Just caught something interesting in the new CEO's shareholder letter that's worth digging into. Greg Abel took over Berkshire Hathaway and spelled out exactly which stocks he sees as long-term core holdings - Apple, American Express, Coca-Cola, and Moody's. Those four are supposedly going to compound for decades with minimal trading activity.

But here's where it gets curious. The new CEO deliberately left two major positions off that list, and both happen to be in Berkshire's current top five holdings. That's a pretty loud signal when you think about it.

First one is Bank of America, sitting at about 8.1% of the portfolio. Buffett had a long romance with banking, especially after pouring $5 billion into BAC back in 2011 with those warrants. It's been a solid play. But something shifted. Over the past few years, Berkshire cut the position in half. The banking sector has just underperformed since the financial crisis, and with all that cash Berkshire is hoarding, it looks like they're bracing for tougher times ahead. The stock's trading at roughly 175% of tangible book value - expensive end of the historical range.

Then there's Chevron at 6.5% of the portfolio. This one surprised me more honestly. The new CEO actually ran Berkshire Hathaway Energy, so you'd think oil and gas would be a natural fit. Berkshire loaded up on energy positions recently, especially after selling some Chevron back in 2022. But they've actually increased the stake since mid-2023, which is confusing if it's not a core holding.

Chevron's doing solid stuff though - strong balance sheet, that Hess acquisition giving them premier upstream assets, net debt-to-cash flow at a healthy 1x, $12 billion in buybacks during 2025, and a nearly 3.8% dividend yield. Plus it's arguably the best oil play for any Venezuela upside. The company's ramping production significantly this year.

So what does it mean? Bank of America feels like it's genuinely on the chopping block based on how much they've already trimmed. Chevron's trickier - maybe Abel just didn't mention it because energy is already a known part of their strategy, or maybe it's getting reassessed. Either way, the fact that a new CEO specifically called out his core holdings and left these two out is definitely worth watching. Could signal some portfolio rotation coming.