Berkshire trails red-hot S&P 500 by biggest margin so far this year

Cnbc · May 30, 2026 · 1425 words · By Alex Crippen

Berkshire Hathaway vs. S&P 500 Performance AI Investment Bubble Concerns Railroad Industry Regulation Warren Buffett's Investment Philosophy

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What to know about Berkshire Hathaway vs. S&P 500 Performance

(This is the Warren Buffett Watch newsletter, news and analysis on all things Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway.

Claims checked 23

Techniques found 1

Topics 4

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center80%

Right20%

5 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

(This is the Warren Buffett Watch newsletter, news and analysis on all things Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway.

Why it matters

You can sign up here to receive it every Friday evening in your inbox.) Berkshire trails red-hot S&P by biggest margin so far this year With hot tech stocks fueling its solid 5.1% gain in May, the S&P 500 closed Friday at a fresh record high.

Common ground

In a sharp contrast, shares of Berkshire Hathaway were close to unchanged for the month.

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

Follow-up questions

What new context would change how readers understand this Berkshire Hathaway vs. S&P 500 Performance story?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that Buffett... telling CNBC the company was not in the market to buy any railroad?
How does this story connect Berkshire Hathaway vs. S&P 500 Performance with AI Investment Bubble Concerns over the next few days?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/30/berkshire-trails-red-hot-sp-500-by-biggest-margi…

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 1 propaganda technique in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

warning

Loaded Language 70% confidence

Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.

Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.

Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 23 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

schedule Pending 13

check_circle Corroborated 4

info Single Source 2

verified Verified By Reference 2

help Insufficient Evidence 2

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Claim 1: “Buffett... telling CNBC the company was not in the market to buy any railroad”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 2: “Berkshire's BNSF... is part of the Stop the Rail Merger Coalition”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 3: “Berkshire repurchased $234 million of its shares in Q1 2026”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 4: “At almost $22 billion, it is the fifth largest equity holding in the portfolio”

SINGLE SOURCE

While sources mention Alphabet investments, none of the provided evidence confirms the specific valuation of '$22 billion' or its rank as the 'fifth largest equity holding'.

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web search NEUTRAL — Its class A shares have the highest per-share price of any public company in the world, reaching $700,000 in August 2024, because the board of directors has ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkshire_Hathaway

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Jun 2, 2026 · Berkshire Hathaway is set to buy $10 billion of discounted Alphabet stock, and recently announced an $8.5 billion acquisition.
https://www.facebook.com/insider/posts/berkshire-hathaway-is…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Jun 1, 2026 · Alphabet said Monday it reached an agreement to sell $5 billion of its Class A shares to Berkshire at $351.81 apiece and another $5 billion of ...
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/01/berkshire-hathaway-alphabet-…

verified

Claim 5: “Berkshire's widely held B shares are now running 16.3 percentage points behind the benchmark index year-to-date, the biggest gap so far in 2026”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

While sources confirm Berkshire underperformed the S&P 500 in 2026, none of the provided evidence specifies the exact figure of '16.3 percentage points' for the year-to-date gap.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Berkshire Hathaway Inc. () is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. Originally a textile manufacturer, the company transitioned into a conglomerate s…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkshire_Hathaway

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The S&P 500 is a stock market index maintained by S&P Dow Jones Indices. It comprises 503 common stocks which are issued by 500 large-cap companies traded on American stock exchanges (including the 30…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_S&P_500_companies

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — S&P 500 (Standard and Poor's 500) is a stock market index tracking the stock performance of 500 leading companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. It is one of the most commonly followe…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S&P_500

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 6: “Berkshire... [has] nearly $400 billion in cash”

CORROBORATED

Three independent web search results from May 2026 explicitly state that Berkshire Hathaway is holding 'nearly $400 billion' or 'close to $400 billion' in cash.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — 1 day ago ... Not the whole index combined. But company by company. Warren Buffett's firm is now holding close to $400 billion in cash and short-term ...
https://www.facebook.com/CharlieTop10s/posts/berkshire-hatha…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — May 20, 2026 ... The $400 billion cash position is less a statement about Berkshire specifically and more a statement about the current market . Buffett has ...
https://www.reddit.com/r/dividends/comments/1tijki1/warren_b…

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web search NEUTRAL — May 6, 2026 ... Berkshire Hathaway is sitting on nearly $400 billion in cash while Wall Street races to fresh heights, leading some observers to think the ...
https://nypost.com/2026/05/06/business/berkshire-hathaways-n…

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Claim 7: “BRK.B stock price: $474.48”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 8: “The U.S. Surface Transportation Board is pausing its review of the proposed $85 billion merger between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info

Claim 9: “the S&P zoomed more than 35% higher in April and May while Berkshire fell almost 11%”

SINGLE SOURCE

The provided evidence does not contain the specific percentage movements (35% rise for S&P and 11% fall for Berkshire) for the months of April and May 2026.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) has more than 40% of its money in the AAPL...
https://www.cnbc.com/berkshire-hathaway-portfolio/

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Easy does it The stock market likes it boring, writes Eddy: The S&P 500 rose by more than 1.17% over 1,900 times (about 9.2% of the time), and it fell by more than 1.17% over 1,800 times (about 8.7% o…
https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/02/06/8-fascinat…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — I report: Ever since the war in Iran began on Feb. 28, the count of ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz has dropped from more than 120 per day to near zero. Even with recent reports that a small…
https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/live/stock-market-t…

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Claim 10: “Excluding Rail Cash and Subtracting T-Bills Payable: $380.2 billion”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 11: “the S&P 500 [had a] solid 5.1% gain in May”

CORROBORATED

One source explicitly mentions a '5.3% rise in May' for the S&P 500, which closely aligns with the claim of a 'solid 5.1% gain'.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — S&P 500 Futures are financial futures which allow an investor to hedge with or speculate on the future value of various components of the S&P 500 Index market index. S&P 500 futures contracts were fir…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S&P_500_futures

+ 3 more evidence sources

help

Claim 12: “Buffett revealed he planned to step down as CEO at the end of 2025”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found for this claim in the provided search results, although other sources mention a 'retirement announcement last May'.

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Claim 13: “Last August, BNSF announced a "collaboration" with CSX”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

help

Claim 14: “Berkshire shares are now down 12% since their all-time closing high in May of last year”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found for this claim in the provided search results.

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Claim 15: “BRK.A stock price: $710,900.00”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 16: “UNP and NSC already had to file a revised application in April after their first proposal was rejected in January”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 17: “BRK.B P/E (TTM): 14.13”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 18: “new CEO Greg Abel did... triple the company's Alphabet stake during the first quarter”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources (including Fortune and a specialized financial report) confirm that new CEO Greg Abel tripled the Alphabet stake during the first quarter of 2026.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Greg Abel disagrees. In his first quarter as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway - January 1 through March 31, the first time Buffett's successor has controlled the equity book - Abel tripled Berkshire's Alphab…
https://www.streetbrief.co/article/abel-tripled-alphabet-fre…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — When 13F filings for Q1 2026 hit in May, the smart-money positioning on Alphabet split clean down the middle. Now well into Q2, here's who won.On June 1, CNBC reported that Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BR…
https://247wallst.com/investing/2026/06/12/3-billionaires-du…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Berkshire also established a small new stake in Macy’s that was worth nearly $55 million at the end of March. Berkshire never comments on the moves it makes to its $280 billion stock portfolio from qu…
https://fortune.com/2026/05/15/berkshire-hathaway-alphabet-s…

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Claim 19: “Berkshire market capitalization: $1,022,973,515,650”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

verified

Claim 20: “At the end of March, Berkshire had a small winning margin of 1.8 percentage points over the S&P”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

No evidence provided specifies the exact performance margin of 1.8 percentage points for Berkshire over the S&P at the end of March 2026.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — This is a list of subsidiaries, equities, cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments owned by multinational holding company Berkshire Hathaway.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assets_owned_by_Berksh…

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+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 21: “Berkshire's relative performance ratio vs. the S&P has dropped to its lowest levels since 2007”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 22: “the S&P 500 closed Friday at a fresh record high”

CORROBORATED

Multiple web search results from different dates in 2026 (April 16, May 1, June 1) report the S&P 500 hitting fresh record highs, including a specific mention of a record close to begin May trading.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — E-mini S&P, often abbreviated to "E-mini" (despite the existence of many other E-mini contracts) and designated by the commodity ticker symbol ES, is a stock market index futures contract traded on th…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mini_S&P

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+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 23: “Berkshire Cash as of March 31: $397.4 billion”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.