Beta is the sensitivity of the expected excess asset returns to the expected excess market returns. As of today (2024-04-25), Berkshire Hathaway's Beta is 0.85.
Berkshire Hathaway Beta Historical Data
The historical data trend for Berkshire Hathaway's Beta can be seen below:
* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD. * For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.
Competitive Comparison of Berkshire Hathaway's Beta
For the Insurance - Diversified subindustry, Berkshire Hathaway's Beta, along with its competitors' market caps and Beta data, can be viewed below:
* Competitive companies are chosen from companies within the same industry, with headquarter located in same country, with closest market capitalization; x-axis shows the market cap, and y-axis shows the term value; the bigger the dot, the larger the market cap. Note that "N/A" values will not show up in the chart.
Berkshire Hathaway's Beta Distribution in the Insurance Industry
For the Insurance industry and Financial Services sector, Berkshire Hathaway's Beta distribution charts can be found below:
* The bar in red indicates where Berkshire Hathaway's Beta falls into.
Berkshire Hathaway Beta Calculation
Beta is the sensitivity of the expected excess asset returns to the expected excess market returns. A stock's beta can be calculated by dividing the product of the covariance of the individual stock's returns and the market's returns by the variance of the market's returns over a specified period. Basically, GuruFocus uses the returns calculated over three-year period.
Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A) Beta Explanation
Beta is a measure of the volatility, or systematic risk, of a security or a portfolio in comparison to the market as a whole. We usually compare beta to 1. A beta of 1 indicates that the security's price will move with the market. A beta of less than 1 means that the security will be less volatile than the market. A beta of greater than 1 indicates that the security's price will be more volatile than the market.
Beta is primarily used in the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) to calculate the Cost of Equity, which can be used in the calculation of WACC %. The formula of Cost of Equity is:
Cost of Equity = Risk-Free Rate of Return + Beta of Asset * (Expected Return of the Market - Risk-Free Rate of Return)
Berkshire Hathaway Beta Related Terms
Thank you for viewing the detailed overview of Berkshire Hathaway's Beta provided by GuruFocus.com. Please click on the following links to see related term pages.
Berkshire Hathaway (Berkshire Hathaway) Business Description
Berkshire Hathaway is a holding company with a wide array of subsidiaries engaged in diverse activities. The firm's core business segment is insurance, run primarily through Geico, Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group, and Berkshire Hathaway Primary Group. Berkshire has used the excess cash thrown off from these and its other operations over the years to acquire Burlington Northern Santa Fe (railroad), Berkshire Hathaway Energy (utilities and energy distributors), and the firms that make up its manufacturing, service, and retailing operations (which include five of Berkshire's largest noninsurance pretax earnings generators: Precision Castparts, Lubrizol, Clayton Homes, Marmon, and IMC/ISCAR). The conglomerate is unique in that it is run on a completely decentralized basis.
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