Berkshire shares recover, still lag S&P in second half of 2026
Berkshire Hathaway CEO Greg Abel Although Berkshire has gained, it still lags the S&P entering the second half of 2026 More than halfway through 2026, Berkshire Hathaway's Class B shares are down 1.8% so far this year, lagging the S&P 500's 10.7% gain by a gap of 12.4 percentage points. (After including dividends, the S&P 500 rose 11.4%, extending the lead to 13.1 percentage points.) Berkshire's strong performance in June erased nearly one-third of the 17.5-percentage-point gap as of June 1 — its largest deficit so far this year. However, even with the June rebound, Berkshire still had a tough second quarter (plus the 10 days in early July), with gains of just over 3%, while the benchmark index gained a strong 16%, driven by technology stocks, completely erasing Berkshire's slim 1.8 percentage point lead at the end of March. Last year, Berkshire lagged the S&P 500 by about 5.5 percentage points excluding dividends; it lagged 7.0 percentage points with dividends included.