November is shaping up to be quite a month around these parts.
(1) Tomorrow morning, bright and early, Berkshire Hathaway will release its Q3 2026 earnings report. And, as usual, I’m checking share repurchases first. Greg Abel and co. seemed to be buying back stock at a fairly rapid clip in July (as calculated from the previous 10-Q), so I’ll be interested to see if they kept the shopping spree going.
The recent run in Berkshire’s stock price — it has hit a new all-time high just about every day this week — didn’t really kick into gear until October, so one would think there were other opportunities to repurchase more shares in August and September.
(2) On November 16, Berkshire’s 13-F filing will reveal which stocks were bought and sold during the third quarter.
(3) And, finally, Warren Buffett’s annual Thanksgiving message could come at any time. Last year’s eight-pager arrived on November 10 and offered business, philanthropic, and personal observations to Berkshire shareholders. In it, he also promised to continue this new holiday tradition in future years.
I’m hoping he sheds more light on his decision to step down as chairman and what, if any, effect that has had on Berkshire’s day-to-day operations. Does he still come into the office every day? Is he still making investment decisions? If Berkshire opts to buy the dip on Alphabet — more on that below — who pulls the trigger?
All in all, this is my kind of month.
Other items of interest from the Berkshire Hathaway orbit…
Berkshire Hathaway purchased 924,281 more shares of Sirius XM for $26.9 million — and now owns 37.4% of the satellite radio provider. Berkshire started buying the day after Sirius XM’s quarterly earnings showed its core subscription business finally stabilizing. Self-pay net additions were positive at 5,000 — ahead of the company’s own expectations and a 45,000 swing to the good from a year ago. Churn improved to 1.5%, revenue per user held steady, and average listening time jumped 5%. As a result, Sirius XM raised full-year guidance for revenue, earnings, and free cash flow.
Before Berkshire’s own third quarter earnings drop tomorrow morning, one of its top-performing subsidiaries handed us a small appetizer. Brooks Running reported 12% revenue growth through the first three quarters of the year — with the Americas and Asia-Pacific regions each up 9% and EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) surging an impressive 24%. Sales of apparel increased 18%, outrunning 11% growth in footwear.
Q3 itself was the 13th straight quarter of revenue growth for Brooks.
On Tuesday, the Oregon Supreme Court heard oral arguments in James v. PacifiCorp — and the stakes could hardly be higher. This case stems from the catastrophic wildfires in 2020, in which PacifiCorp was allegedly negligent for not powering down its lines in time. A jury originally sided with the plaintiffs, but then the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled that the jury instructions were prejudicial against the utility.