No. of Recommendations: 14
Average P/B since the credit crunch just a hair under 1.38
Let's say 1.4 is pretty normal in the modern era.
For years now, it has felt like P/B should be an outdated, unreliable metric for BRK value. The more BRK moves away from being primarily a financial company (e.g., insurance), and the more its results are driven by the operating businesses, the more it should be valued using other metrics. But you have provided convincing evidence that the market doesn't seem to be valuing it that way even though Buffett has been pushing a sum of its parts valuation using the 5 groves approach. Too complicated for the market? Conglomerate discount?
I wonder if the divergence between value assessed using P/B and value based on actual understanding of its distinct businesses is finally started to change under the weight of its divergence. Seems premature for me to conclude that, I know. Its only a very recent period that seems to break the bands of P/B under which BRK has been trading for many years. But its struck me that the fact that it has adhered so closely to the P/B band Jim has shown in his data tracking is the real data anomaly. It shoudn't be the case, given the changes in the business. People on this board recognize that implicitly every time we complain that the business is being undervalued by the market. Maybe this is the period when that reassessment of valuation methods occurs.
I am also not a buyer at these levels but its nice to finally see BRK trading above 1.5 P/B. Look forward to reading the annual report tomorrow.
