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- Manlobbi
Halls of Shrewd'm / US Policy
No. of Recommendations: 10
Warren Buffett Timed His Apple Stock Sale to Perfection. What’s Next?
Berkshire Hathaway’s huge cash pile has investors wondering what he’ll buy and when
When Warren Buffett hosts “Woodstock for Capitalists” 11 days from now, he’ll have replaced one pesky question with another.
Berkshire Hathaway is sitting on more cash than any company in history, including its own, at about $318 billion. Much of it piled up the old-fashioned way, in a steady stream from the conglomerate’s subsidiaries and investments. That got turbocharged last year when Berkshire sold a large chunk of its stock portfolio—notably shares of Apple.
The gigantic bet dating to 2016 had made some investors nervous. Now that the iPhone maker has lost $1 trillion, or a quarter of its value, since its December peak, Buffett looks prescient.
But is his massive cash-hoard part of a grand plan to swoop in and buy stocks cheaply now that a possible bear market looms? And does Buffett anticipate tariff-induced chaos getting so bad that Berkshire can earn another bonanza bailing out blue chip companies, as he did during the financial crisis? https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/warren-buffe...
No. of Recommendations: 3
Warren Buffett Timed His Apple Stock Sale to Perfection.
I don't know how that can say that right now with a straight face.
Berkshire purchased meaningful numbers of Apple shares through 2018 at excellent prices. But Berkshire sold Apple beginning in 2019 at $50-60, in 2020 at $110-120, in 2024 mostly at $180-190, and some at $223 in Q3. The biggest transactions by far were the ones in 2024 at $180-190 (over 500 million shares worth nearly $100B.
The stock today is still above that average price.
My sales of Apple late last year were at 232.50 (a very small amount via exercised October calls I sold), 252.57 (the bulk of this sequence of sales), and 255.62. I paid 23.8% of the proceeds in capital gains tax (and it was almost all gains because the basis was almost negligible), so I am still not "break even" (meaning I could buy back the same number of shares at a lower net price) when considering the tax impact. It would have to be around $190 to be able to do so.
No. of Recommendations: 2
“ Warren Buffett Timed His Apple Stock Sale to Perfection.
I don't know how that can say that right now with a straight face.“ Most of the press is a national embarrassment, even financial reporting.
No. of Recommendations: 2
"Warren Buffett Timed His Apple Stock Sale to Perfection."
I don't know how that can say that right now with a straight face.
After this what you are saying?
The biggest transactions by far were the ones in 2024 at $180-190 (over 500 million shares worth nearly $100B ..... The stock today is still above that average price.
He started buying in 2016 for $25 or so (I didn´t look up the exact numbers, sorry), continued to buy far below that average sales price in the following years, made an absolute killing.
And that´s not perfect because for a mere 1/2 year it was 20% higher (and now essentially back to it)? In my book that is perfect. Amazing.
No. of Recommendations: 0
Ok, as I don't read WSJ etc. I completely missed your point which was the opposite of how I interpreted it, sorry!
No. of Recommendations: 2
After this what you are saying?
I was commenting on ONE sentence in the WSJ piece. And I quoted the sentence that I was commenting on. That sentence says "Warren Buffett Timed His Apple Stock Sale to Perfection." It doesn't say anything about the overall trade, which was superb (biggest single stock trade capital gain EVER), it is only saying something about the perfect timing of the sale. And I am saying that it isn't "perfect", it's really quite good, it's even excellent, but it's not "perfect".
No. of Recommendations: 11
Warren's investment and then sale of Apple stock was the single largest and most successful trade in stock market history. End of story.
And for some private investor here to boast about how they did better with their tiny number of shares has no understanding or appreciation whatsoever of how difficult it is to operate in major size.
No. of Recommendations: 4
Warren's investment and then sale of Apple stock was the single largest and most successful trade in stock market history. End of story.I
literally wrote that exact sentiment in my post about it!!!
https://www.shrewdm.com/MB?pid=174572142It's amazing how reading comprehension has suffered in recent decades. I was clearly not criticizing WEB or Berkshire on their Apple trades, I was criticizing the use of the word "perfection" by the journalist who wrote the piece. Sheesh!
