Is Berkshire Hathaway a Still a Buy Now That Buffett's Retired?

"The great Warren Buffett, a man known as the Oracle of Omaha, has finally retired after a legendary 60-year career that helped power Berkshire Hathaway ( NYSE:BRK-B) to annualized gains that have nearly doubled that of the S&P 500 (close to 20% vs. 10.4% for the S&P 500). It's certainly the end of an era, and while Berkshire Hathaway shares have shed some of their Buffett premium, questions linger as to whether it's still worth staying aboard as a Berkshire investor."

"As a conglomerate that's worth more than $1 trillion, it's going to take more than star stock picking to keep outpacing the S&P 500. And while Berkshire's new CEO, Greg Abel, has large shoes to fill, I do think that he has what it takes to make the Oracle proud. Undoubtedly, if you believe in Warren Buffett's ability to pass on his knowledge to the next generation of leadership, you should be even more bullish on Berkshire with Greg Abel as CEO."

"However, the transition from a legend in Buffett to a proven operational leader seems to rhyme in many ways with the one that saw Apple ( NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO Tim Cook take over from the late Steve Jobs. There might be no replacing the legend, but that doesn't mean the new top boss cannot do extraordinarily well in an attempt to take a legendary company to the next level."

Berkshire Hathaway entered a major leadership transition as Warren Buffett retired after a 60-year career that produced annualized gains near 20%, roughly double the S&P 500's 10.4%. The conglomerate's market valuation exceeds $1 trillion, making continued outperformance dependent on more than concentrated stock picking. Greg Abel, an operational leader, assumed the CEO role with expectations to leverage Berkshire's strong balance sheet and managerial optionality to pursue growth. Berkshire underperformed the S&P 500 by about 5% entering 2026, creating a relatively low bar for performance improvement under new leadership.

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