Cautious optimism: Berkshire investors weigh future under new CEO Greg Abel

Greg Abel, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, meets with shareholders at the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, May 1, 2026.David A. Grogan | CNBCOMAHA, Nebraska — At the shareholder shopping day that kicks off Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting, the mood in the air was cautiously optimistic as new and returning investors weighed the company's direction under a new chief executive.Shareholders in a noticeably thinner crowd Friday expressed skepticism that Greg Abel, who took over as CEO in January, will command the stage with the same storytelling and wit that Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger used to enrapture tens of thousands of attendees for decades. At the same time, they also expressed confidence in Buffett's pick to take over the conglomerate, as the billionaire investor has been effusive in his praise for Abel over the years."I spent a lot of time studying Greg," said Robert Hagstrom, chief investment officer at EquityCompass Investment Management. "I think he's not only the right guy — and he's been vetted for so many years by so many people — but he's the right guy at the right time."Hagstrom, who wrote on Buffett's investing principles in "The Warren Buffett Way," has said that Abel