Also, keep in mind that portfolio managers Todd Combs and Ted Weschler are still new and those new positions of under $200 million $300 million are likely tied to them.

24/7 Wall St. has gone through line by line of each position to see which stocks have been bought and sold as new positions, as well as having added in whether or not the number of shares grew or shrank on each since the prior quarter. We had added some color in on some of the positions if applicable.

Be advised that the number of subsidiaries that this filing covers is 14 entities rather than 18 entities in the prior quarter. There is also a note in the 13F filing showing that the SEC has granted “Confidential Treatment” on some Berkshire stock holdings and that likely suggests that Buffett is still acquiring a position he does not want the public to know about yet. This filing does not signal the half-dozen or more European shares that Buffett said he bought so that remains an outstanding issue as well.

The value of the stock portfolio was $66,151,587,000 at the end of 2011 and this was listed as $75,300,250,000 at the end of March 2012.

American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) was over 151.6 million shares, SAME AS last quarter.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK) is now 5.6 million shares, HIGHER THAN the 1,793,915 shares last quarter.

CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE: CVS) is the SAME SIZE at 7.106 million shares after having been a new holding in a recent quarter and having been raised one quarter ago.

Coca Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) was right at 200 million shares, SAME AS BEFORE.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) is roughly 29.1 million shares, roughly the SAME AS BEFORE but it is still lower than previous quarters in past reports.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ: COST) 4,333,363 Shares, SAME AS last quarter after having lowered it before.

Da Vita Inc. (NYSE: DVA) is now 6 million shares worth $541 million and that LARGER THAN BEFORE after having been a new position of 2.684 million shares.

DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV) is a LARGER POSITION listed at 22.999 million worth over $1.13 billion. This one had been 20.348 million shares worth $870 million one quarter earlier and it had been a new position just two quarters ago at 4.249 million shares.

The trick is that Visa divulged in a filing that the Department of Justice has a civil investigative demand as an official request for information over its pricing structure and over recent pricing adjustments.  It needs to be known that Visa has received inquiries of this nature before and the CEO noted that it could take up to a year to resolve.

Perhaps what is of a larger concern to investors is that this inquiry came in March, and it is now May.  Even if it came at the very end of the month that means that Visa sat on the news for a whole month allowing its shares to rise from $118 to $125 before it divulged the news.

Visa shares hit $125.25 on May 1 as a new high and pulled back on Wednesday to $122.19 before the drop of 1.5% to $120.40 this Thursday.  Mastercard hit a high of $466.98 on May 1 and pulled back to $451.45 on Wednesday before its 0.6% drop this morning to $448.20.

Department of Justice inquires do not mean that anything wrong has been done, but right now investors treat any form of investigation with caution.  It is caution that should be expected, and frankly the stocks have held up better than many might have expected.  This won’t be going away any time soon and we would expect that analysts will be chiming on this matter for the rest of the week.

JON C. OGG

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down nearly 11 points to 13,268.65 (-0.08%), the NASDAQ rose more than 9 points (0.31%) to 3,059.85, and the S&P 500 fell -0.25% or more than 3 points to 1,402.31.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) cut to ‘neutral’ at R.W. Baird; ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) cut to ‘underperform’ at BofA/ML and started as ‘overweight’ at JPMorgan; RadioShack (NYSE: RSH) raised to ‘buy’ at Auriga; STMicroelectronics NV (NYSE: STM) raised to ‘buy’ at Goldman Sachs and raised to ‘neutral’ at Citigroup; and Assurant Inc. (NYSE: AIZ) cut to ‘underperform’ at BofA/ML.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE: ABX) is down -2.8% at $39.30 (more coverage here); Marathon Oil Corp. (NYSE: MRO) is down -4.4% at $28.85; Mastercard Inc. (NYSE: MA) is down -0.8% at $452.14; Allergan Inc. (NYSE: AGN) is down -4.3% at $92.29; Yamana Gold Inc. (NYSE: AUY) is down -2.6% at $14.36; Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) is down -1.6% at $37.30; The Clorox Co. (NYSE: CLX) is down -3.3% at $67.74; Rowan Companies Inc. (NYSE: RDC) is up 1.3% at $34.97; R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co. (NASDAQ: RRD) is down -7% at $11.79; Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. (NYSE: MSO) is down -1.2% at $3.41; and IAC/InterActiveCorp. (NASDAQ: IACI) is up 3.3% at $50.34 after posting a new 52-week high of $52.77 earlier today.

Tomorrow we get earnings from First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR), Diana Shipping Inc. (NYSE: DSX), Corinthian Colleges Inc. (NASDAQ: COCO), Apache Corp. (NYSE: APA), Orbitz Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: OWW), and Western Refining Inc. (NYSE: WNR) among many others.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Chesapeake Energy is down -13.5% at $16.95 after posting a new 52-week low of $15.86 earlier today. The natural gas producer reported weak results and more troubles for CEO Aubrey McClendon. More coverage here.

Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) is down -1% at $30.29. The cable company reported good earnings this morning. More coverage here.

Savient Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: SVNT) is down -18.8% at $1.51. An analyst has said that the company insolvent. More coverage here.

Stay tuned for Thursday. Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser, Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart, and San Francisco Fed President John Williams are speaking at a conference. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

• 7:30 a.m. – Challenger job cut report
• 8:30 a.m. – New claims for unemployment benefits
• 8:30 a.m. – Productivity and costs report
• 10:00 a.m. – ISM non-manufacturing index
• 10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly natural gas storage report
• 4:30 p.m. – Federal Reserve balance sheet and money supply

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Paul Ausick

Read The American Companies With the Most Customers

The customer bases of many of these companies are in the tens of millions. Each company operates in an industry that provides a product or a service to an extremely wide spectrum of American consumers. The leader in each sector reached its position through innovation, longevity or some combination of the two.

Each of the industries on this list serves a very large base of customers. For example, there are thousands of retailers, serving pretty much the entire population, but only Costco is the leader in membership with over 65 million members. Founded in 1983, Costco (NASDAQ: COST) is a relatively new company. It became a success largely because it charges customers a membership fee for access to its stores and in exchange offers extremely low prices that are never marked up more than 15% above the price Costco pays.

Some industries are huge, but only have a small number of competitors. While there are only a handful of national wireless carriers, there are over 330 million wireless subscriptions in the U.S. — more than the population itself. But there are only four competitors of any size — AT&T (NYSE: T), Verizon Wireless, Sprint-Nextel (NYSE: S) and T-Mobile. Each company has to battle for a share of a market that is no longer growing. The weapons the companies use to gain market share are products, customer service and price. AT&T is the leader. Its share of the market is based to some extent on history. It is a descendant from the original AT&T phone monopoly. But without strong products and intelligent pricing there is no assurance it can stay ahead of number two competitor Verizon Wireless.

24/7 Wall St. examined 10 of America’s largest consumer industries and the customer counts for the biggest two or three companies in each sector. We then reviewed the history of each industry in an attempt to find how the top company in each reached its leadership position. To rank the companies, 24/7 Wall St. took each leader and compared it in size to the leaders in the other industries chosen. We used company and industry data to confirm customer counts. Each company in this ranking is the largest company in its industry, based on customer count.

These are the American Companies with the Most Customers.

NYSE Euronext, Inc. (NYSE: NYX) is on Monday and the following earnings reports are due on Tuesday: Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI); Archer Daniels Midland Co. (NYSE: ADM); Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM); Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK); Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI); Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO).

Wednesday’s top earnings reports on deck are as follows:  American Water Works Co. (NYSE: AWK); Annaly Capital Management Inc. (NYSE: NLY); Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA); First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR); Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN); Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. (NYSE: HIG); MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA); Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC); Visa Inc. (NYSE: V); and Whole Foods Market Inc. (NASDAQ: WFM).

We will provide previews for the larger report due on Thursday as the reports get closer.  As a reminder, some of the dates and estimates may change and some of them may have already changed.  Consensus estimates are from Thomson Reuters and we have provided color on each if applicable.

NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) reports on Monday.  The consensus estimates are $0.48 EPS and $611.1 million in revenues.  Shares are around $27.00, and the consensus analyst price target is $32.30.  Now that the German merger (the German takeover of America’s top exchange) is off the table, investors are focusing on the values here.

TUESDAY, May 1

Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI) is due Tuesday morning and its shares have been battered along with the entire coal sector.  Estimates are $0.16 EPS and $1.12 billion in revenues.  Shares are around $9.50, and the consensus analyst price target is $32.30.

Archer Daniels Midland Co. (NYSE: ADM) is due Tuesday morning and estimates are $0.59 EPS and $21.4 billion in revenues.  Shares are around $31.00, and the consensus analyst price target is almost $34.00.

Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM) reports after the close on Tuesday and it has been riding the Apple wave.  The consensus estimates are $0.55 EPS and $1.8 billion in revenues.  Shares are around $36.30 and the consensus analyst price target is $42.40.

Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) earnings are better than even the highest expectations. (Reuters)

Facebook M&A activity may lengthen the time it takes to launch its IPO. (Reuters)

MasterCard (NYSE: MA) Spending Pulse reports that high gas prices have cut consumption. (Reuters)

LightSquared creditors join in an effort to get money from the troubled start-up. (Reuters)

Human Genome (NASDAQ: HGSI) will consider its options after rejection of a GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) bid. (Reuters)

China sets an Internet crackdown after online rumors cause the central government problems. (WSJ)

Economic trouble in Europe does not hurt the returns of many U.S. manufacturers. (WSJ)

S&P cuts its outlook on India’s sovereign debt. (WSJ)

Many smaller banks cannot pay back TARP loans. (WSJ)

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) to sell its new smartphone directly to the public. (WSJ)

If Greece breaks with current austerity measures, it may lose its membership in the eurozone. (WSJ)

India may set a $10 billion fund to supply energy to expand its economy. (WSJ)

Shutterfly (NASDAQ: SFLY) will buy Eastman Kodak’s online Kodak Gallery. (WSJ)

HTC continues to face trouble selling its phones in the U.S. (WSJ)

A study in the Academy of Management Journal shows that the mental health of job seekers improves after the shock of job losses goes away, but before they are rejected for new positions. (WSJ)

Banks attack Moody’s over potential downgrades. (WSJ)

Gas futures drop 16 cents over the past eight trading days. (WSJ)

The Securities and Exchange Commission examines whether movie studios used bribes to move into China. (NYT)

Much of Spain’s $876 billion in home mortgages are close to default, which may require bailout money to offset. (NYT)

Many top oil traders believe the price of Brent crude will stay high. (FT)

Spain lowers its central budget deficit. (Bloomberg)

Angela Merkel objects to a call from French presidential candidate Francois Hollande to move away from EU austerity plans. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Some investors may worry that, if Buffett were to leave, the portfolio would perhaps find a large rotation out of current positions. While anything is possible, we expect almost no change whatsoever to the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio based on the cancer news. Some new stocks may still get added with two new portfolio managers inside the conglomerate. Some stocks also may get paired down further. That being said, Buffett has treated these holdings in many cases as though they are “partner companies” rather than mere stock investments that are to be bought and sold solely based on the price gain or loss at a certain time.

Buffett’s top 10 performers so far this year are significantly outperforming the broader market indexes. The DJIA is currently up about 8.1% so far in 2012, and the S&P 500 Index is outperforming the DJIA with a gain of 11.3%, due to such a high weighting and strong performance of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL). Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) is only up by 5.7% so far in 2012, and that is before the effect of Buffett’s cancer news. Only one of Berkshire Hathaway’s 30-plus common stocks is down so far in 2012, and that is Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), with a loss of only 1.2%.

Read Also: Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway Full Investment Holdings

What was most interesting about the holdings noted as 2012’s 10 best performers is that the dividends are often paltry. Most have dividend yields that are well below average. We have given some color on each position, shown some trends on each, and shown the price and relative price performance on each. It is no coincidence that the financial stocks in the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio are up so much when you consider that the financial sector led the market in the first quarter and so far this year.

USG Corporation (NYSE: USG) is Warren Buffett’s single best stock performer so far in 2012, as Americans continue to look for ways to play a coming housing recovery. The latest NAHB confidence dip may be a concern, but perhaps a remodel housing economy can be enough to return a turnaround here. What is interesting is that Thomson Reuters is currently looking for a loss of $1.30 per share in 2012 and a loss of $0.52 in 2013, despite what it expects to be rising sales. Unlike most of Buffett’s top stocks, USG pays no common dividend. The $16.89 share price compares too a 52-week trading range of $5.75 to $19.44.

Ingersoll-Rand Plc (NYSE: IR) turned out to be Buffett’s second-best common stock in 2012, with a gain of 32%. The company makes tools, compressed air systems, ARO fluid products and lifting and material handling products, among other products and services. The dividend yield here is roughly 1.6%. At $40.06, its 52-week trading range is $25.86 to $52.33.

Filed under: Activist Investor, Banking, Buffett, Conglomerates, Dividend, Editor's Picks, Financial Stocks, Insider Activity, Large Cap Stocks, Mutual Funds, Shareholder Issues Tagged: AAPL, AXP, BAC, BK, BRK-A, BRK-B, INTC, IR, JNJ, MA, MCO, USG, V, VRSK, WFC ]]> http://247wallst.com/2012/04/18/what-happens-to-warren-buffetts-top-10-performing-stocks-of-2012-brk-b-brk-a-usg-ir-mco-axp-wfc-v-bk-vrsk-intc-ma-aapl-jnj-bac/feed/ 0 AAPLAXPBACBKBRK-ABRK-BINTCIRJNJMAMCOUSGVVRSKWFC Administrator Warren Buffett http://247wallst.com/2012/04/11/credit-card-swipe-fees-on-gasoline-blasted-v-ma-axp-dfs/ http://247wallst.com/2012/04/11/credit-card-swipe-fees-on-gasoline-blasted-v-ma-axp-dfs/#comments Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:45:08 +0000 Paul Ausick http://247wallst.com/?p=140587 ]]> We noted earlier this morning how lenders and credit card issuers were trying to beef up revenues by going back into the sub-prime market. Another way banks and card issuers boost revenue is by increasing fees, though this is less possible under new regulations.

One fee that was not affected by new rules were debit and credit card swipe fees that are charged to the merchant by card companies like Visa Inc. (NYSE: V), Mastercard Inc. (NYSE: MA), American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP), and Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS). A new report from the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) unloads on these swipe fees for being anti-competitive and for adding a significant amount to customer purchases.

The NACS report focuses on gasoline prices, which it claims are as much as $0.07/gallon higher than the actual cost of the gasoline due to swipe fees. At a cost of about $3.90/gallon for gasoline, a 20-gallon fill-up rakes in $1.38 in swipe fees.

To bolster its case, the NACS asked drivers if they would drive 5 minutes out of their way to save $0.03/gallon. Some 40% of respondents said “yes,” and 71% said they’d drive those 5 extra minutes to save $0.05/gallon. What NACS is probably hoping for is a grass-roots revolt against swipe fees, which would save about $0.07/gallon at current prices with no extra driving.

The swipe fees are not really a secret, and the NACS is doing a clever thing by tying them to gasoline prices at a time when every consumer is constantly aware of rising pump prices. The convenience store industry claims that it paid about $11.1 billion in swipe fees in 2011, money that could either have stayed in drivers’ pockets or gone to the stores’ top lines. The report also points out that even if a consumer pays cash for gasoline the swipe fee “card industry rules still [require] that swipe fees be hidden in the prices of all goods sold.”

The swipe fees are tied to the price of the gasoline of course. As the price of gas rises, so does the amount of the fee. The NACS argues that the card issuer does nothing to earn the higher fee, but just looking at the chart that NACS provides, at $3/gallon the card issuer takes an estimated $0.057, or 1.9%. At $4.50/gallon, the card issuer gets an estimated $0.076, or 1.69%.

While nobody really loves banks or credit card companies these days, most probably figure that the convenience of a debit or credit card is worth something and that a fee of around 2% to pay for that convenience is not unreasonable.

The NACS report is available here.

Paul Ausick

From the Krebson blog:

In separate non-public alerts sent late last week, VISA and MasterCard began warning banks about specific cards that may have been compromised. The card associations stated that the breached credit card processor was compromised between Jan. 21, 2012 and Feb. 25, 2012. The alerts also said that full Track 1 and Track 2 data was taken – meaning that the information could be used to counterfeit new cards.

The breach is reported to have occurred at an unnamed credit card processing company or companies. Mastercard told the WSJ that its own systems have not been affected.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up more than 28 points to 12,980.30 (0.22%), the NASDAQ rose more than 22 points (0.74%) to 2,988.97, and the S&P 500 rose 0.62% or more than 8 points to 1,374.09.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) maintained ‘buy’ but target price lowered to $50 at Argus (more coverage here); Mastercard Inc. (NYSE: MA) started as ‘neutral’ at UBS; Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) cut to ‘underperform’ at BofA/ML; Wendy’s Co. (NYSE: WEN) cut to ‘neutral’ at Janney; and SandRidge Energy Inc. (NYSE: SD) cut to ‘sell’ at Canaccord Genuity.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Cal Dive International Inc. (NYSE: DVR) is up 8.8% at $3.16; Edison International (NYSE: EIX) is up 1.9% at $42.65 after posting a new 52-week high of $44.40 earlier today; Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ: NKTR) is up 2.4% at $7.35; Seaspan Corp. (NYSE: SSW) is up 6.1% at $18.32; Sotheby’s (NYSE: BID) is down -10.2% at $35.32 (more coverage here); Dresser Rand Group Inc. (NYSE: DRC) is down -1.2% at $51.91; James River Coal Co. (NASDAQ: JRCC) is up 10.7% at $6.34; Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) is up 2.2% at $24.32; and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. (NYSE: MSO) is down -3.2% at $4.36.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

American Realty Trust Inc. (NASDAQ: ARCT) is up more than 73% at $10.40. The commercial real estate company came public this morning at $6/share, along with a tender auction to purchase up to $220 million worth of shares at a price not higher than $11/share and not less than $10.50/share.

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ: PEGA) is up nearly 34% at $37.50. The business software maker beat earnings estimates last night.

Cenveo Inc. (NYSE: CVO) is up nearly 26% at $4.91. The printing company reported better-than-expected earnings last night, and has kicked off a tender offer to redeem about $460 million in debt.

Tudou Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: TUDO) is down nearly -17% at $13.30. The Chinese online video company reported better-than-expected revenues last night, but soaring costs led to a net loss.

FriendFinder Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: FFN) is down nearly -14% at $1.76. The adult social networking company’s credit rating was cut this morning by S&P.

Stay tuned for Friday. Chicago Fed president Charles Evans and St. Louis Fed president James Bullard are giving speeches. There are no other events of note scheduled for tomorrow.

Paul Ausick