Berkshire's mounting cash pile could top $200 billion as Buffett continues selling stock

Berkshire Hathaway's highly scrutinized cash pile could top $200 billion — more than the entire annual gross domestic product of Hungary — amid CEO Warren Buffett's rare sale of some of his favorite stocks.

The Omaha-based conglomerate is likely to say its cash hoard topped the previous record of $189 billion, set in the first quarter, when it reports second-quarter earnings Saturday morning. Berkshire's results come at a time when Buffett has been offloading winning investments in Apple, Bank of America and BYD, leading some to believe the Oracle of Omaha has grown concerned that the bull market is overheated.

"It does look like he wants to de-risk the portfolio a little bit," Bill Stone, chief investment officer at Glenview Trust Company and a Berkshire shareholder, said early in the week. "He's trimming two top holdings and you don't get anything more economically sensitive than the banks. The market seems so sure right now of a soft landing, and maybe he's taking more of a contrarian view."

Berkshire has been a net seller of stocks for six straight quarters. Notably, Buffett trimmed his massive Apple bet by 13% in the first quarter for tax reasons after reaping enormous gains. The selling could have resumed in the second quarter as shares of the iPhone maker jumped 23% in the period.

Meanwhile, in a surprising move, the conglomerate recently started dumping Bank of America shares — its second-biggest holding after Apple. Over the past 12 trading sessions, Berkshire has sold $3.8 billion of the Charlotte-based bank's shares. (The BofA sales began in July and won't be reflected in the second-quarter report.)

Buffett's gigantic war chest has been earning sizeable returns thanks to the jump in Treasury yields over the past two years, but with interest rates set to decline from multiyear highs, his mounting cash pile could once again draw questions. If invested in three-month Treasury bills at about 5%, $200 billion in cash would generate about $10 billion a year, or $2.5 billion a quarter, but those returns are set to decline once the Federal Resewrve starts lowering interest rates.

"It's just a question of how long they are going to sit on it," Andrew Kligerman, TD Cowen's Berkshire analyst, said in an interview, referring to Berkshire's enormous cash pile.

'Things aren't attractive'

Buffett, who turns 94 at the end of the month, confessed at Berkshire's annual meeting in May that he's open to putting more capital to work, but high prices give him pause.

"I think it's a fair assumption that [cash holdings] will probably be about $200 billion at the end of this quarter," the investment icon said at the time. "We'd love to spend it, but we won't spend it unless we think [a business is] doing something that has very little risk and can make us a lot of money... it isn't like I've got a hunger strike or something like that going on. It's just that...things aren't attractive."

Berkshire Hathaway

Weakness in non-insurance

Investors will also closely study the quarterly results for Berkshire's BNSF Railway and Berkshire Hathway Energy utility business, which recently showed signs of weakness. BNSF is grappling with wage increases and revenue declines, while BHE faces pressure from being held liable for damage caused by wildfires.

"The non-insurance side will weigh on the results, whether it's the sluggish volumes in railroad coupled with higher labor costs, or utilities, which could put up a good quarter, but nobody's going to be excited about that just given the liability exposure," said TD Cowen's Kligerman, who recently initiated research coverage of Berkshire with a hold rating.

Conversely, Berkshire's insurance business has been a bright spot, with a 185% year-over-year increase in insurance underwriting earnings in the first quarter.

Shares of Berkshire have rallied more than 21% this year, outperforming the S&P 500's 14% return, through Thursday. The conglomerate's market capitalization has ballooned to $956 billion, close to joining the tiny number of U.S. stocks valued at $1 trillion or more.