Posts for Ticker ‘Warren Buffett’

Buffett & Berkshire Hathaway Disclose Holdings A to G (BRK-A, AXP, BAC, BNI, KMX, KO, CMCSA, CDCO, COP, CEG, COST, GCI, GE, GSK)

buffett_image3It’s that time again.  Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) have filed with the SEC showing what the Oracle of Omaha owns in public stocks as of the quarter or as of December 31, 2008 in this case:  These are broken out alphabetically by company from A to G, along with some color on each stock compared to prior report:

  • American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) over 151.6 million shares, looks same as before.
  • Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) 5,000,000 shares; same as last quarter but lower than the 9.1 million shares reported in June.
  • Burlington Northern Santa Fe (NYSE: BNI) 70.089 million shares, higher than the 63,785,418 shares reported previously but we already knew this one was higher from prior transactions.
  • Carmax Inc. (NYSE: KMX) 17.63 million, down from 18.444 million last quarter.
  • Coca Cola (NYSE: KO) right at 200,000,000 shares, same as before.
  • Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) 12 million shares, same as before.
  • Comdisco Holdings (NASDAQ: CDCO) just over 1.5 million shares, same as before.
  • ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) 79.896 million, above the 59.688 million in one unit, but was previously about 83.9 million total.  Hard to know if this is a real change or just more reporting or more/less units….
  • Constellation Energy Group (NYSE: CEG) 19.897 million shares, but this may have already ended after the last merger.
  • Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ: COST) 5.254 million shares, same as before.
  • Gannett Co. (NYSE: GCI) 3.447 million shares, same as before.
  • General Electric Corp. (NYSE: GE) 7.777 million shares, same as before but that does not include the 10% interest bought last year.
  • GlaxoSmithkline (NYSE: GSK) 1.51 million shares, same as before.

BUFFETT HOLDINGS “H to R”

BUFFETT HOLDINGS “S to Z”

Jon C. Ogg
February 17, 2009

Posted on: February 17, 2009 – 5:54 pm in Activist Investor, Buffett, Buffett Holdings, Conglomerates, Financial Stocks, Mutual Funds, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Buffett & Berkshire Hathaway Disclose Holdings H to R (HD, IR, IRM, JNJ, KFT, LOW, MTB, MCO, NLC, NKE, NSC, NRG, PG)

buffett_image4The second group is out, and here are the year-end holdings of Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A).   This filing shows the holdings alphabetically as “H to R” for stocks and the cut off date is December 31, 2008.  We also added in some color for reference to the prior report:

  • Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) 3.7 Million shares; same as before but down from June.
  • Ingersoll-Rand (NYSE: IR) 7.78 million, above the 5.6366 million before.
  • Iron Mountain (NYSE: IRM) 3.3722 million shares, same as last quarter.
  • Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) 28.6 million shares, down by more than half from about 62 million last quarter.
  • Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT) over 138 million.  We had 148 million last time but that could have been a carrying difference we didn’t catch.
  • Lowes Companies (NYSE: LOW) 6.5 million shares, same as last quarter.
  • M&T Bank Corp. (NYSE: MTB) 6.71 million shares, same as last quarter.
  • Moody’s (NYSE: MCO) about 48 million shares, same as before but may actually be larger since the 12/31 reporting.
  • Nalco Holding (NYSE: NLC) 8.730 million shares; NEW HOLDING from last quarter.
  • Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) 7.641 million shares, same as last quarter.
  • Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC) 1.933 million shares, still same.
  • NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG) 7.2 million, up from 5 million last quarter.
  • Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) 96.3 million, down from more than 105.8 million last quarter.

BUFFETT HOLDINGS “A to G”
BUFFETT HOLDINGS “S to Z”

Jon C. Ogg
February 17, 2009

Posted on: February 17, 2009 – 5:50 pm in Activist Investor, Buffett, Buffett Holdings, Conglomerates, Financial Stocks, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Buffett & Berkshire Hathaway Disclose Holdings S to Z (BRK-A, SNY, STI, TMK, USB, USG, UNP, UPS, WBC, WMT, WPO, WFC, WLP, WSC)

buffett_image5The final list of Warren Buffett’s year-end stock holdings from Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) are out and we broke them down alphabetically with this being the “S to Z” stock list.  The cut off here is December 31, 2008 and we have added in some color for how this compares to last quarter’s report:

  • Sanofi Aventis (NYSE: SNY) more than 3.9 million shares, same as before.
  • Sun Trust Bank (NYSE: STI) more than 3.2 million shares, same as before.
  • Torchmark Corp. (NYSE: TMK) looks roughly the same at 2.82 million.
  • US Bancorp (NYSE: USB) about 67.6 million shares, down from over 72.9 million last quarter.
  • USG Corp. (NYSE: USG) 17.072 million shares, looks same as last quarter.
  • Union Pacific Corp. (NYSE: UNP) 8.9 million shares, same as before.
  • United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) 1.429 million shares, same as before.
  • WABCO Holdings (NYSE: WBC) 2.7 million shares, same as before.
  • Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) over 19.9 million shares, same as before.
  • Washington Post (NYSE: WPO) over 1.72 million shares, same as before.
  • Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) roughly 290.4 million shares, looks same as before.
  • Wellpoint Inc. (NYSE: WLP) 4.7773 million shares, same as before.
  • Wesco Financial Corp. (NYSE: WSC) 5.7 million shares, same as before.

BUFFETT HOLDINGS “A to G”
BUFFETT HOLDINGS “H to R”

Jon C. Ogg
February 17, 2009

Posted on: February 17, 2009 – 5:48 pm in Activist Investor, Buffett, Buffett Holdings, Conglomerates, Financial Stocks, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tiffany Lands Warren Buffett Debt (TIF, BRK-A)

buffett-imageTiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF)  scored the big fish.  The luxury jewelry retailer issued notes to Warren Buffett’s via units of Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A).

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Posted on: February 13, 2009 – 3:18 pm in Bonds, Buffett, Luxury, Retail, Secondary Offering, , , , ,

USG Agrees To Warren Buffett Demands (USG, BRK-A, FFH)

buffett_imageUSG Corporation (NYSE: USG) had an important vote today that essentially allows Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) to get much more control of the company.
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Posted on: February 9, 2009 – 2:30 pm in Activist Investor, Buffett, Housing, Value Investing, , , , , ,

Constellation Finds Disappointing Buyout (CEG, BRK-A)

Constellation_logoGood news and bad news…. Constellation Energy (NYSE: CEG) has found a buyer.  The bad news is that it is a tentative deal that is for a mere $26.50 per share.  MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company, part of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) empire, has reached a tentative agreement to acquire the company for $4.7 billion.  This translates to $26.50 per share. 

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Posted on: September 18, 2008 – 8:35 am in Buffett, Infrastructure, Mergers and Buy Outs, Utilities, , , , , ,

Subprime & CDO Meltdown Worse than RTC/S&L Crisis

There is a new study out that has compared the current mortgage and subprime meltdown to the S&L and consumer crisis of the 1980’s that led to the creation of Resolution Trust Corp. (the "RTC").  The results are not promising for any optimists other than those named Pangloss.

Navigant Consulting, Inc. provides business, regulatory and financial advisory services and it has released a study showing that the number of subprime-related cases filed in federal courts is already out-pacing the S&L crisis litigation in the early 1990’s.  This study noted that that subprime cases in 2007 already equaled half of the total 559 S&L cases handled by the RTC over a multi-year period, although this is only measuring federal court cases filed.  This notes that of the 278 cases filed in 2007 some 43% came from borrower class action suits, 22% came from securities cases, and 22% came from commercial contract disputes.

247WallSt.com would note that these only represent the cases for 2007.  The cases in 2008 are likely to dwarf the 2007 cases since these take time to file and much of the pending damages have either not yet happened or have not been able to be quantified.  The real damages and issues in 2007 were also not until the second half of the year.

We haven’t even seen all of the counterparty blow-ups come to pass yet.  We have yet to see any of the major financial institutions fail, and all of the bond insurers are still surviving.  Warren Buffett will only save entities that make financial sense.  We believe that the headlines coming are only going to get worse before they get better.  Stocks will continue to act on their own, and when these financial stocks do ultimately turn it will be long before we start seeing actual good headlines.  There is a reason we noted that financial mergers may become mandated rather than preferred.

Ultimately things will get better.  But there is much more pain to come.

Jon C. Ogg
February 14, 2008

Posted on: February 14, 2008 – 1:37 pm in Economy, Financial Stocks, , , , ,

Warren Buffett Ready To Save Muni Bond Insurance (BRK-A, ABK, MBI, SCA)

Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A, BRK-B) just appeared on CNBC with his plan to save the bond insurance business in the U.S. for municipal bond issuers.  He noted that last week he sent an offer to the top three bond insurers with a plan to acquire the outstanding municipal bond insurance operations of each.  His offer was roughly 1.5-times the remaining premiums left on the life of each insurance contract.

While we did not get a list of these, the two obvious ones are MBIA inc. (NYSE: MBI) and Ambac Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: ABK).  Presumably the third one would be FGIC, or likely it could be Security Capital Assurance Ltd. (NYSE: SCA).  Most shares are higher after Buffett came on CNBC with his plan:
SCA +9% at $2.24; MBI +3% at $14.00; ABK +4.5% at $10.96.

Mr. Buffett did note that this was initially a $5 Billion proposition and that he would keep all earnings inside the entities for a period of 10-years.  He also noted that one rebuffed his offer and two he has not heard back from.

What is important here is that this will at least take care of the municipal bond side even if those other bond insurance operations in mortgages, CDO’s, and CLO’s were to fail.  But Buffett is drawing his line in the sand on what risks he will take and which he will not take.  These plans would not include insuring mortgages, CDO’s and CLO’s.  That is why the bond insurers are not jumping at this offer.  They’d be giving away their top operations to feed their leeches.

He even made a note about how his new municipal bond insurance unit received a 2% premium merely to reinsure a muni that had already been insured so it could maintain its triple-A rating even if the bond insurer failed.  No wonder he’s willing to step up.  If you have a few billion dollars lying around and have a solid insurance holding company operations this sounds like a layup when you consider the fact that it takes the worst scenarios to cause municipal defaults.   

Perhaps the most important issue at hand is that this will at least put a floor on the blood-letting that has been seen in the municipal bond arena.  It won’t help the mortgage and CDO insurance operations, although there is an obvious tertiary benefit in that this at least in theory saves part of those businesses.

Jon C. Ogg
February 12, 2008

Posted on: February 12, 2008 – 8:54 am in Buffett, Financial Stocks, Turnarounds, , , , , , , ,

Barron’s Berkshire Hathaway Bashing Could Be Your Gain (BRK/A, BRK/B, BRK-A, BRK-B)

Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK/A) (NYSE:BRK/B) shares fell today after Barron’s called for investors to sell Warren Buffett’s growth machine.  This seemed like a long time since Berkshire Hathaway had gone down this much in a single session and it appears that this is the worst day in about 3 years.

Barron’s noted roughly a 30% rise since August 1 and a pre-drop market cap of about $220 Billion as the sixth largest US company.  Barron’s noted:

  • "Its stock now appears overpriced, reflecting a sizable premium for the skills of the 77-year-old Buffett. What’s Berkshire worth? Our estimate, based on several valuation measures, is around $130,000 a share – about 10% below the current quote."

We do agree with Barron’s that Wall Street (and us) would like to see his "whale of a deal" and we even went as far as to cover which stocks could fit the profile and take up some 75% of the cash positions at Berkshire Hathaway.   

The A-Shares closed down 4.6% at $136,400.00, and its 52-week trading range is $103,800.00 to $151,650.00.  The B-shares, the Baby-Buffetts, fell some 4.8% to $4,525.00.  The 52-week trading range is $3,460.00 to $5,059.00.  This now represents a 10% correction in Berkshire Hathaway stock from its yearly highs.

But where we disagree with Barron’s is that Berkshire Hathaway is done or overvalued.  Every time throughout Berkshire Hathaway’s history that shares have pulled back 10% it has represented a buying opportunity.  On days that the market rises, Berkshire Hathaway tends to rise.  On days the market is weak, traders tend to look to Berkshire Hathaway as a safe bet stock to hide money.  Even if Buffett is 77 years old and no heir has been declared, it’s just too hard to bet against the old guy.  He’s too down to earth and too forward about maintaining everything above the table.

Berkshire Hathaway has a lot riding on insurance and reinsurance, and Buffett makes no secret that the company has been lucky enough to avoid two straight hurricane seasons with any major US damage. 

The hit from Barron’s may have just opened up another opportunity for those whom have wanted to own Berkshire Hathaway stock.  Barron’s is right and we are wrong OR we’re right and Barron’s is wrong.  We’ll know down the road.

Jon C. Ogg
December 17, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he produces the SPECIAL SITUATION newsletter and he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: December 17, 2007 – 5:40 pm in Buffett, , , , , ,

Recession Central, Greenspan Speaks From The Crypt…So Does Everyone Else

Almost every single day there are reports of ‘greater and greater chances that the US is heading into a recession in 2008."  We aren’t trying to stand up as a fair weather forecaster, but interestingly enough it is amazing how all the over-reporting might make it happen even…. even if we would have escaped.

Here is our own list DEFENSIVE STOCKS where investors currently try to hide if they have to keep some money in stocks.

Jon C. Ogg
December 13, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: December 13, 2007 – 3:24 pm in Buffett, Economy, Media, , , ,

Will Warren Buffett Take Control Of Bear Stearns

The New York Times is reporting that Warren Buffett may be one of the people looking at taking a large interest in Bear Stearns (BSC), perhaps 20%. Bank of America (BAC) and Wachovia (WB) may also be kicking the tires.

For those who think it is far-fetched, recall that Buffett took control of Salomon Brothers in 1991, and pushed out "King of Wall Street" John Gutfreund.

The Times says that the investment may take the a form of convertible stock. A deal would probably be done at the current market value of the shares. No premium.

If the deal works like the Salomon one did, BSC CEO James E. Cayne may need a new job.

But, he probably does not need the money.  Here are some related articles for this topic:

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: September 26, 2007 – 2:24 pm in Brokerage Firms, Buffett, Financial Stocks, , , ,

Chasing Stocks of Forbes Richest Americans (MSFT, BRK-A, DELL, ORCL, GOOG, WMT, LVS, CHTR)

Forbes has released its list of the 400 wealthiest Americans.  We really wanted to see the corporate impact of the wealthy.  What is interesting is to compare how these companies tied to the super-wealthy have performed.  We did not include the companies where there are multiple ties not direct to an underlying public company and we eliminated the private company billionaires.

We did a list in order of the top 20, and consolidated the names where appropriate.  Based on the close of Thursday, September 20 the S&P 500 Index was up 7.08% year to date, and here is the performance each stock year to date based on a dividend adjusted close on December 29, 2006 (9/20 closing price included):

Microsoft (MSFT) $28.42; -3.8%
    William Gates III

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) $117,400 ;+6.73%
    Warren Buffett

Las Vegas Sands (LVS) $131.27; +46.7%
    Sheldon Adelson

Oracle (ORCL) $21.04; +22.75%
    Larry Ellison

Google (GOOG) $552.83; +20.05%
    Sergey Brin & Larry Page

Dell (DELL) $27.85; +11.00%
    Michael Dell 

Charter Communications (CHTR) $2.66; -13.07%
    Paul Allen

Wal-Mart (WMT) $44.32; -2.63%
    The Walton Clan: Jim, Christy, S. Robson, Alice

Microsoft (MSFT) $28.42; -3.8%
    Steven Ballmer

As you can see, not all of these are up.  But out of the shortened list  on a net-net basis you would have done well chasing the wealthiest in 2007.  No wonder so much attention is paid to when they invest in companies, but then everyone already knew that.  If you’d like to review the full list, you can link it here on the Forbes.com site.

Jon C. Ogg
September 21, 2007

Posted on: September 21, 2007 – 8:04 am in Buffett, Insider Activity, Media, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Berkshire Hathaway Keeps Chugging (BRK-A)

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK-A) has just posted some pretty killer earnings.  It posted $3,118.00 in EPS, but after you back out gains and other items you end up with $2,018.00 per share.  Unfortunately, there are not that many estimates on Berkshire Hathaway.  It looks like $1,444.00 was the estimate, but please check multiple sources before using this as gospel.  Here is the full SEC Filing. 

Warren Buffett is sitting on $39.936 Billion in cash as of the June 30 quarter end.  It holds $24.9 Billion in fixed income securities and $73.6 Billion in equity securities, and total assets are listed as $269 Billion.  Total liabilities are listed as $151.34 Billion.

Buffett said he’d love to do a WHALE OF AN ACQUISITION, so what is he waiting for?  He isn’t hurting for cash.  Here was a list of US stocks we gave in MAY that we felt could fit that bill for a whale of a deal.  Maybe he’s waiting to see if he gets through hurricane season with barely any scrapes from insurance and reinsurance losses.

Jon C. Ogg
August 3, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: August 3, 2007 – 4:16 pm in Buffett, Conglomerates, Earnings, , ,

Earnings Preview: Brookfield Asset Management (BAM, BRK-A)

Friday morning will be the earnings report for Brookfield Asset Management (NYSE:BAM) (and TSX:BAM). The problem with this ‘earnings’ for U.S. investors is that the company is based in Canada and First Call only has a few analysts covering it.  It looks like consensus estimates are $0.26 on EPS, but again we are reluctant to lean too much on a formal estimate based on thin coverage here of a company that will report in Canada and in the U.S.

This one got quite a recent following after Jim Cramer labeled it as potentially the ‘next Berkshire Hathaway’ recently at the end of June.  Since then shares have slid with the weak markets.  Shares are actually now in the lower-half of the $27.08 to $43.82 trading range of the last 52-weeks.  Maybe Warren Buffett is jealous.

The company on July 31 already said it would spin-off 60% of its infrastructure unit called Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. It will spin the stake off to holders of its Class A stock.  Brookfield will retain an approximate 40% equity interest in Brookfield Infrastructure and will manage its operations under a long-term management agreement.  Brookfield Infrastructure intends to seek a listing for its units on the New York Stock Exchange.

Brookfield will implement the spin-off by way of a special dividend currently estimated to be approximately US$1.00 per Brookfield Class A Share, or approximately $600 million in aggregate for 60% of the issued and outstanding interests in Brookfield Infrastructure.  Merrill Lynch & Co. and Citigroup are acting as financial advisors in connection with the spin-off.

According to the company: Brookfield Infrastructure will serve as the primary vehicle through which Brookfield will own and operate certain infrastructure assets on a global basis. Brookfield Infrastructure will focus on high quality, long-life assets that generate stable cash flows, require relatively minimal maintenance capital expenditures and, by virtue of barriers to entry and other characteristics, tend to appreciate in value over time. Its initial operations will consist of electricity transmission systems and timberlands, but Brookfield Infrastructure will seek acquisition opportunities in other sectors with similar attributes and where Brookfield’s operations oriented approach can be deployed to add value.

Jon C. Ogg
August 2, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: August 2, 2007 – 5:21 pm in Buffett, Conglomerates, Cramer, Earnings, , , , , ,