Buffett's Berkshire to miss five-year target for first time since 1965

Analysts expect the insurer will have failed to beat the S&P 500 for the first time since Buffett took over management in 1965 when it reports its latest full-year results.

Buffett (pictured), chairman and chief executive, set himself the target of adding net worth more rapidly than the S&P 500 index over that period.

Buffett has used the comparison to the US flagship index as a way to help investors compare his performance to a low-cost index tracker fund.

Since the end of 2008 the S&P 500 index has returned 128%, according to Bloomberg, while the latest data show Berkshire's book value per Class A share rose 80% from the end of 2008 to 30 September.

Analysts' estimates show that Buffett is unlikely to have narrowed this gap significantly in the last three months of the year, according to the news agency.

It noted that Barclays predicts an 86% increase in the book value of Berkshire Hathaway over the five year period, while Keefe, Bruyette & Woods estimate the figure to be 83%.

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• Warren Buffett