History Says Berkshire Hathaway Stock Rewards Patience: It Rose in 50 of the Last 61 Years

There's a reason why Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRKA)(NYSE: BRKB) is one of the largest companies in the world and also one of the best-known stocks. There's also a reason Warren Buffett is arguably the greatest investor in the world.

It's because Berkshire, led by Buffett for over six decades, has made many, many shareholders quite rich since its inception. Over the past 61 years, from 1965 through 2025, Berkshire's stock has only declined in 11 of those years.

History shows that patience with Berkshire stock rewards shareholders.

The results are unmatched

Buffett turned Berkshire from a struggling textile manufacturer to one of the largest conglomerates in the world. Over the decades, Buffett and his team have built one of the strongest property and casualty insurers in the U.S., added significant energy and mortgage operations, and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, among other businesses.

Long ago, Berkshire began taking the float from insurance premiums and investing it into stocks. A superb stock picker, Buffett's strong stock-picking capabilities have grown the portfolio to nearly $365 billion today.

Unlike many other hedge funds, Buffett always preached a long-term investing philosophy, saying that Berkshire likes to invest in stocks it can own forever. Top holdings like Coca-Cola and American Express have been in the portfolio since the 1980s and 1990s.

The strength of all of Berkshire's businesses has also resulted in a fortress balance sheet, with cash and equivalents exceeding $365 billion at the end of the second quarter.

All of this has led to absolutely superb results for Berkshire's stock. The stock has only fallen in consecutive years once in its history (1973-74). Additionally, between 1965 and 2025, the stock has generated a total return of 6,099,294%, or 19.7% compounded annually. That compares favorably to the broader benchmark S&P 500 Index, which has generated a total return of 46,061% including dividends, or 10.5% compounded annually.

Can new CEO Greg Abel carry the torch?

Abel became Berkshire's new chief earlier this year, and a CEO has never had bigger shoes to fill. Even though Abel was handpicked by Buffett and has been with Berkshire since 1999, investors were reluctant to afford him the same respect as Buffett, and it took several months at the beginning of the year for Berkshire stock to find its footing. Now it's at an all-time high.

Abel will likely run the company in a similar vein to Buffett, while also bringing some new philosophies. In his first annual letter to shareholders, Abel made clear that certain aspects of the company would remain the same.

One is Berkshire's decentralized management structure, in which CEOs of its various businesses have broad autonomy to make decisions. Additionally, Abel told shareholders that Berkshire would continue to pursue a concentrated investing approach in its equities portfolio and said many of Berkshire's largest investments would remain long-term core holdings.

That said, the market is unlikely to afford Abel the same luxuries that Buffett had. For instance, Berkshire has never paid a dividend because the market was more than confident in Buffett's ability to allocate excess capital. The market also allowed Buffett to build Berkshire's cash hoard to nearly $400 billion recently.

Investors will likely be more demanding that Abel allocate capital and return larger amounts to shareholders than Buffett did in his final years.

The reality is that Berkshire's size makes it more difficult for the company to find returns large enough to be material. But I still think investors should have faith in Abel's ability to deploy capital and generate compelling long-term returns for shareholders. Abel spent decades working under Buffett and Berkshire's former vice chair, the late Charlie Munger. He also ran Berkshire Hathaway Energy prior to his appointment.

Berkshire should also continue to be a unique diversifier for many investors because it has a market cap over $1 trillion, but is not a pure-play tech and artificial intelligence company.

American Express is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Bram Berkowitz has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends American Express and Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.