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Here's How Much You'd Have If You Invested $1000 in Berkshire Hathaway B a Decade Ago

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How much a stock's price changes over time is important for most investors, since price performance can both impact your investment portfolio and help you compare investment results across sectors and industries.

FOMO, or the fear of missing out, also plays a role in investing, particularly with tech giants and popular consumer-facing stocks.

What if you'd invested in Berkshire Hathaway B (BRK.B - Free Report) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to BRK.B for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?

Berkshire Hathaway B's Business In-Depth

With that in mind, let's take a look at Berkshire Hathaway B's main business drivers.

Founded in 1889, Berkshire Hathaway is an Omaha, NE-based holding company, which owns more than 90 subsidiaries in insurance, rail roads, utilities, manufacturing services, retail and home building.

The most important of these are insurance businesses conducted on both a primary basis and insurance basis, a freight rail transportation business and a group of utility and energy generation and distribution businesses.

It has four major operating sectors - The Insurance group includes (26% of 2023 revenue) : GEICO, Government Employees Insurance Company writes private passenger automobile insurance; General Re conducts reinsurance business, offering property and casualty, life and health coverage to clients worldwide; Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group underwrites excess-of-loss reinsurance and quota-share coverage for insurers and reinsurers globally; Berkshire Hathaway Primary Group comprises a wide variety of independently-managed insurance businesses that principally write liability coverage for commercial accounts.

The Railroad business includes MidAmerican and BNSF operations (6.3%), which provides railway services through Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp.

The Utilities and Energy businesses (22%) that includes Berkshire Hathaway Energy and Pilot Travel Centers.

The Manufacturing, Service & Retailing Operations includes (45.7%): Manufacturing – Acme Building Brands, Benjamin Moore, H.H. Brown Shoe Group, CTB, Fechheimer Brothers, Forest River, Fruit of the Loom, Garan, ISCAR, Johns Manville, Justin Brands, Larson-Juhl, MiTek, Russell, Scott Fetzer, Vanity Fair, Richline Group and Albecca. The Service sub-segment includes – Buffalo News, Business Wire, FlightSafety, International Dairy Queen, Pampered Chef, and NetJets.

Retailing sub-segment includes – Ben Fridge Jeweler, Borsheim’s, Helzberg Diamond Shops, Jordan’s Furniture, Nebraska Furniture Mart, See’s Candies, Star Furniture, R.C. Willey and TTI Inc. Others include – Marmon Group, McLane Company and Shaw Industries.

Bottom Line

While anyone can invest, building a lucrative investment portfolio takes research, patience, and a little bit of risk. If you had invested in Berkshire Hathaway B ten years ago, you're probably feeling pretty good about your investment today.

A $1000 investment made in July 2014 would be worth $3,522.05, or a 252.21% gain, as of July 18, 2024, according to our calculations. Investors should note that this return excludes dividends but includes price increases.

The S&P 500 rose 185.39% and the price of gold increased 80.16% over the same time frame in comparison.

Analysts are forecasting more upside for BRK.B too.

Berkshire is one of the largest property and casualty insurance companies with numerous diverse business activities. A strong cash position supports earnings-accretive bolt-on buyouts and is indicative of its financial flexibility. Continued insurance business growth fuels increase in float, drive earnings and generates maximum return on equity. The non-insurance businesses have also been doing well in the last few years. The addition of Pilot Travel Centers (PTC) has strengthened its energy business. A sturdy capital level provides further impetus. Shares of Berkshire have outperformed the industry year to date. However, exposure to cat loss induces earnings volatility and also affects the underwriting results. Huge capital expenditure remains a headwind. With the demise of Charles Munger, uncertainty looms over the company's performance.

The stock is up 9.23% over the past four weeks, and no earnings estimate has gone lower in the past two months, compared to 1 higher, for fiscal 2024. The consensus estimate has moved up as well.

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