Abel Reshapes Berkshire Hathaway's Investment Portfolio
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: Apr 20 2026
0mins
Should l Buy V?
Source: CNBC
- Portfolio Restructuring: New CEO Greg Abel is swiftly reshaping Berkshire Hathaway's investment portfolio by selling stocks associated with former manager Todd Combs, demonstrating his control over the approximately $300 billion portfolio.
- Management Changes: Following Combs' departure at the end of 2025, Abel is unlikely to replace him, with Ted Weschler continuing to manage about 6% of the portfolio, indicating a preference for maintaining the existing management structure.
- Core Holdings Strategy: In his annual letter, Abel emphasized a focus on core holdings such as Apple, American Express, Coca-Cola, and Moody's, which are expected to compound value over decades, reflecting a long-term investment strategy.
- Amazon Stake Reduction: Berkshire nearly eliminated 80% of its stake in Amazon in Q4 2025, with market speculation linking this decision to Combs' investment style, raising further questions about the company's investment direction.
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Analyst Views on V
Wall Street analysts forecast V stock price to rise
25 Analyst Rating
23 Buy
2 Hold
0 Sell
Strong Buy
Current: 318.790
Low
330.00
Averages
406.59
High
450.00
Current: 318.790
Low
330.00
Averages
406.59
High
450.00
About V
Visa Inc. is a global payments technology company. It facilitates global commerce and money movement across more than 200 countries and territories among a global set of consumers, merchants, financial institutions and government entities through technologies. It operates through the Payment Services segment. It provides transaction processing services (primarily authorization, clearing and settlement) to its financial institution and merchant clients through VisaNet, its proprietary advanced transaction processing network. It offers a range of Visa-branded payment products that its clients, including nearly 14,500 financial institutions, use to develop and offer payment solutions or services, including credit, debit, prepaid and cash access programs for individual, business and government account holders. It also provides value-added services to its clients, including issuing solutions, acceptance solutions, risk and identity solutions, open banking solutions and advisory services.
About the author
Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
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- Transaction Volume Growth: Visa's transaction volume rose 9% year-over-year in fiscal Q2 2026, indicating resilient consumer spending despite rising energy prices due to geopolitical tensions and concerns about a global recession.
- Revenue and Earnings: The adjusted earnings per share increased by 20% year-over-year, while revenue grew by 17%, reflecting Visa's benefit from the ongoing shift from cash to card payments, with e-commerce growth suggesting ample room for future expansion.
- Cross-Border Performance: Visa's cross-border transaction volume increased by 12% year-over-year, demonstrating the company's strong growth capabilities both domestically and internationally, despite global uncertainties, highlighting the resilience of its global business.
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- Broad Agenda: The summit is expected to cover a wide range of topics, including trade, artificial intelligence, export controls, Taiwan, and the Iran war, indicating a desire to ease tensions through dialogue after recent escalations.
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- Enhanced Security: This technology leverages advanced EMV cryptography and Visa's Chip Authenticate service, providing security that surpasses traditional SMS verification, ensuring each authentication is highly fraud-resistant, thereby increasing trust among financial institutions.
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- Value-Added Services Growth: Visa's value-added services (VAS) grew by 27% year-over-year, while Mastercard's increased by 22%, indicating that both companies are diversifying their business models and reducing reliance on transactions, thereby enhancing long-term profitability.
- Cross-Border Payment Expansion: Both companies continue to grow in the cross-border payment sector, which is a high-margin area providing them with additional profit opportunities, especially as international travel and digital payments become more prevalent.
- Stablecoin Strategy Differences: Visa aims to serve as a key interoperability layer between stablecoins and traditional financial systems, while Mastercard is focusing on building its own stablecoin infrastructure through its $1.8 billion acquisition of BVNK, showcasing their differing approaches to stablecoins.
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- JPMorgan Chase Asset Scale: With total assets of $3.7 trillion, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the U.S., significantly surpassing its nearest competitor, Bank of America, which has $2.6 trillion, underscoring its stability and importance in the U.S. financial system.
- Progressive Insurance Performance: In the first quarter, Progressive's net premiums written increased by 6% year-over-year, and earnings per share rose from $4.37 to $4.80, demonstrating strong performance in the insurance market despite concerns about a softening industry.
- Economic Cycle Impact: All three companies excel in their respective fields, with Visa and JPMorgan Chase benefiting from economic expansion, while Progressive maintains competitiveness in the insurance sector through its profitable model, reflecting the resilience of the financial industry.
See More
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- Transaction Volume Growth: Visa's transaction volume rose 9% year-over-year in fiscal Q2 2026, indicating resilient consumer spending despite rising energy prices due to geopolitical tensions and concerns about a global recession.
- Revenue and Earnings: The adjusted earnings per share increased by 20% year-over-year, while revenue grew by 17%, reflecting Visa's benefit from the ongoing shift from cash to card payments, with e-commerce growth suggesting ample room for future expansion.
- Cross-Border Performance: Visa's cross-border transaction volume increased by 12% year-over-year, demonstrating the company's strong growth capabilities both domestically and internationally, despite global uncertainties, highlighting the resilience of its global business.
- Stock Buyback and Innovation: Management's buyback of 25 million shares reflects a shareholder-friendly approach, while the stablecoin card program, with 160 programs worldwide and nearly 200% year-over-year payment volume growth, provides a new growth engine for the future.
See More
Markets Hit New Highs as Tech Stocks Surge
- Tech Stocks Surge: Stocks like Lumentum, Coherent, Corning, Western Digital, Micron, Seagate, Qualcomm, and Qnity Electronics have all risen over 5%, indicating strong market confidence in the tech sector, which may drive overall market gains further.
- Energy Stocks Rise: Energy stocks increased alongside oil prices after President Trump indicated challenges to the Iran ceasefire, reflecting market sensitivity to energy price fluctuations that could impact consumer spending and overall economic growth.
- Consumer Confidence Dips: Consumer-related stocks, including TJX Companies and Nike, faced declines, highlighting investor anxiety over the potential economic pressures from rising energy prices, which could dampen consumer spending.
- CPI Report Expectations: The upcoming Consumer Price Index report is expected to show a significant month-over-month increase, with economists predicting a 0.59% rise from March, which may prompt government actions to alleviate economic burdens on consumers, further influencing market sentiment.
See More
Trump Invites Top Executives for China Trip
- Executive Delegation: President-elect Trump has invited top executives, including Tesla's Elon Musk and Apple's Tim Cook, to join his trip to China, aiming to enhance U.S.-China business cooperation through high-level engagement.
- Broad Agenda: The summit is expected to cover a wide range of topics, including trade, artificial intelligence, export controls, Taiwan, and the Iran war, indicating a desire to ease tensions through dialogue after recent escalations.
- Business Deal Expectations: Trump hopes to secure a series of business deals and purchase agreements during the visit, which, if successful, could enhance U.S. companies' competitiveness in the Chinese market and foster bilateral economic relations.
- Diverse Executive List: The delegation includes executives from various sectors, such as Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone and Jane Fraser of Citigroup, reflecting U.S. companies' commitment to the Chinese market and willingness to collaborate.
See More
Visa and Keyno Redefine Digital Identity Verification
- Innovation in Identity Verification: Visa's collaboration with Keyno introduces Tap to Confirm and Tap to Activate technology, first deployed with Fidelity Bank (Bahamas), allowing users to verify identity or activate new cards simply by tapping, significantly enhancing user experience and reducing verification complexity.
- Enhanced Security: This technology leverages advanced EMV cryptography and Visa's Chip Authenticate service, providing security that surpasses traditional SMS verification, ensuring each authentication is highly fraud-resistant, thereby increasing trust among financial institutions.
- Significant Cost Efficiency: By reducing reliance on bank call centers, Visa's solution accelerates digital onboarding and card activation processes while significantly lowering operational costs, which is expected to save banks substantial customer service expenses.
- Global Expansion Plans: Following the successful pilot with Fidelity, Visa plans to roll out Tap to Confirm technology globally by 2026, further solidifying its leadership position in the digital payments space and promoting a secure, convenient online transaction experience.
See More
Analysis of Visa and Mastercard's Market Performance
- Financial Performance Comparison: Both Visa and Mastercard reported strong financial results in their latest earnings, with Visa's revenue growing 17% year-over-year while Mastercard's non-GAAP net income increased by 20%, highlighting their competitive advantages in different areas.
- Value-Added Services Growth: Visa's value-added services (VAS) grew by 27% year-over-year, while Mastercard's increased by 22%, indicating that both companies are diversifying their business models and reducing reliance on transactions, thereby enhancing long-term profitability.
- Cross-Border Payment Expansion: Both companies continue to grow in the cross-border payment sector, which is a high-margin area providing them with additional profit opportunities, especially as international travel and digital payments become more prevalent.
- Stablecoin Strategy Differences: Visa aims to serve as a key interoperability layer between stablecoins and traditional financial systems, while Mastercard is focusing on building its own stablecoin infrastructure through its $1.8 billion acquisition of BVNK, showcasing their differing approaches to stablecoins.
See More
Investment Opportunities in Financial Stocks
- Visa User Growth: As of the end of 2025, Visa's payment credentials reached 4.9 billion, an increase of 300 million from the previous year, highlighting its leadership in the global credit card network and its critical role in economic growth.
- JPMorgan Chase Asset Scale: With total assets of $3.7 trillion, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the U.S., significantly surpassing its nearest competitor, Bank of America, which has $2.6 trillion, underscoring its stability and importance in the U.S. financial system.
- Progressive Insurance Performance: In the first quarter, Progressive's net premiums written increased by 6% year-over-year, and earnings per share rose from $4.37 to $4.80, demonstrating strong performance in the insurance market despite concerns about a softening industry.
- Economic Cycle Impact: All three companies excel in their respective fields, with Visa and JPMorgan Chase benefiting from economic expansion, while Progressive maintains competitiveness in the insurance sector through its profitable model, reflecting the resilience of the financial industry.
See More
