BRK-B vs ONON: How Berkshire Hathaway and On Holding AG Compare (2026)

Same yardstick, side by side (as of August 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

Reading it: ONON is the cheaper of the two on forward earnings, but cheaper is not the same as better. Pair the valuation with growth (how far the forward P/E sits below the trailing P/E) and risk (beta) before you decide.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. BRK-B and ONON share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined BRK-B and ONON exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

Berkshire Hathaway is a diversified holding company that owns a wide range of businesses outright and holds a large portfolio of public stocks. Its foundation is insurance: GEICO, Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance, and other insurers generate underwriting profit and, more importantly, float (premiums held before claims are paid) that Berkshire invests. In Q1 2026 insurance underwriting income rose to about $1.72 billion from $1.34 billion a year earlier. Beyond insurance, Berkshire owns the BNSF railroad, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, and consumer and industrial businesses such as Duracell, Dairy Queen, See's Candies, and Precision Castparts, alongside a stock portfolio historically anchored by names like Apple and American Express.

Full BRK-B guide

On Holding AG designs and sells performance running shoes, apparel and accessories under the On brand. It was founded in Zurich in 2010 by Olivier Bernhard, a former duathlon world champion, alongside David Allemann and Caspar Coppetti, around a specific idea: hollow rubber pods in the outsole (CloudTec) that compress on landing and lock for push-off. Shoes are still the overwhelming majority of the business, roughly 92 percent of first-quarter 2026 sales, with apparel and accessories the rest. On sells through two channels: wholesale partners such as specialty running retailers and sporting goods chains at about 61 percent of sales, and direct-to-consumer through on.com and its own stores at about 39 percent. Geographically the Americas is still the largest region at roughly 54 percent of sales, EMEA about 25 percent, and Asia-Pacific just over 20 percent and rising fast. Production is outsourced, with roughly 90 percent of footwear made in Vietnam and the remainder in Indonesia, though On has begun operating its own robot-run LightSpray factories in Zurich and Busan. Roger Federer has been a shareholder and product collaborator since 2019, and the THE ROGER line is the brand's main tennis-adjacent lifestyle franchise.

Full ONON guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• BRK-B drivers: Leadership transition to Greg Abel; Insurance float and underwriting.
• ONON drivers: Full-price selling that keeps lifting gross margin; Asia-Pacific has become the growth engine.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: The central 2026 risk is the leadership transition itself: Buffett's judgment and reputation were core to Berkshire's edge, and the market will test whether Greg Abel can allocate capital as effectively, especially with a record cash pile to deploy. For ONON, the most concrete risk is the deceleration itself: guidance of at least 23 percent constant-currency growth for 2026 is a sharp step down from 35.6 percent in 2025, and the Americas, still more than half the business, grew only 3.1 percent on a reported basis in the first quarter, with analysts flagging maturing wholesale door growth.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick BRK-B if you believe its drivers more; ONON if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the BRK-B and ONON guides.

BRK-B. Figures are approximate and tied to the asOf date; verify live numbers before acting. Because accounting rules force Berkshire to mark its large stock portfolio to market each quarter, GAAP net income is noisy, so investors typically focus on operating earnings and book value per share rather than a simple P/E. The record cash balance means a meaningful part of the market cap is cash awaiting deployment, which affects how the business should be valued.

ONON. These figures reflect the first quarter of 2026, reported on May 12, 2026, with second-quarter results scheduled for August 11, 2026, so the most recent operating data is a quarter old. On reports in Swiss francs while the shares trade in dollars, which means every USD revenue figure moves with the exchange rate and constant-currency growth ran roughly twelve percentage points above reported growth in the last quarter. On other measures the stock trades near 3.3 times sales and about 17.7 times EV/EBITDA, with roughly $1.27 billion of cash against about $676 million of debt that is largely lease liabilities, and no dividend.

Headline figures (approximate, Jul 2026): BRK-B shows operating earnings (q1 2026) ~$11.35 billion, up ~18% year over year (approximate; verify live), net earnings (q1 2026) ~$10.1 billion, but volatile due to mark-to-market swings on equities (approximate; verify live), cash and treasurys ~$397 billion at end of Q1 2026, a record (approximate; verify live), market cap ~$1 trillion (BRK-B ~$497 per share in mid-July 2026; approximate; verify live); ONON shows revenue (ttm) ~$3.9B (CHF ~3.12B, converted at roughly 1.25 USD per CHF), net sales growth (fy2025) ~30% reported, ~35.6% constant currency, gross margin (q1 2026) ~64.2%, guided to ~64.5%+ for FY2026, adjusted ebitda margin (q1 2026) ~21.0%, guided to ~19.5% to 20.0% for FY2026.

BRK-B and ONON are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined BRK-B and ONON exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.