Berkshire Hathaway Stock Up 19% So Far In 2024: How It Stacks Up Against Warren Buffett's Averages, S&P 500

Legendary investor Warren Buffett has led conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway Inc BRK BRK for decades and produced market-beating returns in many cases.

Here's a look at how Berkshire Hathaway stock has performed over the last 25 years and how it's 2024 performance compares to recent years.

What Happened: Berkshire Hathaway stock is up 19.3% year-to-date, even with the conglomerate's large holding Apple Inc AAPL trailing the broader stock markets for much of the year.

A portion of Berkshire Hathaway's stake in Apple was recently sold, which may have been profit taking or a potential warning that valuation in the technology company was stretched.

With Berkshire Hathaway shares up 19.3%, the Buffett-led conglomerate is currently outperforming the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY, which tracks the broader S&P 500 Index, which is up 12.1% year-to-date.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Buffett often outperformed the stock markets by wide margins. In recent years, the outperformance has dropped to a smaller margin and in some cases, Buffett has been beaten.

Using data from SlickCharts, the 19.3% year-to-date return would be the best for the Buffett-led company since 2021 (+29.6%) and the second-best return since 2017.

Over the last 25 years, Berkshire Hathaway stock has returned an average of 9.84%. Compare that to the 9.22% average return of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust over the same time period.

Berkshire Hathaway has had negative returns in five of the last 25 years, compared to six years for the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust.

On a yearly basis, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust has beaten Berkshire Hathaway in nine of the 25 years, with Berkshire Hathaway outperforming the ETF in 16 years.

Over the last five years, Berkshire Hathaway has outperformed the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust with an overall 115.5% gain compared to an 82.8% gain.

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Why It's Important: Buffett bought shares of Berkshire Hathaway in December 1962 believing the textiles company would launch a tender offer for shares in the future. The company did, but Buffett saw more value ahead and instead of selling his shares, he started buying more.

Eventually, Buffett took control of the company and years later the textiles business was shut down.

Today, Berkshire Hathaway is a conglomerate that owns many well-known brands like Geico, See's Candies, Fruit of the Loom, Diary Queen and Duracell.

The company also holds large stakes in many publicly traded companies, with Apple, American Express Company AXP, Coca-Cola KO, Chevron Inc CVX and Occidental Petroleum Corporation OXY the top holdings.

For investors looking for a stock that often outperforms the market, the one led by Warren Buffett might be one worth considering. The major uncertainty of succession and what will happen when Buffett steps down or passes away remains a potential risk for investors.

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Image created using artificial intelligence via Midjourney.