No. of Recommendations: 2
As I feared might happen, Berkshire's book value per share grew less in Q1 than the average quarterly growth rate since 2000. BVPS grew 1% in Q1, versus about 2.5% on average since 2000 (average of all quarters, not just first quarters). This slower than average growth had nothing to do with Berkshire; it was the economy. GDP fell 0.3% in Q1. Q2 will also be challenging. GDPNow is forecasting 1.1% annualized GDP growth in Q2, which feels high given the trade issues, but the GDPNow model uses more data and better analysis than my gut does.
