There are a handful of shares that behave much less like particular person corporations and extra like a fund wrapped inside a single ticker. These are conglomerates or holding corporations that personal dozens of companies throughout industries, geographies, and financial cycles.
The obvious and most confirmed instance is Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.B).
Despite the fact that Warren Buffett formally stepped down on the finish of 2025, nothing materials concerning the empire he constructed has modified. The capital allocation philosophy is unbroken, the stability sheet stays fortress-like, and the gathering of working companies and fairness holdings is as diversified and cash-generative as ever.
It’s additionally one of many largest single-stock positions in my very own portfolio. If I have been pressured to promote every little thing else and purchase only one inventory to carry for many years, Berkshire Hathaway can be it. Listed here are three the reason why.
Diversification backed by a fortress stability sheet
Berkshire Hathaway is diversified in a method that only a few single shares can match. On the general public aspect, it owns massive stakes in blue-chip corporations throughout insurance coverage, power, client merchandise, and expertise. On the non-public aspect, it outright owns whole companies that generate regular money stream no matter market circumstances.
That features family names like GEICO, BNSF Railway, and Duracell, together with dozens of different working corporations spanning manufacturing, utilities, retail, and providers. These companies usually are not buying and selling autos. They’re paid-off money machines that fund every little thing else Berkshire does.
Then there’s the stability sheet. Berkshire is sitting on roughly $381 billion in money and short-term Treasuries. That conflict chest offers it optionality no different public firm actually has. In sensible phrases, Berkshire may purchase most corporations outright with no need to boost capital, dilute shareholders, or depend on debt markets. When markets panic, Berkshire can act whereas others are pressured to promote.
Succession threat is already addressed
Plenty of traders fear that Berkshire with out Warren Buffett is a special firm. In actuality, succession has been deliberate for years.
Operational management sits with Greg Abel, who oversees Berkshire’s non-insurance companies and has been deeply concerned in capital allocation choices for a very long time. On the insurance coverage aspect, Ajit Jain continues to run one of the disciplined and worthwhile insurance coverage operations on this planet.
This isn’t a scenario the place one charismatic founder disappears and leaves a vacuum. The choice-making framework, the tradition, and the danger self-discipline are embedded. Berkshire as we speak is run by a staff that has already been working the enterprise for years.
Constructed-in tax effectivity by way of inner compounding
Berkshire doesn’t pay a dividend, and that’s intentional. As an alternative of sending money out to shareholders and triggering taxes, it reinvests internally or repurchases shares once they commerce beneath intrinsic worth.
That strategy permits capital to compound inside the corporate with out annual tax leakage. Buybacks enhance every remaining shareholder’s possession stake with out producing taxable earnings. Over lengthy intervals, this may be way more environment friendly than receiving dividends and reinvesting them your self, particularly in taxable accounts.
For affected person traders, Berkshire successfully acts like a tax-efficient compounding car wrapped inside a single inventory.
Easy methods to put money into Berkshire Hathaway
Most traders entry Berkshire by way of Class B shares (BRK.B), which commerce in U.S. {dollars} on the NYSE and are extra reasonably priced than the Class A shares. In case you’re a Canadian investor, meaning changing Canadian {dollars} into U.S. {dollars} by way of your brokerage.
As a result of Berkshire doesn’t pay dividends, it may be notably engaging in taxable accounts, the place ongoing distributions would in any other case create a tax drag. As at all times, the fitting account is dependent upon your broader portfolio and tax scenario, however structurally, Berkshire is constructed to reward long-term holders who’re keen to remain put.
One further possibility for Canadian traders is the Berkshire Hathaway CDR (TSX:BRK), which trades in Canadian {dollars} and removes the necessity for foreign money conversion, although it comes with an added administration price.
