Berkshire Bought New Stocks, Shed Some Big Names in First Quarter Without Buffett as CEO

Berkshire Hathaway disclosed new first-quarter stakes in Delta Air Lines, with 39.8 million shares, and Macy's, with roughly 3 million shares, while more than tripling its Alphabet position to about 58 million shares. It also eliminated holdings in Amazon, Mastercard, UnitedHealth and Visa, among others, signaling a meaningful portfolio rotation under new CEO Greg Abel. The moves pushed Delta up 3% and Macy's more than 5% in after-hours trading, but the overall filing is more of a portfolio rebalancing update than a broad market catalyst.

Analysis

The market should read this less as a retail dividend story and more as a signal that Berkshire is rotating toward simpler, more directly cash-generative exposures while trimming businesses with either regulatory overhang or lower strategic control. That creates a relative winner set in capital-light, cash-returning franchises and a relative loser set in names where investor confidence depends on stable reimbursement, payment flows, or platform dominance rather than near-term earnings visibility. The larger move into Alphabet is the cleanest read-through: Berkshire appears more comfortable owning durable ad/AI optionality than paying up for financial/healthcare defensiveness that can re-rate lower if policy noise rises.

The Delta/Macy’s buys are more interesting for what they imply about cycle timing. If this is an Abel-era preference for more explicit value and near-term free-cash-flow visibility, it suggests the bar for adding to airlines and distressed consumer names has fallen, which can support a short-lived multiple re-rating in beaten-down cyclicals. But the second-order risk is that these are exactly the kinds of names that can work for 1-2 quarters and then give back gains if fuel, demand, or margin assumptions deteriorate; the market is likely to front-run the “Buffett proxy trade” and then fade it on any operational miss.

The cleaner contrarian takeaway is that the exits from healthcare and payment rails may be overstated as a negative on the sector and understated as a negative on Berkshire’s prior capital-allocation process. If Berkshire is de-emphasizing those positions after a change in decision-makers, the opportunity is likely in the relative trade, not the absolute one: companies with the best earnings revision durability should hold up, while names that depend on passive ownership support could underperform on flows alone. The biggest medium-term risk is that this gets interpreted as a governance transition premium fade, which could weigh on BRK.B for months if Abel is forced to prove continuity rather than skill.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Go long GOOGL vs short MA in a 3-6 month pair: Berkshire’s larger commitment to Alphabet versus exit from payments is a relative signal; target 10-15% spread capture if AI/ad monetization holds and payments multiples compress.
• Buy DAL on a tactical 4-8 week basis only if fuel does not spike further; use a tight stop because the trade is highly reflexive to crude and tends to mean-revert fast if margins are revised down.
• Avoid chasing M after the after-hours pop; if you want retail exposure, wait 2-4 weeks for the post-index/flow fade and look for a lower entry with better asymmetry.
• Short UNH on any rebound into strength over the next 1-2 weeks, with the thesis that passive-owner reduction plus ongoing policy scrutiny can keep the stock multiple capped even if fundamentals are stable.
• Maintain a market-neutral stance on BRK.B short-term; the stock likely remains range-bound until Abel proves a repeatable capital-allocation framework over 1-2 more filings.