Morningstar

Berkshire Hathaway Enters New Era With Greg Abel at the Helm

Warren Buffett retired to a purely advisory role at the end of 2025; shares modestly undervalued.

The Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is displayed on a smartphone screen.
Cheng Xin via Getty

Key Morningstar Metrics for Berkshire Hathaway Stock

  • Fair Value Estimate
    : $510
  • Morningstar Rating
    : ★★★★
  • Morningstar Economic Moat Rating
    : Narrow
  • Morningstar Uncertainty Rating
    : Low

We expect CEO Greg Abel to focus a sharper eye on Berkshire Hathaway’s businesses and investments, as he will be judged as both an operator and investor in his new role, and we hope to hear more details from him at the annual meeting.

Why it matters: With Warren Buffett retiring from his role as CEO at the end of 2025, we think it is important to start raising questions about what Berkshire will look like, as well as changes Abel should be willing to make as CEO, especially with Buffett now on the sidelines acting in a purely advisory role.

  • We believe Abel will be held to a vastly different standard than Buffett ever was—primarily because he will be serving as both an operator (something Buffett was never really all that interested in) and an investor (something Abel has had little experience with) in his new role.
  • We envision shareholders judging Berkshire and Abel more on performance, noting that for many years, we’ve seen shareholders toss out the scorecard because they trusted Buffett and Charlie Munger, longtime partner and vice chairman until his death in 2023, to retain all the company’s earnings even if it meant poorer returns for extended periods.

The bottom line: Abel plans to take questions from shareholders at this year’s annual meeting on May 2, 2026. He will be joined by Ajit Jain, head of Berkshire’s insurance operations, Katie Farmer, president and CEO of BNSF Railway, and Adam Johnson, president of the consumer products, service, and retailing businesses.

  • Berkshire is modestly undervalued relative to our fair value estimate. Given the decline in the firm’s shares this year—with the Class A (B) shares down 6.6% year to date—Berkshire is modestly undervalued relative to our fair value for a firm with a Low Morningstar Uncertainty Rating.
  • At its closing prices on April 30, 2025, the company’s Class A (B) shares were trading at a 7% discount to our $765,000 ($510) per Class A (B) share fair value estimate(s).

The author or authors do not own shares in any securities mentioned in this article. Find out about Morningstar’s editorial policies.

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