No. of Recommendations: 3
In 2018 with the adoption of accounting standards Update number 2016-01 issued by the FASB....it required companies to include UNREALIZED Gains and losses from equity investments in their net income.
Comparisons to a period when Berkshire could record those gains or loses in comprehensive income--to me are not useful ( I like the old rules better, so does Waren but...)
Comparisons to book value multiples with respect to both the composition of the company's investments AND the major accounting change--are, particularly, potentially quite misleading. My editorial judgment--useless. But to each his own.
Berkshire's present valuation is not cheap by any means. But it's not as expensive as you think. He bought the stock at an all-in after buyback tax price of $410--with a required margin of safety...
