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The following is from Buffet's latest stockholder letter.
Berkshire’s “Big Four” investments – American Express, Coca-Cola, IBM and Wells Fargo – all had good years. Our ownership interest in each of these companies increased during the year. We purchased additional shares of Wells Fargo (our ownership now is 8.7% versus 7.6% at yearend 2011) and IBM (6.0%versus 5.5%). Meanwhile, stock repurchases at Coca-Cola and American Express raised our percentage ownership. Our equity in Coca-Cola grew from 8.8% to 8.9% and our interest at American Express from 13.0% to 13.7%.
Berkshire’s ownership interest in all four companies is likely to increase in the future. Mae West had it right: “Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.” .... There was a lot of hand-wringing last year among CEOs who cried “uncertainty” when faced with capital-allocation decisions (despite many of their businesses having enjoyed record levels of both earnings and cash). At Berkshire, we didn’t share their fears, instead spending a record $9.8 billion on plant and equipment in 2012, about 88% of it in the United States. That’s 19% more than we spent in 2011, our previous high.
Charlie and I love investing large sums in worthwhile projects, whatever the pundits are saying. We instead heed the words from Gary Allan’s new country song, “Every Storm Runs Out of Rain.” We will keep our foot to the floor and will almost certainly set still another record for capital expenditures in 2013. Opportunities abound in America.
In addition Berkshire Hathaway announced that:
In February, we agreed to buy 50% of a holding company that will own all of H. J. Heinz.
Buffet and Berkshire Hathaway is doing what they have always done. Buying stocks they believe are undervalued and selling stocks that they believe are overvalued.
Exactly. It is a simple stratergy, but the idea still eludes many, as you can tell by the comments on this thread. Whenever they think any given sector is low, they go in, and when a sector is high, they get out.
Got any evidence of that? It is well known that Warren Buffet is a big believer in the stock market, not gold. He said so once again just the other night in an interview with Charlie Rose.
buffett has never hid his disdain for gold , he owns none
HA! Newsmax, the partisan right wing entertainment source which is always anti-American.
Exactly. Famous for only telling half a story and filling the rest in with conspiracy theories.
These billionaires may be selling their stock, but that stock is not just sitting there on the open market, or else the price of the stock would go down. These stocks are actively TRADING, meaning one billionaire is selling them, and another billionaire (or institutional investor) is buying them.
One poster said that Buffet is a long run investor and I think that is true. He took the same amount of beating that all other investors took in 08 and early 09. I saw his fund performance in the economic section and just like mostly anyone else he is barely a little over from his high. I would not put too much stock in him selling or doing anything.
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