Berkshire analysts are still tepid on the stock after annual meeting. What Abel can do to win them over

Wall Street analysts came away from Greg Abel's first annual meeting at Berkshire Hathaway broadly impressed with his command of the business, but underwhelmed by the company's restrained pace of share buybacks. Despite Berkshire's cash pile nearing $400 billion and a return to buybacks in early March, first-quarter repurchases totaled just $235 million, a figure that several analysts said fell short of expectations given perceived discount between the stock price and Berkshire's intrinsic value. "We think investors were hoping for a more aggressive buyback stance," Catherine Seifert, analyst at CFRA, said in a note. She maintained her hold rating on Berkshire. While Abel reiterated Berkshire's policy of repurchasing shares when they trade below intrinsic value, he stopped short of committing to a defined level of capital deployment. March resumption Berkshire resumed buybacks in March for the first time since 2024. The owner of Geico insurance and Dairy Queen, among dozens of assets, had already disclosed that it purchased $226 million in stock on March 4, so this means it only bought a tiny amount more as the quarter came to a close. That was "modestly disappointing," said KBW analyst Meyer Shields, who nonetheless praised Abel for "a very strong job" communicating a detailed understanding of Berkshire's diverse operations. …