I go over Berkshire Hathaway’s latest buys and sells in their common stock portfolio each quarter, after their latest 13F is released. I’m a huge fan of Warren Buffett, as are millions of other investors around the world. And so it’s a great honor to see what he’s up to. You can see the excerpt below, which is part of a full article I wrote for Daily Trade Alert. Enjoy!
Warren Buffett’s latest trades were just revealed via the most recent Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B) 13F filing, which is a filing that gives us information on all of the transactions that took place over the first quarter of 2018 — the quarter ending March 31 — in the stock portfolio managed by the legendary investor.
This filing can provide some valuable insight into where Warren Buffett thinks the best investments might lie.
Now, it might not make sense to piggyback on his trades and simply buy and/or sell whatever he has because these filings are generally released 45 days after the most recent quarter ended, but it would appear to be an intelligent move to investigate exactly where the most successful investor of all time is (and isn’t) putting his capital to work.
It’s also important to note that Buffett allows two other executives – Todd Combs and Ted Weschler – to authorize smaller transactions, so it’s difficult sometimes to decipher who bought and/or sold what.
Below, I’m going to go over every transaction and give some quick thoughts on each respective company.
Image courtesy of: DonkeyHotey via Flickr.
I really think that Buffet and Federer should have joined you for your birthday. You spend so much time watching Roger play tennis, and Buffet making trades and sitting in a chair being interviewed… the least they could do is return the favor. I could totally see Buffet appreciating the value proposition of your 2 meals a day as long as he could have a coke with the meal. Federer, probably not so much. He would drive up in his Mercedes, wearing his Rolex, decked out in Nike gear (you guys would be thick as thieves on that one). Just dreaming out loud:P
Andrew,
Maybe for my 40th?
A guy can dream. 🙂
Cheers!
I like this summary Jason. Very insightful to see what the big guy and his team are up to. Thanks for putting it together. Tom
Tom,
Always enjoy putting it together. 🙂
Best regards.
We all have many reasons to admire Warren Buffett, for his incredible stock picking career, his philanthropic work, and his down home way of making complex things sound so easy for the avg person. Other than buying BRK.B and looking at it as an etf or mutual fund of stocks, I can think of several reasons why to not react to his buys & sells for individual stocks. One you already pointed out in the 45 days delay in reporting, so it is not up to the minute. Second, we have no idea which stocks or what portion were bought or sold as the result of puts or calls he exercised. Third, he sometimes buys stocks with little to no dividend, since he looks for total return, and Berkshire doesn’t pay a dividend. This doesn’t do us, who rely on dividend to live on, any good. Fourth, he often changes his mind on stocks or sectors, and we are not privy to the reasons. He used to say he doesn’t buy tech stocks because they are not in his circle of competence, and doesn’t understand them, but now Apple is his biggest holding. He used to hate all airline stocks and called them his worst investment ever, but now he owns several. He called IBM a core holding that he would never sell, and now is out of it altogether. Unless the average investor is sitting in his office in Omaha with him, I think you are better off owning the sum of the parts and not the individual stocks that make up Berkshire.
Brian,
Hey, that’s fair. Buffett’s moves may not provide value/insight for everyone.
But I think a lot of that criticism is poorly placed – or even flat out wrong.
Just because you’re a long-term investor, that doesn’t mean you can’t, or shouldn’t, ever sell. I mean, things change. You change with them. To stay invested in a business when it’s no longer fitting your investment thesis would be a very dumb thing to do, in my opinion. Moreover, the IBM investment in particular dates back to 2011. That’s seven years ago. I think that’s longer than most so-called “long-term investors” would hold on to an investment for anyway. At least from what I’ve seen. Seven years isn’t quite long term. Even a decade isn’t a very long time. But it’s not like he flipped on the thing in a month.
Most stocks he buys – especially the stocks he goes heavy on – are dividend growth stocks. They’re at the very least dividend payers. And they often sport the aspects/fundamentals that investors like myself (and those that read what I write) are after. It’s not always the case. But it often is. That’s why this stuff is of value.
You criticize/question the Apple investment in one breath (which isn’t even really a tech company at this point), then talk about how he buys stocks that pay little to no dividend in another. Apple is the biggest position in the portfolio. And it’s literally the biggest dividend payer in the world. So it’s hard to take your comment too seriously. A small handful of positions make up the vast majority of the portfolio. And those same stocks are high-quality dividend growth stocks. My inkling is that many of the smaller positions that aren’t necessarily Buffett-like are coming from his lieutenants.
Either way, best of luck with the investments. 🙂
Cheers.
As stated, we are both huge Buffett fans, but to not be subject to critique is wrong. When I think of a core holding, I think of a stock or several stocks that are you core holding, I think of ones that you ( I’ll use his words, not mine) hold forever. He was still buying this core stock He was on CNBC on Feb 29/2016 & said he has never sold a share of IBM & will continue to add, which he did. He also said it could be a mistake. In speaking to Washington State economic students, when asked about investing in Microsoft or Apple, he said they are not in his circle of knowledge. Btw, Apple pays 1.72% after their recent raise, so for retirees, like myself, who count on a decent dividend, it is far from what we need at present, but for someone your age, the dividend will grow over time. He stated several times about the airline stocks, so I won’t dwell on it. I don’t think I am wrong at all, because I am using his own words, and have no problem with him changing his mind ( we all do), and that is why I say better to buy Brk.B than the individual stocks in it, provided you don’t need a dividend. Best of luck to you, as well. I always enjoy bouncing investment ideas off of those who enjoy it as much as I do.
Brian,
Right. I’m not saying he (or anyone else) is not subject to critique. There is a lot one could critique about Buffett. The whole Kay Graham thing, for instance? What I was saying is that your critique is based on faulty logic.
If you want to use Buffett’s own words, as it pertains to you getting stuck on “forever”, Buffett cleared this up very well years ago:
“Sometimes the comments of shareholders or media imply that we will own certain stocks “forever.” It is true that we own some stocks that I have no intention of selling for as far as the eye can see (and we’re talking 20/20 vision). But we have made no commitment that Berkshire will hold any of its marketable securities forever.
Confusion about this point may have resulted from a too-casual reading of Economic Principle 11 on pages 110 – 111, which has been included in our annual reports since 1983. That principle covers controlled businesses, not marketable securities. This year I’ve added a final sentence to #11 to ensure that our owners understand that we regard any marketable security as available for sale, however unlikely such a sale now seems.”
That’s from the 2016 report. There is nothing “forever” about his stock investments. He’ll hold on to MARKETABLE SECURITIES for as long as it remains prudent, which would preferably be for a very long time. Businesses bought outright are rarely, if ever, sold.
I also find it very strange to say it’s better to buy Berkshire stock (which doesn’t pay a dividend) than the individual stocks in their portfolio (many of which pay large dividends), yet also say Apple doesn’t pay a big enough dividend. I’m flabbergasted. Again – we’ll use our words – you criticized Buffett for not buying stocks that pay dividends, yet that’s almost exclusively what he buys. You seem to question whether or not he’s a long-term investor, when that’s precisely what he is. The logic is faulty. I don’t know what else I can say.
We can critique Buffett for many things. But you’re nitpicking non-existent issues here.
Cheers.
Interesting that the stock is well off the highs, which surprises me as the market has rebounded. Plus first quarter operating results were terrific, and released after the highs of $217 in January. Operating and investment cash flows average $3B a month so I’m not very worried, plus I don’t plan to sell anytime soon. What makes this such a good investment for me is that I’m in quite a different place in life right now. High income and tax rate means I really don’t want the dividends paid to me. I’ll just let Warren keep them and invest them for me! 🙂
JayP,
One could do a lot worse than let Warren invest for them. 🙂
Cheers!