WEB:The Oracle of Omaha- Warren Buffett
- MichaelC_AU
- Hugs
- RandeS
- JenL_3
- JenL_3
- JenL_3
- MichaelC_AU
- JS_Mill
- RandeS
- JenL_3
This archived discussion is "read only".
For the corresponding "live" discussions, post in the active topic forum here.
« Previous 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Next »
» 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
» 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
» 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
» 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
» 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
» 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
» JS_Mill - little quibble
Rande said:
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.
Which is true, but I have to add my little quibble:
Buffet notoriously manages his companies for cashflow rather than accounting earnings, so Michael is right in that you have to be careful in studying the accounts. Unlike a lot of corporate managers, Buffet would rather be rich than have "steady earnings growth". So he doesn't tend to stay out of good insurance business with poor accounting treatments, or to jump backwards through hoops to gain pooling-of-interest treatment. So it's possible that poor earnings growth conceals strong cash growth, particularly if there's a big goodwill amortisation in there.
I'm not trying to claim that I know the truth about B-Hathaway (I don't cover it ... yet, and have never read the accounts). But it is possible in principle that Michael has a point.
jsm
(PS my personal opinion is that Buffet is a lucky stiff rather than a genius investor, but I'd swap my asset portfolio for his any time. And (controversial opinion) I bet Bill Gates would too).
-- posted by JS_Mill
» RandeS - JS,
JS,You might be right about the "lucky stiff" part -- just as was the case with Lynch, there's nothing like being in the right place at the right time. Still, skill certainly seems to have played no small part. Re earnings, I don't claim to have any more knowldege about their accounting practices than anyone else. My only point is that however they calculate earnings, as long as the methodology is consistent the numbers didn't look so hot on a year-over-year basis.
-- posted by RandeS
» JenL_3 - Speaking of Buffet
copied from the "Your Favorite Stock Market Guru" thread:Author: Slick
Date: September 12, 1999 10:09 AM
Subject: Speaking of Buffet
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=brkb&d=b
Hard times be fallin, the " Oracle of Omaha"
Best Regards---Slick
-- posted by JenL_3
« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Next »
Please follow the guidelines set forth in the Suite101 Posting Etiquette when adding to the discussion.