Berkshire’s new boss just shook up the portfolio

New boss, same giant castle — mostly

Berkshire Hathaway’s first quarterly filing under Greg Abel came with a few eyebrow-raisers. The conglomerate cut its stock positions from 42 to 29 in the first quarter, and some of the exits go all the way back to 2011 — which is basically ancient history in market years.

The exits: not exactly pocket change

The headline-grabbers were the complete sales of Visa and Mastercard, two positions Berkshire had held since 2011. It also dumped Amazon, Charter Communications, Domino’s Pizza, and UnitedHealth, while taking a 95% haircut on Constellation Brands.

That’s a pretty loud message if you’re reading tea leaves: Abel is willing to prune hard, even on names that had been sitting comfortably in the portfolio for years. Investors don’t get many clean looks at how a new CEO thinks this early, so this one matters.

The core still looks Buffett-ish

Before you start imagining a full-on Berkshire makeover, the top 10 holdings were basically unchanged. Apple, American Express, Coca-Cola, Bank of America, Chevron, Occidental, Alphabet, Chubb, Moody’s, and Kraft Heinz stayed in the clubhouse.

A few rankings shifted, and Berkshire trimmed Bank of America and Chevron, but the overall lineup still looks like Buffett’s old playbook with a fresh coat of paint. Big picture: Abel may be tweaking the edges, not torching the blueprint — and Berkshire’s mountain of cash still gives it plenty of dry powder if it spots something tastier than Visa and Mastercard.