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The most expensive stock
Berkshire Hathaway is the most expensive stock listed on U.S. exchanges. At the time of this writing, Berkshire Hathaway stock was trading at $623,000 a share — but that price is for its Class A stock (BRK.A). Retail investors can buy its Class B stock (BRK.B), which is currently trading at just over $400 a share.
» Learn how to buy Berkshire Hathaway stock
The main difference between Berkshire Hathaway’s Class A and Class B shares, aside from their price, is that the Class B shares don’t have as much voting power as the Class A shares. That being said, you’d have to own a very large amount of Berkshire Hathaway stock to have your voting power make much of a difference.
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Why is Berkshire Hathaway stock so expensive?
There are lots of factors that can contribute to a high stock price. One of the biggest reasons why BRK.A is so expensive is because CEO Warren Buffett has decided against a stock split. A stock split is when a company splits its existing stock to create more shares, often resulting in a lower share price.
Another potential reason is that investors simply see value in the company and are willing to pay a premium to own a slice of it, whether that’s based on the company’s actual financial fundamentals or its perceived value. In the case of Berkshire Hathaway, the company has a long history of posting impressive returns. In fact, BRK.A has only finished the year down six times since 1990 — and Buffett is one of the most famous investors of all time.
4 other expensive stocks
Here are a few of the other most expensive stocks on the U.S. market.
1. NVR, Inc. (NVR)
Price: $7,543 per share
NVR operates in two important real estate-related markets: home building and mortgage banking. The homebuilding portion of the business works in 35 different metropolitan areas under the Ryan Homes, NVHomes and Heartland Homes brands. The financing side of the business offers settlement and title services that complement the homebuilding operations.
2. Booking Holdings Inc. (BKNG)
Price: $3,478 per share
Booking Holdings claims to be the world’s leading provider of online travel. The company owns some of the most recognizable online travel booking brands, including Booking.com, Priceline, Kayak, OpenTable, Cheapflights and more. Booking Holdings’ companies operate in over 220 countries and territories.
3. Seaboard Corp. (SEB)
Price: $3,315 per share
Seaboard Corp. is a food, energy and transportation company that owns companies in the food and commodities space, including pork, turkey, grain milling and trading, sugar, alcohol and power companies. Seaboard Corp. also owns Seaboard Marine, which is a transportation company that services North America, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.
» Check out: The best-performing commodity stocks
4. Autozone Inc. (AZO)
Price: $2,955 per share
If you own a car, you’re probably familiar with the car parts giant. According to the company, AutoZone is the leading retailer and distributor of replacement car parts in the United States. In addition to selling windshield wipers, antifreeze and engine oil, AutoZone offers customers free warning light diagnostics and partners with mechanics through their searchable Shop Referral program.
Listed stock prices are as of market close on Feb. 27, 2024.
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Are expensive stocks good?
Just because a stock is expensive doesn’t make it a good buy. A better way to get a high-level read on the value of a company is through its market capitalization, or market cap. You can find a company’s market cap by multiplying the number of outstanding stock shares by the company’s share price. For example, if a company’s share price is $100, and it has 10 million shares, its market cap is $1 billion. At the time of this writing, Berkshire Hathaway’s market cap was over $880 billion.
» Learn more about how to research stocks
How can you invest in expensive stocks?
If you don’t have the cash to buy a whole share of a pricey stock, you have other options. One way to get exposure to a top stock is to invest in an index fund. Index funds are baskets of stocks that typically track a market index, such as the S&P 500 or the New York Stock Exchange. Many of the most expensive stocks are included in the indexes those funds track, meaning you could own a tiny slice of Berkshire Hathaway in addition to hundreds of other companies. This is not only a cheaper option than buying the stock outright, but it also increases your portfolio’s diversification and decreases your overall risk.
If you’re sure you want to invest in individual stocks, you can look into brokers that offer fractional shares of BRK.A. Fractional shares are portions of stock, so if you can’t afford the price of a whole share, you can buy a fraction of one. Keep in mind, not every broker that allows fractional share trading will offer fractional shares of BRK.A. But some, like Robinhood, do.
» Check out our list of the best brokers for fractional shares
The author did not own any positions in the aforementioned investments at the time of publication. The editor Chris Davis owned fractional shares of BRK.A at the time of publication.
