Berkshire Hathaway shares climbed to their highest level since Warren Buffett said in May 2025 that he would step down as chief executive, as investors responded to stronger-than-expected quarterly results and signs that successor Greg Abel is putting the conglomerate’s cash to work. Berkshire said cash and equivalents fell to $364.7 billion on June 30 from a record $380.2 billion three months earlier after it repurchased $4.5 billion of its own stock and bought $23.5 billion of other equities in the second quarter, including a $10 billion stake in Alphabet. The company also spent at least $10.1 billion more in July on additional buybacks and the acquisition of home builder Taylor Morrison. Second-quarter operating profit rose 16% to $12.98 billion, while net income more than doubled to $25.67 billion on paper gains from investments such as Alphabet and Apple, and revenue increased 10% after more than two years of mostly stagnant growth. Analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods and UBS raised their share price targets, though views diverged as KBW kept an underperform rating and UBS maintained a buy.