Greg Abel Reports Saturday Morning. Berkshire Stock Just Hit a 52-Week High and Is Still Behind the S&P 500 This Year.

Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRKA)(NYSE: BRKB) posts its second-quarter earnings release and its 10-Q filing on Saturday, Aug. 8, at about 7 a.m. Central time, according to the company's announcement. There's no earnings call and no presentation. The filing is the whole event.

It's also the second quarterly report of the Greg Abel era. Abel took over as CEO on Jan. 1, with Warren Buffett staying on as chairman, and his first months have been busy ones. Berkshire bought back stock in March for the first time on his watch, and in late July it closed an $8.5 billion acquisition.

The stock heads into the weekend in a strange spot, too. As of this writing, it trades at about $525, having just touched a fresh 52-week high. Yet it's up only about 4.5% for 2026, while the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) has gained about 13%.

Here's what I'll be reading for on Saturday morning.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

The buyback table

Berkshire's first-quarter 10-Q showed the company repurchased no stock in January or February. Then, in March, it bought back 33 Class A shares and 431,462 Class B shares -- about $234 million in total.

That's modest by Berkshire's standards, but notable all the same. Under the company's repurchase program, buybacks happen only when the CEO, after consulting the chairman, believes the price is "below Berkshire's intrinsic value, conservatively determined." Put another way, Abel looked at the stock this spring and decided it was cheap.

Saturday's filing carries the buyback table for April through June, and it should show whether March was a one-off or the start of a steady program. The filing's cover page typically lists shares outstanding as of a date in late July, too, which may extend the trail a few weeks past the quarter's end.

The cash before the Taylor Morrison deal

Abel's most recent big move came after the quarter ended. On July 24, Berkshire completed its acquisition of homebuilder Taylor Morrison for $72.50 per share in cash (an equity value of about $6.8 billion and an enterprise value of about $8.5 billion).

"This best-in-class national homebuilder will lead our vision for a unified site-built homebuilding operation," Abel said in the announcement of the deal's completion.

Because the purchase closed in July, its cash outlay will land in the third quarter's books. But Saturday's balance sheet still matters: It will show the resources Abel was working from.

Berkshire held about $397 billion in cash and Treasury bills at the end of March, up from about $373 billion at the end of 2025. The new filing will show what happened to that pile before he started spending it. And the investment tables will show how the stock portfolio changed during the quarter.

Operating earnings, minus the noise

Berkshire's first-quarter operating earnings rose 18% year over year to $11.3 billion -- a measure of the strength Abel inherited. Insurance underwriting profit climbed to $1.7 billion from $1.3 billion a year earlier, BNSF railroad earnings rose 13% to $1.4 billion, and the energy business contributed $1.1 billion, little changed from a year earlier. Insurance float (the premium money Berkshire holds and invests before claims come due) also grew about $500 million from year-end, to about $176.9 billion.

Investors should pay less attention to the headline net earnings figure on Saturday. After all, accounting rules force Berkshire to run unrealized swings in its stock portfolio through the income statement, and the company itself tells shareholders those swings are usually meaningless for judging the business. Operating earnings are the line worth watching, and a second straight quarter of double-digit growth would be more evidence that the businesses Abel now runs are performing.

So, is the stock a buy before the report?

I think so. At about 15 times earnings, Berkshire trades at a discount to the broader market despite boasting an unusually diversified profit with substantial long-term potential. Further, the stock lagging the S&P 500 this year, while operating earnings grew 18%, arguably makes shares more attractive, not less.

Of course, Saturday could bring a soft quarter. Insurance results can swing sharply from period to period, and Berkshire's size means growth will be lumpy. But I like the stock going into this report. And if the filing shows Abel stepped up the buybacks, that would be one more vote of confidence from the person who knows the company best.

Daniel Sparks and his clients have positions in Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.