To The Moon

🌟🌟🌟On Saturday over 40,000 people attended the Berkshire Hathaway's Annual Meeting in Omaha Nebraska to listen to Warren Buffett speak.  This is a poignant meeting without his right hand man, the late Charlie Munger.   Early birds aiming for a good seat had the chance to enter the convention centre as early as 2am on Saturday. 

Berkshire Hathaway posted an operating profit which includes earnings from its businesses surging 39% to USD 11.22 billion year on year.  This was due to a 185% year on year increase in insurance underwriting earnings to USD 2.598 billion from just USD 911 million.  Geico earnings swelled 174% to USD 1.928 billion from USD 703 million a year earlier.  Insurance investment income also increased by 32% to more than USD 2.5 billion. 

Berkshire Hathaway's railroad business brought in USD 1.14 billion in profit, down slightly from Q1 23.  Its Energy Division saw earnings almost doubled to USD 717 million from USD 416 million a year. 

However Berkshire Hathaway's Q1 24 net earnings fell 64% to USD 12.7 billion.  This includes fluctuations from Berkshire stock investments.   Warren Buffett said these unrealised investing gains or losses each quarter are meaningless and misleading.  However it is required to report these figures based on accounting principles. 

Berkshire Hathaway's cash hoard has reached a record high of USD 188.99 billion, up from USD 167.6 billion in Q4 23.  Warren Buffett said that he and his deputies will only "swing at pitches" they like.  In other words, they have not found suitable investments. 

What is noteworthy is that Warren Buffett trimmed his Apple stake by 13% due to tax reasons.  However $Apple(AAPL)$   still remains Berkshire Hathaway 's largest stock.  CEO Tom Cook was there at the meeting, saying that he knew about the sale prior to Saturday and considers it a privilege to have Berkshire Hathaway as one of its major shareholders. 

Berkshire Hathaway also bought back USD 2.6 billion in stock, up from USD 2.2 billion  in Q4 23.

Performance wise $Berkshire Hathaway(BRK.B)$ is up 10.6% year todate.  In 2023 its share price has risen by 23%.  In the past 5 years, Berkshire Hathaway is up a huge 91%.

Wall Street Analysts are bullish on Berkshire Hathaway with a Buy rating, Target price of USD 443.00, an upside potential of 10.7%.

Warren Buffett paid a tribute to Charlie Munger with a short movie.  It featured clips of Charlie Munger 's appearances over the years as well as clips of Charlie Munger' s memorable lines at past annual meetings.  He received a standing ovation from the participants. 

Warren Buffett said that in terms of managing money there wasn't anybody better in the world to talk to for many decades than Charlie. 

As at April 26 2024, Berkshire Hathaway 's USD 372 billion portfolio is spread across 45 stocks and 2 index funds.  However a small number of these holdings make up the lion' s share of invested assets. 

Apple is the Top holding at USD 153.3 billion in market value, representing 41.2% of invested assets.  Warren Buffett's love for Apple comes down to 4 factors - its Branding, Innovation, Management and Capital returns. 

$Bank of America(BAC)$  is the 2nd highest at USD 39.1 billion in market value representing 10.5% of invested assets.  Bank of America is the 2nd largest US bank.  With the Feds taking a higher for longer interest rate stance, Bank of America is generating billions of dollars in added interest income each quarter. 

Warren Buffett also mentioned that Greg Abel will make Berkshire Hathaway's investing decisions when he is gone as Warren Buffett said that Greg Abel understands businesses extremely well.  Warren Buffett also said that he hopes he can come back next year. 

Investing in Berkshire Hathaway is like investing in an ETF.  Warren Buffett has  selected his stocks extremely well and allowed the magic of compounding to happen over a long term horizon. 

Warren Buffett said Buy Wonderful Companies at Fair Price and his favourite holding period is Forever.   

Berkshire Hathaway is on the cusp of joining the Trillion Dollar Club with the current market capitalisation of USD 862.05 billion.  How amazing it is to think that 2 very special people Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger started it all in 1978 and through the ups and downs of the market make Berkshire Hathaway such a great company it is today. 

May Warren Buffett continue this incredible journey for many years to come.  Long Live Warren Buffett. 

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