Abel takes over for Buffett in less than two weeks. Wall Street has some advice for new Berkshire CEO

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With Warren Buffett’s deliberate departure as Berkshire Hathaway’s CEO lower than two weeks away, some on Wall Road have recommendation for incoming CEO Greg Abel.

Glenview Belief CIO Invoice Stone says an important factor Abel can do is “do not attempt to be Warren Buffett.”

Buffett and Charlie Munger, he stated on Yahoo Finance, have been the “biggest duo” in investing of all time. “Attempting to beat them at their recreation, so to talk, might be not the precise factor.”

Stone thinks Abel ought to think about rising working earnings, decreasing the variety of excellent shares, and being able to seize alternatives after they come up.

On Yahoo Finance’s “Market Dominion,” Boyar Analysis President Jonathan Boyar advised CNBC alum Josh Lipton the very best factor Abel might do to win Wall Road’s belief is to “purchase an especially great amount of Berkshire inventory personally and actually put his cash the place his mouth is.”

In line with the 2025 annual assembly proxy, Abel already owns what Boyar calls a “honest quantity” of Berkshire shares which might be presently valued at round $171 million, however he notes that “all of that was purchased when, clearly, Buffett” ran the corporate.

Boyar expects Abel will impose much more administration oversight than Buffett, who famously took a hands-off method to the subsidiaries.

Because of that decentralization, Boyar says, “There’s most likely plenty of fats to chop. There’re most likely divisions that may be consolidated. There are numerous issues they might do to reinforce profitability that Buffett simply hasn’t wished to do.

“Buffett is the best capital allocator and the best investor of all time. He is not generally known as the very best supervisor of all time. Greg Abel would possibly have the ability to do issues that he could not or would not do.”

After Buffett introduced on the Could annual assembly that he deliberate to step down as CEO on the finish of the 12 months, Berkshire’s B shares fell 15% over three months.

They’ve reduce that drop to eight.4% as of Friday’s shut.

The Motley Idiot’s David Jagielski writes Buffett’s lengthy tenure gave the corporate “loads of time to organize for a successor” and Abel is “effectively ready” to be CEO.

He predicts Abel’s method” will not differ so much” from Buffett’s however there might nonetheless be vital modifications in Berkshire’s portfolio. The addition of a stake within the large tech inventory Alphabet within the third quarter might have given buyers a “glimpse” of the long run.

He is additionally “cautiously optimistic” Berkshire might put extra emphasis on development shares and “pivot away from slow-growing investments like Kraft Heinz.”

Jagielski expects Berkshire to be an “wonderful purchase” for subsequent 12 months and longer. “If it dips in worth after Buffett leaves, that will merely make it an much more engaging funding to purchase.”

Mel Casey at FBB Capital Companions tells Yahoo Finance the variety of Berkshire’s subsidiaries offers it an “all-weather high quality” in order that “you might virtually consider it as a lower-risk different to proudly owning the broader market.”

He sees Berkshire as “fairly fairly valued” in a “12 months of fairly excessive valuations for U.S. massive cap shares.”

On the bearish facet, Casey warns there’s a danger of shedding the “Buffett premium.”

“There’s undoubtedly a warning on the market that a number of the core buyers are buyers in Buffett moderately than within the precise fundamentals of the corporate itself.”

UNP CEO Jim Vena is quoted by Reuters as saying he’s assured the deal might be permitted. “If we stand nonetheless, we’re going to get left behind. I am not into that. The advantages of this transaction are simple.”

Buffett advised CNBC final August that Berkshire wouldn’t attempt to counter a doable UP-NSC mixture by merging BNSF with CSX, however the two railroads did announce what they known as “a collaboration” to supply “seamless, environment friendly, coast-to-coast options to ship between the western and jap U.S.”

BNSF’s routes are within the western U.S. whereas CSX operates within the east.

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AUDIENCE MEMBER: You could have stated earlier than that your position might be divided into components to your succession, one in all which would be the duty of sustaining tradition by having [son] Howard [Buffett] as non-executive chairman.

What’s the plan for the way Berkshire will keep its tradition when Howard not fills the position, and what ought to shareholders look ahead to to make it possible for the tradition is being correctly maintained a long time from now when I’m your age?…

WARREN BUFFETT: By far, the primary think about maintaining Berkshire’s tradition is that you’ve a board and you will have successor board members. You could have managers and you will have successor managers. And you’ve got shareholders that clearly acknowledge the particular nature of the tradition, which have embraced the tradition. After they bought their companies to us, they wished to affix that tradition.

It is a — it thrusts out folks that actually aren’t in tune with it, and there are only a few of them. And it embraces those that get pleasure from and respect it. And I feel, to some extent, we do not have plenty of competitors on it. So it turns into very identifiable, and it really works…

CHARLIE MUNGER: I actually suppose the tradition goes to shock everyone — how effectively it lasts — and the way effectively they do. They’ll marvel why they ever made any fuss over us within the first place. It may work very effectively.

WARREN BUFFETT: We have got so many good elements in place, simply when it comes to the companies and other people already right here, you realize, that — on the corporations.

CHARLIE MUNGER: That is what I am saying.

WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah.

CHARLIE MUNGER: There’s simply a lot energy in place.

BRK.A inventory value: $745,600.00

BRK.B inventory value: $494.53

BRK.B P/E (TTM): 15.81

Berkshire market capitalization: $1,068,856,999,340

Berkshire Money as of September 30: $381.7 billion (Up 10.9% from June 30)

Excluding Rail Money and Subtracting T-Payments Payable: $354.3 billion (Up 4.3% from June 30)

No Berkshire inventory repurchases since Could 2024.

(All figures are as of the date of publication, until in any other case indicated)

Berkshire’s prime holdings of disclosed publicly traded shares within the U.S. and Japan, by market worth, primarily based on the most recent closing costs.

Holdings are as of September 30, 2025, as reported in Berkshire Hathaway’s 13F submitting on November 14, 2025, apart from:

The complete listing of holdings and present market values is obtainable from CNBC.com’s Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker.

Please ship any questions or feedback in regards to the publication to me at alex.crippen@cnbc.com. (Sorry, however we do not ahead questions or feedback to Buffett himself.)

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Additionally, Buffett’s annual letters to shareholders are extremely beneficial studying. There are collected right here on Berkshire’s web site.

— Alex Crippen, Editor, Warren Buffett Watch