These Are All of the Stocks Greg Abel, Warren Buffett's Successor, Dumped in the First Quarter

Berkshire Hathaway’s first-quarter 13F under Greg Abel showed 16 portfolio exits, mostly small positions including Visa and Mastercard, while the portfolio remains concentrated in 29 holdings excluding Japan. The core Buffett-style names are still intact, with Apple, American Express, Coca-Cola, and Moody’s remaining among the top positions. The filing suggests continuity in Berkshire’s equity strategy rather than a major shift, though the stock edged higher on the news.

Analysis

This is less a radical pivot than a deliberate cleanup of the low-conviction “satellite” book, which should improve capital efficiency and make the remaining portfolio more beta-sensitive to the few names with true underwriting confidence. The immediate market read is positive for Alphabet and Delta because the former has become the clear “tech with a moat” exception in a framework that is otherwise still anti-fragile, while the latter signals willingness to own cyclicality only where the balance sheet and route economics can withstand a downturn. The bigger implication is that legacy payment rails, diversified brokers, and smaller specialty positions are no longer being treated as durable core holdings; that removes a marginal source of passive support for those names.

The portfolio shrink also increases the importance of follow-on adds versus further trims. If this is the first clean expression of the new regime, the next 1-2 quarters should show whether the book becomes a three-pillar structure around brand/consumer, financial franchises, and a small set of high-quality compounders. That matters for flows: a more concentrated Berkshire can trade with more “key man” optionality, and any underperformance in the top holdings will now matter more to reported equity returns than it did under the broader book.

The main contrarian miss is that selling smaller positions is not necessarily bearish on those businesses; it may simply reflect portfolio construction and tax/administrative simplification. Still, the names cut are precisely where the second-order benefit had been capped, so their removal likely reduces near-term incremental demand. For the sold payment names, the risk is not the headline sale itself but the signaling effect: if Berkshire is no longer a structural holder, it can remove a widely watched quality bid during volatility.

For risk, watch the next filing cycle and any capital deployment into banks or additional tech; that will tell us whether this is a one-time rebalancing or the start of a more permanent style shift. The clearest catalyst for reversal is a broad market drawdown that forces Berkshire back into capital preservation mode and reopens the door to incremental purchases in beaten-down franchises.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Go long GOOGL on a 3-6 month horizon: the filing reinforces its status as the highest-conviction tech exception; use any post-news dip to build, targeting a 12-18% upside band with downside limited to multiple compression rather than business deterioration.
• Fade MA/V on a relative basis versus AXP over the next 1-2 quarters: the sale removes a prominent quality-holder overhang, and the cleaner Berkshire endorsement now sits with the more diversified financial exposure; structure as long AXP / short MA or V with a 6-9 month catalyst window.
• Add DAL on weakness for a 6-12 month trade: the move suggests confidence in airline economics, but the better setup is buying after any macro scare rather than chasing the immediate pop; upside is meaningful if fuel stays contained and capacity discipline persists.
• Underweight ALLE/AON/CHTR/DEO/DPZ/POOL baskets for 1-3 months: these names lose an incremental signaling bid and lack a near-term catalyst to re-rate; use rallies to trim or short a basket against BRK.B strength.
• Maintain a small long BRK.B versus SPY as a low-volatility quality sleeve, but expect less upside from the filing itself; the trade works only if concentration improves capital allocation enough to offset reduced diversification.