A $250 investment can go a long way. If you had invested this sum in Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A +1.14%)(BRK.B +1.20%) back in 1980, you'd have more than $500,000 today.
Time travel isn't possible, but what if you had invested in Berkshire stock more recently? Are shares still rising as fast as they did in 1980?
NYSE: BRK.B
Key Data Points
Is Berkshire stock still beating the market?
Berkshire is a lot bigger today than it was in 1980. Back then, its market cap was under $5 billion. Today, the company is worth nearly $900 billion. Getting bigger, naturally, means growth rates have slowed. After all, it's significantly harder to double in size as a $900 billion company than as a $5 billion company.
For the five-year period between 1993 and 1998, for example, Berkshire shares rose in value by 320%. Over the last five years, however, shares have increased in value by only 91.6%. A $250 investment five years ago would be worth only $476 today. That's still better than what the overall market returned, however. Over the last five years, for instance, the S&P 500 index returned 87.5%.
Berkshire stock isn't beating the market by leaps and bounds anymore, but it's still a high-quality business managed by one of the best investors in history, Warren Buffett. Just know that a $250 investment is no longer even possible. The company's B shares -- its cheapest share class -- now trade at around $400. If you can meet that minimum investment, putting the money into Berkshire still makes a ton of long-term sense.
