Warren Buffett 02 (Feb 10 - May 15)

[kennynah]

S&P Erred in Cutting U.S. Rating: Buffett

By Betty Liu and Andrew Frye - Aug 7, 2011 7:56 AM GMT+0800

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-0 ... ssion.html

of cos he'd say that....mr america....

[winston]

Warren Buffett just lost an incredible amount of money

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A), whose top three shareholdings declined by about $1.6 billion last week, disclosed its biggest quarterly purchase of equities in almost three years.

Berkshire bought $3.62 billion of stock in the three months ended June 30, the most since it spent $3.94 billion in the third quarter of 2008, the Omaha, Nebraska-based company said late Aug. 5 in a filing. Equity purchases exceeded acquisitions of fixed-maturity securities for the first time since 2009.


Source: Bloomberg

[iam802]

Buffet also wants a 'quadruple A' rating on US.

I think, he is also getting old (....)

[LenaHuat]

Hi iam802
Thank QQ for the post. He is bullish about equities but just got the timing wrong.

Equity purchases exceeded acquisitions of fixed-maturity securities for the first time since 2009.

[millionairemind]

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
Stop Coddling the Super-Rich
By WARREN E. BUFFETT
Published: August 14, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/opini ... fet&st=cse

[LenaHuat]

WB stopped at 'coddling'. I would go beyond it. It is mollycoddling.
Likewise, we should also stop mollycoddling the rich and stop being so pro-business here. Labor needs a louder voice.

[winston]

Buffett Says Housing Is Key To Recovery by John Reese

Warren Buffett says that the housing market remains the key to the economic recovery, and the key to getting the U.S.’s unemployment rate to fall significantly. He also says he thinks housing may turn around sooner than many think.

“Unemployment will fall significantly, in my view, when we get back up to a million housing starts,” Buffett tells Charlie Rose. “We’ve recovered on corporate profits, we’ve recovered in terms of getting the banks back in shape—banks are in good shape now—we’ve recovered in all kinds of areas.

Corporate America is doing fine in most areas. It’s not doing fine in things tied to residential construction. That won’t come back until we work off the excess inventory. But the amount of excess inventory is not as high as a lot of people think, in my judgment.”

Buffett says he thinks the housing market could work off its excess inventory before mid-2013. The broad impact of the housing market, which impacts not only homebuilders but other industries (carpet companies are one example), is what’s needed to make a big dent in the unemployment rate, he says. When the U.S. gets back up to a million housing starts a month, Buffett says the unemployment rate will fall below 7%.

Buffett also discusses entitlement reform; the need for politicians to get things done rather than use issues “as weapons”; and how the U.S. is becoming a nation of “super-haves” and have-nots. He reiterates his belief that the country won’t go into a double-dip recession, unless one of two things occurs:
Confidence in the country’s leaders is eroded to such a point that people talk themselves into a “huge funk,” or the European debt troubles spill over to the U.S., both of which he says are unlikely.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/investor/20 ... -recovery/

[winston]

What Are You Thinking, Warren?

Warren Buffett dropped $5,000,000,000 into beleaguered Bank of America (BAC) on Thursday, August 25.

In a cookie cutter statement, Buffett said, “I am impressed with the profit-generating abilities of this franchise, and that they are acting aggressively to put their challenges behind them.”

He continued, “Bank of America is focused on their customers and on serving them well. That’s what customers want, and that’s the company’s strategy.”

Thanks for the lip service, Buffett.

What’s really going on in that head of yours?

Right now, every investment expert across America is doing their best to peer into Buffett’s mind to figure out his motive for such a risky bet.

Let’s take a look at a few of them:


Theory 1: Be Fearful When Others Are Greedy, Be Greedy When Others Are Fearful. This is classic “Buffettism.” The Oracle of Omaha merely saw a stock that is trading at $6 that should be trading at $14. The company is in better shape than most believe. That made this beaten-down behemoth a good purchase. After all, Berkshire Hathaway is sitting on a TON of cash. It’s time to start spending it.


Theory 2: Obama Asked Buffett For a Favor

In fear of a “Banking Meltdown Part 2,” Obama had a meeting with Buffett to encourage him to buy this “too big to fail” bank with both hands. Buffett, out of patriotic duty, obliged. After all, it was Buffett who told D.C. to “stop coddling the rich,” in a recent New York Times article. Both Obama and Buffett know that the dollars invested in BAC is worth a lot more to the bank . . . because where Buffett goes, so goes his investor fan base.


Theory 3: It’s Just a Safe Play In Preferred Stocks With a Warrant

Buffett is getting an amazing deal from Bank Of America. This deal however is not available to the rest of the market. The preferred stock has a dividend of 6% per annum, payable in equal quarterly installments, and is redeemable by the company at any time at a 5% premium.

And it’s tax advantaged! In conjunction with this agreement, Berkshire Hathaway will also receive warrants to purchase 700 million shares of Bank of America common stock at an exercise price of $7.14 a share.

I put my hat in with those that follow Theory 3.

This is a safe play that is not available to the average investor. And it was a smart move by Bank of America.

Just think about it for a second. If BAC went out requesting $5 billion in loans, their stock would have tanked because it would have been seen as a desperate move to raise additional capital to avoid a complete collapse.

However, quietly approaching Warren Buffett for the $5 billion and making a big announcement puts a nice positive spin on the purchase.

So Buffett made a great investment for him. But it is not the same investment opportunity available to you.

When the Sage goes out and starts buying common stock, perhaps I will have a change of mind.

http://www.yolohub.com/economy/what-are ... ing-warren

[kennynah]

is some one calling warren to task him how he is doing with his latest pet BoA buy

[winston]

How much did WB lost ? US$6b ?

What the World's Best Investor Is Buying Now
By Dr. Steve Sjuggerud
Tuesday, September 27, 2011


Up 490,409%.

That number is not a misprint. That is the amount that Warren Buffett – the greatest investor of all time – has increased shareholder equity in his company, Berkshire Hathaway, since he took over in 1965.

Traditionally, Buffett has used the cash that comes into his company to buy cheap companies. He's always on the hunt for fantastic value.

But apparently, Mr. Buffett thinks the best value in the stock market today is his own company… Yesterday, Berkshire announced it's buying back shares of its own stock. This could be the perfect opportunity for us to get into the company, too…

"The underlying businesses of Berkshire are worth considerably more [than the stock market value]," the company said in a statement.

Shares of Berkshire are cheap by any traditional measure. For example, Berkshire is trading close to its "book value." Whenever that's happened in the past, it's been a great time to buy the stock. Take a look:

Buffett's favorite rough gauge of his own company is book value. This measure is so important to him, he shows a table of the growth in book value in every annual report before his letter to shareholders.

Shares of Berkshire got this cheap compared to book value in the dot-com era back in 2000, when "boring" moneymakers like Buffett were cast aside as "too old to get it." And Berkshire got this cheap again in the great bust in March 2009, when it felt like the financial world was coming to an end.

If you were bold enough to buy at either of these times, you'd have been a happy investor 12-18 months later.

This is the first time Berkshire has bought back its own shares. It tells us that the world's best investor thinks his own business is dirt-cheap.

Berkshire has plenty of cash to commit to this program – $48 billion of it. And the company announced it was willing to pay up to 1.1 times book value for its own stock… which means it's willing to pay nearly $109,000 per "A" share or roughly $72.50 per "B" share. (These numbers are not exact, just close and easy to remember.)

I think this creates a "floor" in the stock price. Any time the stock falls much below that, Berkshire will buy it… or investors will buy it thinking that Berkshire will. As I write, both share classes are below those prices.

I love it… Your downside is limited (thanks to the new buyback creating a "floor" and investors that will follow suit). Meanwhile, your upside is unlimited – and the world's greatest investor is managing your money.

My True Wealth subscribers already own the stock. And now is the best time in decades for you to buy it, too…

Source: Daily Wealth