in early Tuesday action, following a sharp 4.9% drop at Monday’s close.
- Berkshire’s getting revalued as Greg Abel steps in as CEO, following a lackluster earnings report and a notably restrained stance on both buybacks and how cash will be put to work.
- S&P raised the prospect of a downgrade for Berkshire’s PacifiCorp, citing ongoing wildfire lawsuits—a fresh cloud for the utility.
Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares held flat in early premarket hours Tuesday. The stock dropped $24.94, or 4.9%, to close at $480.17 on Monday.
The timing of the selloff is notable, hitting just as Greg Abel begins stepping into the spotlight. Investors are left to figure out what shifts with Warren Buffett stepping back from daily leadership—and what stays the same.
Berkshire is notoriously tricky to gauge on a quarterly basis. The company skips earnings calls and tends to brush aside the usual short-term benchmarks, so the stock ends up relying mostly on filings, the annual letter, and whatever hints management decides to drop.
The tone out of Berkshire was distinctly careful. Fourth-quarter operating profit dropped 30% to $10.2 billion—this metric leaves out investment gains and losses—with Geico and the wider insurance group tumbling 38%. Abel flagged that Geico could stay under the gun, as competitors keep slashing car insurance rates and pricing tightens across both insurance and reinsurance markets. Despite Berkshire’s $373 billion pile of cash, Abel was clear: it doesn’t mean the company is backing away from investing, but he stayed silent on buybacks (none for a year and a half) or any chance of a dividend. “We will assess value carefully, act patiently, and hold for the long term – preferably forever,” he wrote. Meyer Shields at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, who has an “underperform” on the shares, described the quarter as “broadly” missing expectations and trimmed his 2026 earnings forecast by 5%. Reuters
Berkshire on Monday submitted its Form 10-K annual report covering the year ended Dec. 31, 2025, according to a regulatory filing. SEC
S&P Global on Monday flagged PacifiCorp, the Berkshire-controlled utility, for a possible downgrade to junk status as wildfire-related legal liabilities keep piling up. The trigger: a $305 million jury verdict in favor of 16 plaintiffs tied to the 2020 Oregon fires. S&P plans to keep a close eye on further rulings in the weeks ahead. Berkshire Hathaway Energy has estimated PacifiCorp’s total wildfire exposure could hit $50 billion. In his shareholder letter, Abel insisted the company will contest what he calls unjustified claims: “PacifiCorp is not an insurer of last resort and should not be treated as a deep pocket.” Reuters
Here’s the risk angle. Should insurance pricing pressure stick around past investor forecasts, operating results could stay weak, even if the investment side looks solid. A utility credit downgrade? That would bump up financing costs just when it hurts most. And if major wildfire verdicts keep landing, the market’s willingness to count Berkshire’s “extra” balance sheet cushion may get pushed further than before.
Abel could be the next key signal for traders. He’s due to appear on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” at 7 a.m. ET on Thursday, while Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting lands on May 2 in Omaha. Both events are coming up fast, and investors are likely to tune in for any clarity around capital returns, that sizable cash pile, and just how much bad news is already reflected in the stock. Barron’s
