Everyone Is Watching Greg Abel. But Another Berkshire Hathaway Stock Picker Is Quietly Winning in 2026.

Berkshire Hathaway’s post-Buffett portfolio stewardship shows continued strength: DaVita shares are up over 102% YTD in 2026, helped by strong results and greater investor appreciation for aggressive share repurchases, while SiriusXM is up over 50% YTD on better-than-expected performance and bullish guidance updates. The article argues that even with Greg Abel holding the most sway and pivoting toward tech (e.g., Alphabet-related private placement), Ted Weschler’s selected value/value-adjacent winners suggest Buffett-style investing hasn’t been abandoned. Overall, the news is a supportive read-through for Berkshire’s long-term compounding positioning, but without new fundamental company metrics beyond stock performance drivers.

Analysis

The market implication is less about the individual names and more about the signal that Berkshire’s capital-allocation machine has not become a one-man transition risk. That should cap any “Buffett left, multiple should de-rate” narrative in BRK.B over the next 1-3 months, especially if investors see continuity in patient, buyback-friendly, value-oriented deployment. The more important second-order effect is that Berkshire can still act as a long-duration capital sponsor for neglected mid-caps; that supports names with self-help plus repurchase optionality, while raising the hurdle for high-quality compounders that no longer have a scarcity premium around them.

DVA’s move looks more like a buyback/float-scarcity squeeze than a pure fundamentals story. If Berkshire remains a steady holder, the stock can keep re-rating as incremental repurchases shrink the public float, but that also increases downside if buybacks slow or reimbursement pressure emerges. SIRI’s rerating is more fragile: it is highly dependent on guidance credibility and continued free-cash-flow conversion, so the rally can extend for months if execution holds, but it is vulnerable to any monetization hiccup or ad/ARPU disappointment.

The contrarian take is that the article may be over-crediting Weschler for outcomes that were already set in motion by capital returns and valuation mean reversion. The bigger structural question is whether Abel’s tech tilt gradually changes Berkshire from a “cheap cash compounder” into a more market-sensitive mega-cap holder; that would help GOOGL tactically, but could also reduce the conglomerate’s defensive profile. Near term, the main falsifier is a BRK.B underperformance versus the S&P on any sign of succession friction or a publicized Weschler departure.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Maintain a tactical long BRK.B on pullbacks over the next 1-3 months; thesis is succession continuity should prevent multiple compression. Falsify if BRK.B underperforms the S&P 500 by >5% over a month on no market stress.
• Consider a small long DVA / short UNH pair for 1-3 months: DVA benefits from buyback scarcity and cleaner self-help optics, while UNH remains exposed to sentiment overhang and multiple skepticism. Exit if DVA stops repurchasing aggressively or UNH prints a clean guidance beat.
• Trade SIRI only as a momentum/self-help name: buy on confirmed guidance raise or hold above recent breakout levels; otherwise avoid chasing. Upside is a continued valuation rerate toward peers, but downside is high if FCF conversion slips.
• Use GOOGL as the cleaner expression of Berkshire’s tech pivot, not NVDA: long GOOGL on any weakness if Berkshire’s capital allocation is read as validation of durable cash compounding. Falsify on ad growth deceleration or AI capex pressure compressing margins.
• No aggressive short on MA/V from this item alone; the article does not create a fundamental hit. If anything, the relevant watch item is whether Berkshire continues rotating away from financials, which would be a sentiment headwind rather than an earnings catalyst.