Thank you for sharing this excerpt. It is insightful.

If I recall correctly, Mr. Buffett paid around $323 per B share when buying back stock more than a year ago (I could be off a bit as I'm going by memory). Given that Berkshire's intrinsic value has likely risen by around 10 percent since then, and also that Mr. Buffett would not have bought back the stock unless it was at least at a 10 percent discount to intrinsic value, does this mean that the intrinsic value now is at least $323 X 1.1/0.9 = $394.77?

That price corresponds to a P/B of $394.77/$231.95 = 1.70.

Does this also mean that, in terms of P/B, the intrinsic value is around a P/B of 1.70?

If so, this would be higher than what I (and probably some others on this board) have assumed in the recent past (intrinsic value = around 1.5 or 1.55 X book value).

Could it be, at least in part, for this reason that Mr. Buffett asks us to no longer rely on increases in book value to estimate Berkshire's performance and that book value is a 'metric that has lost the relevance it once had'?

Berkshire Hathaway FAQ

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