Fundamentals snapshot
BRK-B · NYQ · Financial Services · Insurance - Diversified
Current price
$506.03
52-week range
$464.01 - $537.74
Market cap
$1.08T
One-glance verdict
We don't put a cash-flow fair value on banks and insurers. For these companies the reported 'cash flow' is really just money moving between loans, deposits and trades — not the leftover profit the owners could actually pocket — so the usual method would print a misleading number.
Balance sheet
Net cash $236.91B. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
What this company does
Berkshire Hathaway is a holding company, meaning it's a large corporation that owns a diverse collection of other businesses, with its biggest operations in insurance, freight rail transportation, and energy. The company makes money from insurance premiums (the fees customers pay for coverage) and from the profits of its huge range of companies, from See's Candies to Duracell batteries. This structure is important because its success isn't tied to any single industry, creating a stable financial foundation designed for long-term growth.
Berkshire Hathaway started as a struggling textile manufacturer in New England. In the 1960s, investor Warren Buffett began buying its stock, eventually taking control and transforming it. Instead of trying to fix the textile business, he used the company's cash to buy other businesses, starting with insurance companies. This began its evolution into a massive holding company, which is a company that owns a controlling interest in other companies. Over decades, it acquired dozens of businesses and large stakes in public companies, growing into one of the largest and most diverse corporations in the world.
Berkshire Hathaway doesn't sell one main product under its own name; instead, it owns a vast collection of separate companies. You might interact with Berkshire's businesses without even realizing it, whether it's by insuring your car with GEICO, eating at Dairy Queen, or seeing a BNSF freight train go by. It also owns companies that make everything from Duracell batteries and Fruit of the Loom clothing to bricks and private jets. Additionally, Berkshire is a massive investor, owning large chunks of well-known public companies like Apple and Coca-Cola.
This is Berkshire's largest business segment and its original economic engine. It includes well-known names like GEICO, which sells car insurance directly to customers, and other groups that provide reinsurance (insurance for other insurance companies) and various commercial insurance policies. Insurance companies collect money upfront from customers as premiums and pay out claims later. This creates a large pool of money, called "float," that Berkshire can invest for its own benefit before it's needed to pay claims.
BNSF is one of the largest freight railroad networks in North America, making it a critical part of the U.S. supply chain (the system of organizations, people, activities, information, and resources involved in moving a product or service from supplier to customer). The railroad transports a huge variety of goods, including consumer products, industrial materials, and agricultural commodities like grain. BNSF makes money by charging customers to move their freight across its extensive network of tracks in the western United States. This business is a significant and steady source of earnings for Berkshire.
This segment is a collection of utility companies that provide electricity and natural gas to millions of customers. BHE generates, transmits, and distributes power from various sources, including natural gas, coal, wind, and solar. Because electricity and gas are essential services, these businesses operate in a regulated environment, which often allows for consistent and predictable profits. This part of Berkshire is focused on large, long-term infrastructure projects.
This is a very broad category that includes dozens of companies making a wide range of products. These businesses produce industrial items like specialty chemicals and airplane parts, building products such as insulation and bricks, and consumer goods like Clayton Homes, Duracell batteries, and See's Candies. Each of these companies operates largely independently, selling its products to other businesses or directly to consumers. Together, they represent a huge portion of Berkshire's overall revenue.
This segment includes a diverse mix of businesses that sell services or goods directly to customers. It includes major retailers like Nebraska Furniture Mart and companies offering services like NetJets, which sells partial ownership of private jets. It also contains Dairy Queen restaurants and Berkshire Hathaway Automotive, a large group of car dealerships. This collection of businesses is another major contributor to Berkshire's overall sales.
Under new leadership, Berkshire appears to be focused on deploying its massive cash pile more actively. The company is making large investments in publicly traded stocks, such as a significant stake in Google's parent company, Alphabet. It is also continuing to invest heavily in long-term infrastructure projects within its energy division. Additionally, the company has been engaging in share repurchases (when a company buys its own stock from the marketplace), which can increase the ownership stake of the remaining shareholders.
Price history
Earnings history
Click any quarter to read the call summary and what the numbers say.
Is it cheap or expensive?
For a bank or insurer, the "free cash flow" shown on its statements is mostly money flowing through loans, deposits and trades — not the leftover profit the owners could actually keep, which is what this kind of valuation needs. Running that through the usual method would spit out a meaningless number, so we leave the cash-flow fair value out here rather than show you something misleading.
Is it drowning in debt?
Net cash $236.9B - more cash than debt. Interest coverage 17.3x.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s profit covers its interest bill about 17.3 times over. which is stronger than most peers shown here.
Total debt $128.60B Interest coverage 17.27x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $4.37B Interest coverage 14.27x -17% vs BRK-B Carries about 1.2x less debt cushion than BRK-B.
Total debt $8.94B Interest coverage 6.22x -64% vs BRK-B Carries about 2.8x less debt cushion than BRK-B.
Total debt $27.86B Interest coverage 17.70x +2% vs BRK-B Has roughly the same debt cushion as BRK-B.
Total debt $4.09B Interest coverage 11.24x -35% vs BRK-B Carries about 1.5x less debt cushion than BRK-B.
What you should know
The numbers
Tap any ? icon to learn what it means.
Valuation
Profitability
Health
Growth
Cash flow
Dividend
Metric explainer
Debt comparison
What you should know