Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway could invest $33 billion in under 18 months thanks to its flurry of stock purchases and deals

• Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway could invest over $33 billion in under 18 months.
• Berkshire recently invested in Occidental Petroleum and HP, and struck a deal to acquire Alleghany.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is on track to invest more than $33 billion in the space of 18 months.

This year, the famed investor's company has plowed about $7 billion into Occidental Petroleum stock in 11 days, and snapped up $4 billion of HP shares. Buffett also struck a deal to acquire Alleghany for $11.6 billion in under two weeks.

James Shanahan, a senior equity analyst at Edward Jones, expects a couple more deals to materialize over the next year. Berkshire is likely to spend about $4 billion to raise its ownership of Pilot Flying J to 80% in early 2023, he told Insider.

Moreover, Buffett's company may soon buy the 8% of Berkshire Hathaway Energy owned by the family of Walter Scott Jr., a Berkshire director until his death last September. That would raise its ownership to over 99%, Shanahan said.

If Berkshire shells out $33 billion, that would exceed the $30 billion it piled into stocks in 2020, and dwarf the $8 billion it invested in equities last year (ignoring stock sales in both years).

It would also surpass the $25 billion it spent on share buybacks in 2020, and the $27 billion it plowed into repurchases last year.

Regardless, Berkshire might still struggle to put a dent in its cash pile. The company generates about $33 billion of free cash flow every five quarters, Shanahan told Insider.

"There is a good chance that Berkshire is still holding $150 billion in cash by mid-2023, unless there are additional investments," he said.

Berkshire shares have climbed 14% this year, bucking the S&P 500's 8% decline over the same period. Shanahan downgraded the stock to a "hold" rating this week, asserting its current price already reflects the likelihood it outperforms its financial-services peers this year, its recent strong earnings, and its flurry of purchases.

The conglomerate owns scores of businesses including Geico, See's Candies, and the Burlington Northern Railway. It also holds multibillion-dollar stakes in Apple, Coca-Cola, Kraft Heinz, and other public companies.

Buffett, whose nickname is the "Sage of Omaha," is expected to field questions for several hours at Berkshire's yearly shareholder gathering in his hometown next week. The centibillionaire investor recently touted the event as a "very, very important meeting."