Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B) has restarted its share repurchase program for the first time since 2024, marking a significant capital allocation decision in the early days of the post-Warren Buffett era. The move comes as the conglomerate’s stock has struggled to gain traction and quarterly earnings have come under pressure, prompting market participants to interpret the buyback as a vote of confidence from new leadership regarding the company’s valuation.
A review of Berkshire’s recent repurchase activity illustrates how management’s assessment of the stock’s attractiveness has evolved over time. Between 2020 and 2022, the company bought back approximately $60 billion of its own shares. That figure declined to $9 billion in 2023, fell further to $3 billion in 2024, and reached zero for the full year 2025.
The trajectory—from aggressive buying to a standstill and now to resumption—reflects management’s ongoing evaluation of whether the stock is trading at a discount. This week’s announcement marks the first repurchase in nearly two years, suggesting current prices have entered an attractive range.
Buffett long emphasized that buybacks only make sense when a stock trades significantly below intrinsic value. For a diversified enterprise like Berkshire, investors frequently use the price-to-tangible book value (P/TBV) ratio as a valuation benchmark. That ratio has now fallen below the company’s five-year average. While management applies more sophisticated internal models to determine intrinsic value, the drop below this public-facing metric—combined with a scarcity of external acquisition opportunities—makes share repurchases a rational use of capital.
The buyback announcement coincides with mixed financial results. Berkshire reported operating earnings of $10.2 billion for the fourth quarter of 2025, a decline of approximately 30 percent from the same period a year earlier. Full-year operating earnings came in at $44.5 billion, down 6 percent from 2024, largely due to cyclical weakness in the insurance segment. Yet valuation metrics tell a different story. Berkshire currently trades at about 16 times trailing earnings, a substantial discount to the S&P 500’s multiple of 25.
Greg Abel, who officially took over as chief executive officer earlier this year, emphasized continuity in his first letter to shareholders. The company would “assess value carefully, act patiently, and hold for the long term,” he wrote, echoing the philosophy Buffett followed for decades. The resumption of buybacks represents the first tangible application of those principles under Abel’s leadership. For investors concerned that Berkshire might drift from its cultural moorings without Buffett at the helm, the message is clear: capital discipline remains intact.
For long-term value investors, Berkshire’s resumed buyback program is less a guarantee of an imminent price rebound and more a confirmation of margin of safety. When management deploys corporate capital to repurchase shares at current prices, it signals a belief that doing so will create more value for shareholders than holding cash or pursuing alternative investments.
The decision does not ensure the stock will reverse course immediately. But it does provide a meaningful reference point: after a period of price weakness, profit declines, and leadership transition, those inside the room have concluded that Berkshire’s shares look cheap. In an uncertain market, internal conviction often carries more weight than external analysis. For patient capital seeking a haven, Berkshire’s buyback may well be a signal worth watching.
