Warren Buffett Will Be Very Interested in the Answer)

Let’s play a what-if game. Imagine that you plunk, say, $500 in Warren Buffett’s company, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) (NYSE: BRK.B). (Note that Buffett recently retired, and the new CEO is a longtime lieutenant, Greg Abel, in whom Buffett has expressed great confidence.) What would your stake be worth in a decade?

Here’s a look at that question.

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With a recent market value of about $1 trillion, Berkshire Hathaway is a classic blue chip stock. It’s not currently a dividend-paying stock, which is a bit unusual for a well-run company of its size, but some speculate that Abel may well institute a dividend. (The company’s third-quarter report revealed a cash hoard that has reached $382 billion, after all.)

If you invest in Berkshire Hathaway, you’ll be a part owner of many businesses entirely owned by Berkshire, such as GEICO, Benjamin Moore, See’s Candies, and the entire BNSF railroad — and you’ll have a stake in Berkshire’s stock portfolio, too, which features major positions in companies such as Apple, American Express, Coca-Cola, and Bank of America. (Berkshire recently owned 9% of Coca-Cola, for example, and 2% of Apple.)

So what kind of return can you expect from Berkshire over the next 10 years? Here’s how it’s done in the past:

Source: Data from Morningstar.com as of Jan. 29, 2026.

We shouldn’t expect such fat returns every year, though. Remember that the stock market has averaged annual returns of close to 10% over many decades — and Berkshire is no longer a modest-sized and nimble fast-grower.

Still, let’s be a bit conservative and assume that the stock will average a total annual return of, say, 11% over the coming decade — with or without a dividend. If it does, that will boost your stake’s value to $1,420.

Here’s what it will be worth at different growth levels (since we can’t know exactly how the stock — or the market — will do):

Calculations by author.

So — should you invest in Berkshire Hathaway? You could do a lot worse. The shares seem reasonably valued at recent levels, with a recent forward-looking price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 22.37 a bit above its five-year average of 21.27.

The stock may not perform like some popular growth stocks, but it’s likely to drop less in a market pullback, too. Its beta — a measure of volatility — was recently just 0.65, reflecting that if the overall market drops by 10%, Berkshire’s stock would drop by around 6.5%. Even without Buffett at the helm, Berkshire Hathaway has a lot going for it.

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Bank of America is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. American Express is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Selena Maranjian has positions in American Express, Apple, and Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple and Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

What Happens if You Invest $500 in This Stock and Hold It for 10 Years? (Hint: Warren Buffett Will Be Very Interested in the Answer) was originally published by The Motley Fool