A Closer Look At Warren Buffett’s Investments
For those readers who follow the “Oracle of Omaha,” Warren Buffett, you’ll be pleased to know that his company, Berkshire Hathaway, has just disclosed its U.S. stock holdings as of March 31. He now owns 39 stocks for a total value of $66.5 billion, according to the website GuruFocus.com. So what’s changed?
• No new stocks are listed. However, as CNBC executive producer Alex Crippen noted yesterday afternoon in his blog “Warren Buffett Watch” (check it out!), “Remember, however, that Berkshire sometimes receives permission to hold back information about stocks it’s actively acquiring.”
• Buffett unloaded his Ameriprise Financial holdings
• In addition to Ameriprise, the legendary stock investor cut back his holdings of Iron Mountain Stake (28%) and Trane (less than 1%) from the fourth quarter.
• On the other hand, since the end of 2007 he has increased his stake in Ingersoll Rand (47%), United Health Group (6.7%), Wellpoint (6.7%), Burlington Northern Santa Fe (4.9%), US Bancorp (1.6%), Carmax (1.4%), Sanofi Aventis (0.5%), Wells Fargo (0.5%), and M&T Bank (0.1%).
Outside of U.S. equities, the richest man in the world has also been active in the municipal auction-rate bond market and is preparing to leave for Europe to see what kind of bargain businesses he can pick up there. Bloomberg’s Josh P. Hamilton and Erik Holm wrote earlier this morning:
Berkshire has spent $4 billion in the municipal auction-rate bond market, taking advantage of payouts that topped 10 percent after regular bidders fled, Buffett said at the annual meeting. Markets were so disrupted, he said, that bonds from the same issue were selling simultaneously from the same broker with yields of 6 percent and 11 percent.
“Those are extreme dislocations,” Buffett said during a question-and-answer session with shareholders on May 3. “Those are great times to make unusual amounts of money.”
Buffett will be in Europe next week meeting with owners of large family-run businesses as he looks to put $35 billion of cash to work.
Back on April 21, I noted that The Sunday Times (UK) was reporting that Warren Buffet might be acquiring a stake in two insurance businesses that belong to the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). However, according to CNBC’s Alex Crippen yesterday, Berkshire Hathaway won’t be participating in the bidding for the insurance unit of RBS.
Sources:
“Warren Buffett Buys Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., Kraft
Foods Inc., And IngersollRand Company Ltd., Sells Ameriprise
Financial Inc.”
GuruFocus.com, May 15, 2008
“Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Eliminates Ameriprise Stake, Adds to Ingersoll, Kraft and Healthcare Holdings”
Alex Crippen
CNBC, May 15, 2008
“Buffett’s Berkshire Won’t Bid for Royal Bank of Scotland’s Insurance Unit - Dow Jones”
Alex Crippen
CNBC, May 15, 2008
“Buffett’s Berkshire Boosts Kraft, Wells Fargo Stakes (Update1)”
Josh P. Hamilton, Erik Holm
Bloomberg, May 16, 2008
