BRK.A vs. SYF: Berkshire Hathaway vs. Synchrony Financial Stock Comparison

Company Profile

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) and Synchrony Financial (SYF) both fall under the Financial Services industry group, but BRK.A is classified in Financial Services while SYF is classified in Consumer Finance.

Price Performance

Cumulative Growth

Trailing Returns

Calendar-Year Returns

Performance Metrics

Risk Profile

Drawdown History

Return Distribution

Risk Metrics

Synchrony Financial (SYF) has an aggressive beta of 1.40, indicating higher sensitivity to broad-market moves, while Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) is defensive at 0.56 and tends to be less market-sensitive — they sit on opposite ends of the beta spectrum.

Synchrony Financial (SYF) trades around 3.37M shares per day on average, while Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) sees only 206 — a volume gap that can matter for position sizing, exit liquidity, and order execution.

Risk-Adjusted Performance

Risk-Return Positioning

Risk-Adjusted Metrics

Profitability

Both Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) at 12.12% and Synchrony Financial (SYF) at 19.83% land near their industries’ usual ROE ranges, so capital efficiency looks broadly in line with peers on both sides.

Synchrony Financial (SYF) at 34.07% retains a top-quartile share of revenue as profit, ahead of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) at 22.30%, which keeps about the industry-typical share.

Both Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) at 32.56% and Synchrony Financial (SYF) at 49.84% run core operations about as efficiently as their industries’ norm — neither stands out on operating profitability.

Profitability Metrics

Growth

Both Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) at -3.23% and Synchrony Financial (SYF) at -0.50% post bottom-quartile revenue growth versus peers, pointing to weaker demand or pricing momentum than typical rivals.

Synchrony Financial (SYF) at 8.54% is around its peer norm for EPS growth, while Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) at -24.78% drops into the bottom quartile, signaling weaker earnings momentum.

Growth Metrics

Financial Strength

current ratio doesn’t apply on either side: Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) in Financial Services and Synchrony Financial (SYF) in Financial Services both report balance sheets without a current/non-current split, so their short-term liquidity is better judged through regulatory and funding measures.

debt-to-equity ratio is set aside for both: Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) in Financial Services and Synchrony Financial (SYF) in Financial Services run businesses where balance-sheet leverage is part of the model, so capital-adequacy and funding measures are the better gauges of balance-sheet risk.

Financial Strength Metrics

Dividends

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) pays no dividend (yield 0.00%) — it may be reinvesting, using buybacks, or simply not returning cash through dividends. Meanwhile Synchrony Financial (SYF) reports a yield of 1.67%, ranking against industry peers normally.

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) pays no dividend (payout 0.00%) — it may be reinvesting, using buybacks, or simply not returning cash through dividends. Meanwhile Synchrony Financial (SYF) reports a payout of 12.94%, ranking against industry peers normally.

Dividend Metrics

Valuation

Synchrony Financial (SYF) at 7.70 sits in the cheaper P/E ratio quartile, while Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) at 14.36 is closer to its industry’s usual earnings multiple — a discount for SYF, though growth and earnings durability still matter.

On P/S ratio, both Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) at 3.18 and Synchrony Financial (SYF) at 2.45 are priced roughly in line with their industries — neither looks cheap nor rich on a sales basis.

On P/B ratio, both Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) at 1.72 and Synchrony Financial (SYF) at 1.55 are valued close to their industries’ norm against book — neither stands out from peers.

Valuation Metrics