Berkshire Hathaway has emerged as one of the top-performing stocks of 2025, standing resilient in a year that has proven challenging for many prominent companies. The investment holding company, headed by famously successful investor Warren Buffett, is currently among the top 10% of large-cap leaders in the U.S. stock market. In fact, over the past five years, it has returned an astonishing 185%, more than double the S&P 500.
In the face of extreme short-term volatility since President Donald Trump’s inauguration, Berkshire Hathaway has tripled market performance over the past year, solidifying its reputation as a reliable investment choice. The upcoming annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, is drawing heightened attention to Buffett’s stock, particularly because it continues to defy market trends.
Berkshire Hathaway forms the basis for much of the new VistaShares Target 15 Berkshire Select Income ETF just launched. It accounts for 10.6% of the fund’s total holdings. The Rolling Stone ETF’s goal is to provide investors with a deep-cut, high-voltage, 15% annual income. It accomplishes this by writing call options on the underlying equities and paying its shareholders a 1.25% monthly dividend. The ETF’s performance is closely tied to Berkshire Hathaway and Buffett’s stock selections, which include major holdings such as Apple, American Express, Kroger, VeriSign, Bank of America, Citigroup, Visa, and Coca-Cola.
In the face of Berkshire Hathaway’s exceptional performance, it has been more or less publicly shamed for its not paying dividends. Buffett is known for refusing to pay out dividends. He thinks reinvesting all that cash will create more shareholder value over the long term. This approach has long been understood to sulk over investors missing out on heavy income from their investment.
Warren Buffett maintains a steadfast commitment to equities, emphasizing in his recent statements that investors “can rest assured that we will forever deploy a substantial majority of their money in equities — mostly American equities.” This hard-nosed focus on quality investments has played well for the Administration’s ‘all-in’ approach, especially as market dynamics have begun to change.
Adam Patti, a financial expert, remarked on Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio: “It’s a really well-balanced portfolio chosen by the most successful investor the world has ever seen.” He further explained that the market has been momentum-driven for the past several years. Now all that’s changed, with quality now being defined by exposure, and this has been the year of Berkshire Hathaway which is up over 30% this year.
As we get closer to the annual shareholder meeting, attention around Berkshire Hathaway is increasing. Income investors would love to follow in Warren Buffett’s footsteps, investing in the same companies that he does, but need the income now. Patti captured this sentiment succinctly: “Who doesn’t want to invest like Buffett, but with income?”
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