CNBC: Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Blasts Benchmark S&P Over Decade

Published: Thursday, 31 Dec 2009 | 4:17 PM ET


By: Alex Crippen

Executive Producer

Shares of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway far outperformed the benchmark S&P 500 stock index over the decade of the 2000s, with a gain of 76.8 percent.

The S&P dropped 24.1 percent, excluding dividends, over the same ten-year period ending today (Thursday.)

Buffett beat the S&P in six of the 10 calendar years, but 2009 was not a winning year for the Oracle.

Berkshire did manage a small gain of 2.7 percent this year, but the S&P’s surged 23.5 percent, excluding dividends That ends a three-year winning streak for Buffett & Co.

It’s the S&P’s biggest annual winning margin since the tech bubble days of 1999 when the benchmark beat Berkshire by over 39 percentage points. (Berkshire won by double-digits the next three years.)

Berkshire Hathaway Stock vs. S&P 500 Index

Annual Gains
Year BRK.A Close BRK Pct. Change S&P Close S&P Pct. Change
2009 99,200 +2.7% 1115.10 +23.5%
2008 96,600 -31.8% 903.25 -38.5%
2007 141,600 +28.7% 1468.36 +3.5%
2006 109,990 +24.1% 1418.30 +13.6%
2005 88,620 +0.8% 1248.29 +3.0%
2004 87,900 +4.3% 1211.92 +9.0%
2003 84,250 +15.8% 1111.92 +26.4%
2002 72,750 -3.8% 879.82 -23.4%
2001 75,600 +6.5% 1148.08 -13.0%
2000 71,000 +26.6% 1320.28 -10.1%
1999 56,100 -19.9% 1469.25 +19.5%
1998 70,000 +52.2% 1229.23 +26.7%
1997 46,000 +34.9% 970.43 +31.0%
1996 34,100 +6.2% 740.74 +20.3%
1995 32,100 +57.4% 615.93 +34.1%
1994 20,400 +25.0% 459.27 -1.5%
1993 16,325 +38.9% 466.45 +7.1%
1992 11,750 +29.8% 435.71 +4.5%
1991 9,050 +35.6% 417.09 +26.3%
1990 6,675 -23.1% 330.22 -5.8%
1989 8,675 +84.6% 350.67 +26.3%
1988 4,700 +59.3% 277.72 +12.4%
1987 2,950 +4.6% 247.08 +2.0%
1986 2,820 +14.2% 242.17 +14.6%
1985 2,470 +93.7% 211.28 +26.3%
1984 1,275 -2.7% 167.24 +1.4%
1983 1,310 +69.0% 164.93 +17.3%
1982 775 +38.4% 140.64 +14.8%
1981 560 +31.8% 122.55 -9.7%
1980 425 +32.8% 135.76 +25.8%
1979 320 +110.5% 107.94 +12.3%
1978 152 +10.1% 96.11 +1.1%
1977 138 +55.1% 95.10 -11.5%
Average +27.7% +8.8%

Current Berkshire stock prices:

Class A: [BRK.A 99200.00 UNCH (0) ]

Class B: [BRK.B 3286.00 -3.6499 (-0.11%) ]



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