Berkshire's Q1 earnings report is out. Operating profit is up 18%, insurance underwriting profit surged 28.5%, and cash reserves are nearing $400 billion—a record high. This is Abel's first earnings report since taking over, and the style is exactly the same as Buffett's era. Selling stocks, hoarding cash. In Q1, they sold $24.1 billion worth of stocks and only bought $16 billion. Net sales totaled $8.1 billion, pushing cash reserves right to the $400 billion mark. To be honest, this is very Buffett-esque. Buffett has been doing this for 60 years: go heavy when it's cheap, sit tight when it's expensive. Now Abel has taken the reins, and his first move is to keep selling. But there's an interesting detail. Berkshire's stock price is down 6% this year, while the S&P 500 is up 5.6%. Since Buffett announced his retirement last May, Berkshire has underperformed the market by over 30 percentage points. The market is voting with its feet. What are investors worried about? They're worried that Berkshire without Buffett might not be the same Berkshire. Abel is an excellent manager, but he's not the Oracle of Omaha. He can manage insurance, railroads, and energy businesses well—but what about investments? Stock buybacks in Q1 were only $235 million, the first restart since 2024, but the scale is laughably small. Compared to $400 billion in cash, this buyback is barely a drop in the bucket. Abel himself did make a statement, pledging to use his entire $15 million post-tax annual salary to buy more Berkshire stock every year. Let me tell you, insider buying is a signal, but don’t overinterpret it. $15 million is a lot for regular folks, but for a company of Berkshire's size, it’s peanuts. What’s really worth noting is that the top five holdings haven’t changed: American Express, Apple, Bank of America, Coca-Cola, and Chevron. Even though Apple has been trimmed, it’s still in the top five. What does this tell us? It shows Abel hasn’t rushed to reshuffle the portfolio and is still following Buffett’s playbook. But after Todd Combs jumped ship to JPMorgan, has the investment portfolio undergone any major changes? Berkshire hasn’t disclosed. So, is this $400 billion in cash waiting for a market dip, or do they just not know where to invest? I think it’s the former. Buffett once said that cash is like oxygen—you don’t notice it most of the time, but it can save your life in critical moments. Right now, U.S. stock valuations aren’t cheap, and the AI bubble is still inflating. Abel choosing to wait and see might not be a bad thing. But if they wait too long, the market might lose patience.