Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.B) portfolio has generated an annualized return of about 20% per year since Buffett took the helm some 60 years ago.
This year, however, the value-heavy portfolio has underperformed the overall market. In the first half of 2025, the portfolio had unrealized investment losses of $5.9 billion. Most of that came in the first quarter, as the conglomerate posted $1.5 billion in investment gains in Q2 alone.
It should be noted that these are unrealized losses, as stock prices fluctuate over time. They only become realized losses if he cashes out with a loss. In fact, in the first half, Buffett and Berkshire had $6.6 billion in realized gains, down from $58 billion in the first half of 2024.
But the unrealized losses do indicate that for this 6-month snapshot, Buffett’s stocks have struggled. Roughly 30 of the 42 stocks in the $258 billion portfolio have posted gains, year-to-date (YTD).
Here are the top 5 Berkshire Hathaway performers, YTD, among those stocks listed on U.S. exchanges.
- Liberty Live Group Series C (NASDAQ:LLYVK): +46.4%
- Verisign (NASDAQ:VRSN): +38.7%
- Allegion (NYSE:ALLE): +34.9%
- HEICO (NYSE:HEI): +34.5%
- Capital One Financial (NYSE:COF): +27.7%
There are actually two different Liberty Live Group stocks, Liberty Live Group Series C and Liberty Live Group Series A (NASDAQ:LLYVA), which is +45.2% YTD. They are tracking stocks, issued by the holding company, Liberty Media. They are designed to represent a subset or the larger company, in this case, Live Nation. They are essentially the same, which is why both aren’t listed. Series C is a non-voting stock, while Series A is a voting stock.
And the worst performers are …
Before getting to the worst performing stocks, it is important to call out the five stocks that have been the best performers over time. Here are the top five Buffett stocks based on their 10-year average annualized returns.
- HEICO: +28.7%
- Amazon: +24.0%
- Apple: +23.6%
- Mastercard (NYSE:MA): +20.4%
- DR Horton (NYSE:DHI): +18.1%
In addition, about 12 of the stocks in the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio have negative returns year-to-date. Here are the five worst Buffett stocks so far this year.
- Constellation Brands (NYSE:STZ): -39.8%
- UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH): -32.0%
- Charter Communications (NASDAQ:CHTR): -22.4%
- Diageo (NYSE:DEO): -22.2%
- Kraft Heinz (NYSE:KHC): -15.4%
Over the past 10 years, the worst performing Berkshire Hathaway stocks on an average annualized basis are:
- Liberty Latin America (NASDAQ:LILA): -14.2%
- Kraft Heinz: -10.2%
- Sirius XM Holdings (NASDAQ:SIRI): -5.1%
- Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY): -3.6%
- Diageo: -1.2%
While past performance is not indicative of future returns, it does indicate which Buffett stocks have done well. In that sense, the 10-year results may be notable than the shorter term YTD returns, because it shows long-term consistency.
