Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B) closed at $229.24 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.09% move from the prior day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.47% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 0.4%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.87%.

Coming into today, shares of the company had lost 0.81% in the past month. In that same time, the Finance sector lost 0.11%, while the S&P 500 gained 1.43%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from BRK.B as it approaches its next earnings report date. In that report, analysts expect BRK.B to post earnings of $2.53 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 9.05%.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for BRK.B should also be noted by investors. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. BRK.B currently has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

Investors should also note BRK.B's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 20.88. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 13.97, which means BRK.B is trading at a premium to the group.

It is also worth noting that BRK.B currently has a PEG ratio of 2.98. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Insurance - Property and Casualty industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.76 as of yesterday's close.

The Insurance - Property and Casualty industry is part of the Finance sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 105, which puts it in the top 42% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

To follow BRK.B in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.

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