Warren Buffett handed the reins of Berkshire Hathaway to Greg Abel at the start of this year, making it a fitting moment to examine what made him exceptional.
Buffett’s investment journey began in 1942 when his father bought him three shares in Cities Service at just 11 years old.
The early trade turned out to be a costly lesson in patience, as Buffett sold too early and watched the price triple without him.
That experience shaped the next eight decades of his investment philosophy in ways that few early mistakes manage to achieve.
In 2018, Buffett described investing as “a question sometimes of confusing the forest with the trees,” emphasising that daily price movements matter far less than the underlying business.
Berkshire Hathaway never promised investors the next big rally or quick riches, instead offering something far less glamorous but far more powerful: time.
Buffett’s net worth was built almost entirely after his 60th birthday, a testament to compound interest rewarding patience and persistence over market timing.
The real danger for investors is not missing a single stock or rally, but spending years out of the market while compounding quietly builds wealth for everyone else.
FOMO about individual stocks can be counterproductive, but allowing that anxiety to keep investors sidelined means missing the broader long-term growth of the market entirely.
Greggs (LSE: GRG), sitting in the FTSE 250, illustrates many of the qualities Buffett has historically looked for in a business worth owning for the long term.
The bakery chain carries genuine brand recognition and benefits from scale that creates a durable cost advantage over smaller competitors in its sector.
The stock has roughly halved since September 2024, largely because like-for-like sales growth fell sharply from 17.8% in 2022 to just 2.4% last year.
Slowing like-for-like growth signals that existing stores are generating sales at a diminishing rate, which tends to unsettle investors accustomed to stronger momentum.
There are, however, encouraging signs emerging in 2026, with like-for-like growth picking up to 3.3% in the latest update, and the stock has responded positively to that news.
Despite the recovery in growth, Greggs still trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of around 14, a relatively low valuation that suggests the market remains cautious about its prospects.
Margins remain under pressure from inflation, and ongoing investments in capacity are keeping cash flows tight, meaning the stock carries real risk alongside its potential appeal.
A low valuation combined with a recognisable brand and signs of improving sales momentum does, however, carry the hallmarks of the kind of setup Buffett has long described to shareholders.
Whether Greggs ultimately delivers on that potential depends on whether the growth recovery proves durable and whether cost pressures begin to ease as investments mature.
For investors thinking about long-term opportunities in the UK market, Greggs represents the kind of business that rewards careful analysis over reactive decision-making.
The broader lesson from Buffett’s career remains consistent: focus on the quality of the business, ignore the daily noise, and let time do the heavy lifting.
