Buffett Brain · Research note
Score updated 27 Oct 2026 · analysis from 1 Jun 2026
BRK-A· Financial Services
Berkshire Hathaway
Berkshire Hathaway is a fortress balance sheet earning a thin 2.45% owner-earnings yield at $710,900 a share.
Buffett fit
Weak fit
Owner
25
Durability
16
Management
41
Price
47
Score updated 27 Oct 2026 · analysis from 1 Jun 2026
Buffett's checklist
Each number against Buffett's bar, and where it ranks among Financial Services stocks in our database.
How much profit the business makes on each dollar invested in it. Higher is better.
The cash the business earns for its owners, compared with the price of the whole company.
How fast sales grew each year over the last five years.
How many years of today's profit you pay for at today's price. Lower means cheaper.
How much the company owes compared with what it owns outright. Lower is safer.
The four pillars
How the business measures up on each of Buffett's four tests.
If I buy this whole business at today's price, I am paying for a 2.45% owner-earnings yield.
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The durability score is a low 16, and the reason is in the numbers. Earnings per share have compounded at minus 5.9% over the window, and the worst single-year drop was a brutal 126%.
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Here is the brighter spot. Management runs the place on almost no , debt to equity of just 0.20 and interest covered 14.4 times over, and it has been quietly shrinking the share count by about 1.2% a year through .
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There is no at this price, and I will not pretend otherwise.
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For and against
The strongest points on each side, with the numbers behind them.
In its favor
6- 1Fortress balance sheet with of just 0.20 and net debt only 1.17 times EBITDA.
- 2Interest is covered a comfortable 14.4 times, so the company is in no danger from its lenders.
- 3A current ratio of 4.27 means short-term obligations are buried under liquid assets.
- 4Management is shrinking the share count about 1.2% a year, quietly handing owners a bigger slice.
Concerns
7- 1You are paying a rich price: a 2.45% owner-earnings yield and an EV/ of 18.9 leave no .
- 2Return on capital is poor, just 4.25% over the trailing year and 8.73% over five, so cash earns little while it waits.
- 3Earnings per share have shrunk at 5.9% a year, the opposite of the I want to pay up for.
- 4The worst single-year earnings drop was 126%, proof of how violently the reported profit can swing.
Price history
$732,100+69.1%· 5-year return
Weekly closing prices. Touch or hover the line for a date.
The business
How the business works
Berkshire is a holding company that owns insurers, a railroad, energy utilities, and a basket of operating businesses, then plows the float and the profits into more businesses and marketable stocks. The blended is a modest 16.1% and the is 25.1%, which tells you this is a sprawling industrial and insurance machine, not a high-margin . Revenue has grown about 7.7% a year, but reported earnings per share have actually shrunk at 5.9% a year, dragged around by mark-to-market swings on the stock portfolio.
How this analysis has moved
The call has held across 6 reviews.
Sep 27, 2026 → Oct 26, 2026
What other investors would say
The same company, judged by three other documented playbooks.
Keep researching
Similar companies in Financial Services
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