No. of Recommendations: 33
Excuse the length of this post - I am on vacation and have some time on my hands.
The recent threads here about selling BRK (or APPL or anything else) based on market price and its relationship to book, as opposed to deciding if you are invested in a great company that will continue to be great and make money into the forseeble future -- largely ignoring market price except in extreme situations -- seem very un-WEB-like and un-Charlie-like to me, and they surprise me a little. Math is important, but it isn't everything.
I have held BRK for almost 30 years, through runups and LONG periods where the stock hardly seemed to move. When it fell (rarely), I bought more. I have done the same with AAPL, GLW, and am doing it now with DIS and PFE. (DG did not work out for me , and I resisted HSY and NSRGY.) I'm not an analyst, but I do follow the companies I invest in, both before and after, and I will exit regardless of price if the business is not performing as I expected or I lose confidence in the CEO (that's what happened with DG.) Stock price is not a factor in my decison-making except in the abstract. It is what it is. I'm much more interested in how the businesses are doing and who is running them. If I need money I tend to sell my laggards and let my winners run. My perspective is very long-term. I hate to lose money so I rarely speculate except when it is obviously easy money. It turns out I am usually not smarter than the other guy lol. I am on this board for fun and because I love BRK and the people who invest in it. It's a very unique company. IMO, the stock price rarely reflects its value, even now.
My take is that Greg is building a A-Team of managers to run the incredible portfolio of companies that WEB acquired over his lifetime. I have no idea how Pilot is doing, but I know Adam Wright has taken over, and that's all I need to know. Todd Coombs has his detractors, but what he is doing at GEICO is almost literally unbelievable. Others here must have their favorite BRK managers. I predict that a lot of great managers who hate working for jerks will now come to BRK. I also predict that BRK's current weakness (underperforming portfolio companies) will once again become its strength. Finally, I predict that BRK's stock market income will decline, but that will not be a sign that BRK has lost its touch but rather that it has regained it, because other earnings will increase. We are just starting to see it, and WEB's cash pile will guarantee that Greg has all the time he needs. When Greg and his team are ready, they will start buying companies again. Or he will sell them if that makes more sense. That's when the board of directors will become relevant.
I have no idea what Omaha is going to do with all the profits, but that's someone else's problem and I am not worried. And I am not selling.
Here's to the Managers! Here's to the long-term view!
abromber
No. of Recommendations: 9
The recent threads here about selling BRK (or APPL or anything else) based on market price and its relationship to book .................... seem very un-WEB-like and un-Charlie-like to me, and they surprise me a little. Math is important, but it isn't everything.
I have held BRK for almost 30 years, through runups and LONG periods where the stock hardly seemed to move. When it fell (rarely), I bought more.
That's easy to do if you are in the 1st half of your life, with constant income streams coming in from your work, and saving/investing part of that.
My impression is that nearly all posters here are not in that situation any more, are (partly far) into the 2nd half and adapting to that changed situation. Without constant income from work and - as many have written here - a Berkshire paying no dividend being their by far largest or - in my case currently - even their only investment: Where should that money to buy more if it falls come from?
In such a situation it's naturally the other way around, that you have to sell some shares of your largest/only investment from time to time to finance your living --- and for that Math is everything.
No. of Recommendations: 2
“My take is that Greg is building a A-Team of managers to run the incredible portfolio of companies that WEB acquired over his lifetime. I have no idea how Pilot is doing, but I know Adam Wright has taken over, and that's all I need to know. Todd Coombs has his detractors, but what he is doing at GEICO is almost literally unbelievable. Others here must have their favorite BRK managers. I predict that a lot of great managers who hate working for jerks will now come to BRK.”Noting that Berkshire Hathaway’s HomeServices of America has just promoted EVP Chris Kelly to be the new CEO, as former CEO Gino Blefari steps into a new role as chairman emeritus.
https://www.housingwire.com/articles/homeservices-...Meanwhile, Vicky Holub wants BRK to buy OXY so she can work for Greg and the BRK board.
https://www.barrons.com/articles/occidental-ceo-be...I will be interested in hearing about the operating companies at the annual meeting.
abromber
