WEB:The Oracle of Omaha- Warren Buffett


  1. MichaelC_AU
  2. RandeS
  3. MichaelC_AU
  4. MichaelC_AU
  5. Hugs
  6. RandeS
  7. JenL_3
  8. JenL_3
  9. JenL_3
  10. MichaelC_AU

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Top 71.   Aug 17, 1999 8:03 AM

» MichaelC_AU - Obviously

Obviously, I also focus on earnings, remember my slammings of Tony and other internuts. I don't own any BrkBs.

But on to the purely theoretical debate on the value of Brk. How do know what the earnings are? Does the Berkshire Income Statement reflect the respective earnings of KO, G, Dis, See's Candy's, Dairy Queen, etc?

I don't think it does for KO, G, & Dis. Doesn't GAAP dictate that stocks held for investment be valued and their gain or loss in market value reflected on the IS?
I can't remember, but maybe there are different requirements based on how much of a company is held.

-- posted by MichaelC_AU



Top 72.   Aug 17, 1999 8:13 AM

» RandeS - Evidently there is some methodolgy.

Evidently there is some methodolgy. Again, here's the numbers from CBSMarketWatch.com:

Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA: news, msgs) said it netted $376 a share in the second period vs. $947 in the same period a year ago.

Seems pretty clear-cut.

-- posted by RandeS



Top 73.   Aug 17, 1999 1:54 PM

» MichaelC_AU - It can not be clear cut.

Have you ever looked at a BRK annual report it is not clear cut! You could probally start a field of study for Berkshires earnings alone!

-- posted by MichaelC_AU



Top 74.   Aug 17, 1999 2:16 PM

» MichaelC_AU - WEB Quote

It appears as if WEB is a very carefull and particular investor. He could go a long time without any purchases, until an undervalued stock appears in his view, which is limited to what he understands. And this fine to him because in the passage below he recomends only 20 purchases per lifetime. These 20 are the result of thorough analysis of management and fundamentals. If he were looking at BRK for the first time today I doubt he would just look at the "reported earnings" and say to himself "'evidently' this is a bad investment." No he would waste hours deep thinking about one of the world's most interesting critters. That is what I am enjoying doing.

I copied this from TMFPanic from May 99:

The bold is the Buffett part.

http://www.fool.com/dripport/1999/drippo...

So, how many DRPs should you hold in your own portfolio in order to realize your long-term goals? We don't know. It depends on your individual financial situation, the goals that you have set for yourself, your ability to tolerate or ignore volatility, and the confidence you have in the growth prospects of the companies in which you choose to invest. Maybe one DRP will do the trick, or maybe more will be needed to allow you to sleep well at night. The point here is that all investors are different and there is no magic diversification number."

When thinking about choosing stocks for this portfolio, I often recall this short anecdote from Warren Buffett that Buffett's long-time pal and business associate Charlie Munger relayed in a speech carried by Outstanding Investor Digest: When Warren lectures at business schools, he says, "I could improve your ultimate financial welfare by giving you a ticket with only 20 slots in it so that you had 20 punches -- representing all the investments that you got to make in a lifetime. And once you'd punched through the card, you couldn't make any more investments at all."

He says, "Under those rules, you'd really think carefully about what you did and you'd be forced to load up on what you'd really thought about. So
you'd do so much better."

To Jeff and me, that kind of thinking makes crystal-clear sense.

-- posted by MichaelC_AU



Top 75.   Aug 17, 1999 2:44 PM

» Hugs - Most interesting.

And it makes more sense with each reading or rethinking of it. Perhaps the greatest problem of such sound advice is the cost of it. The natural tendency is not to pay close enough attention to the "free" stuff.

Hu

-- posted by Hugs



Top 76.   Aug 17, 1999 3:21 PM

» RandeS - Michael,

Michael,

I don't know enough about Berkshire's accounting practices to disagree with you on whether their reported earnings are "clear cut" or not. I am, of course, making an assumption that an enterprise headed by Warren Buffett knows what it's doing when it reports its earnings. I would also assume the board of directors and significant shareholders would be concerned with the computations of earnings. In any event, aslong as the methodology is consistent, the way they are computed is less important than the year-over-year change. Unless the company has announced some major change in accounting practices from the prior-year period that would account for such a significant drop in net income, it remains "clear cut" -- earnings stink on a comparative basis.

-- posted by RandeS



Top 77.   Aug 20, 1999 10:48 PM

» JenL_3 - Warren Buffet Valuation Spreadsheet

If you register for a free 2 wks trial subscription to....

American Assoc. of Individual Investors AAII.com

You receive free Software Downloads like the Warren Buffett Valuation Spreadsheet.

I haven't registered yet, so I don't know what that entails......Jen

-- posted by JenL_3



Top 78.   Sep 1, 1999 7:06 AM

» JenL_3 - Portrait of an Artist

This Special Report from fool.com:

Buffett: Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man

<img src=" http://www.geocities.com/WallStreet/Dist... " width=100 height=80>

…….Jen

-- posted by JenL_3



Top 79.   Sep 6, 1999 8:14 PM

» JenL_3 - The Oracle of Omaha

Excellent article on Warren Buffet from salon.com through cyberinvesting.com:

Warren Buffet - The Oracle of Omaha

<img src=" http://www.geocities.com/WallStreet/Dist..." width=284 height=335>

Thanks for the link vh1....Jen

-- posted by JenL_3



Top 80.   Sep 7, 1999 7:58 AM

» MichaelC_AU - Forbes

The last Forbes issue on the richest Americans listed a dozen or so of individuals who amassed fortunes in BRK stock. It was very interesting.

The word artist in your previous post made me think of this magazine, because one such couple used their fortune to smuggle art out of the USSR and donated all or most of it to museums.

-- posted by MichaelC_AU



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