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Here's How Much a $1000 Investment in Berkshire Hathaway B Made 10 Years Ago Would Be Worth Today

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How much a stock's price changes over time is a significant driver for most investors. Not only can price performance impact your portfolio, but it can help you compare investment results across sectors and industries as well.

Another factor that can influence investors is FOMO, or the fear of missing out, especially 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

Anyone can invest, but building a successful investment portfolio takes a combination of a few things: research, patience, and a little bit of risk. So, if you had invested in Berkshire Hathaway B a decade ago, you're probably feeling pretty good about your investment today.

A $1000 investment made in August 2014 would be worth $3,413.34, or a gain of 241.33%, as of August 29, 2024, according to our calculations. This return excludes dividends but includes price appreciation.

Compare this to the S&P 500's rally of 180.07% and gold's return of 86.90% over the same time frame.

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 an increase in float, drives 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 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 5.95% over the past four weeks, and no earnings estimate has gone lower in the past two months, compared to 2 higher, for fiscal 2024. The consensus estimate has moved up as well.

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