Warren Buffett’s bet on Bank of America Corp. and a more-generous buyback plan helped his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. beat the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index in a year when he didn’t make a major acquisition.

Class A shares advanced 17 percent last year, beating the 13 percent gain in the S&P 500. The Omaha, Nebraska-based company is also poised to extend its record of outperforming the equity benchmark on Buffett’s favored scorecard: the change in book value per share over time.