Eldad

Yes! Look at any American company vs their European counterpart. Buybacks, ROE, ROIC almost always leaps and bounds better on USA side. US companies are still bloodthirsty capitalists that put the shareholder first. Europe it’s stakeholders, esg, gretta, blah blah blah. Reminds me of how Warren B would not invest in Japan for a long time saying they tend to have low returns on equity. Japan is similar to Europe in the outlook that the broader society is a stakeholder in the company. Exceptions for ASML, NVO, etc. like you said.

Agree. You don’t tell such a compelling story if you don’t love telling the story. Grandfather in the Blackhawk wars that was exactly like him and on and on. The guy is one of the best story tellers of all time. Always laughing and always saying he has had the best life. To me Charlie is more honest than Warren so sometimes says some very negative things that Warren would not say. Warren is sometimes trying to play the grandpaw, Ben Franklin, America personified, legendary figure. Charlie is just Charlie. You would have to say Charlie has the more optimistic investment style. Charlie, like all people, was very complex. But I think he was a very happy man.

No I don’t. That’s why I hold lots of BRK. Greg is just odd to me. But better than a BS artist that tries to pretend he is the next W and C I guess.

I would feel better about Ted or Todd taking over honestly. Greg reminds me of Charlie description of a bad ceo (tall, leader, ex-president of his fraternity). I am sure he is very smart and abel, but in my opinion you need a out of the box thinker, philosopher type like Charlie to be anything better than average. Warren was the whiz kid, but Charlie was soooo important IMO. I have been telling myself for years that I don’t know crap and Charlie and Warren do and I just have to trust them.

Haha. It’s the 1990s. It is said as if this information just came to light in some annoying and problematic way. More unwanted drama in your life.

One of the greatest things I have read in a while and 100% true. This is the reason my dad says “just rent everything you can” Low tech, simply things are almost always more dependable and lower stress. Mon Oncle is a good old French movie with this theme.

Can’t pay that for CSU. Have to wait for bear market. ML is standing on the shoulders of WB & CM for sure. He even decentralized the Omaha function. Everyone in the CSU org is encouraged/compensated to allocate capital (with strict rules and Bernie’s blessing of course)

17% 3 month treasury 14% BRK 10% CSU 6% GOOGL 5% MKL 3.5% TXN 3.5% ROP 3% WSO 3% MSFT 3% GGG 2.5% SPGI 30% 30 or so small positions

AMAT ramps up when it counts. Share price dipped way below Morningstar FV in 2015, 2018, 2022. 5.81%, 16.54%, & 7.18% buyback yields in those years. 1-4% otherwise.

I know. Here is hoping for a massive elephant in 2024.

I’ll take Mars and Koch anytime they want to sell. BRK needs to buy something big soon. Maybe Greg will become the new Charlie and can get him to be a little more proactive than waiting for the phone to ring.

22% with 25% ST Treasury. Kids accounts that only buy CSU and similar during panics continue to crush. You are right HSY is an extremely profitable, high return, well managed CPG company. I have about 1.5% holding already, but I need to take advantage of these rare cheap shares. Thanks for the conviction.

That is true on the debt. 5 y average ROE of 165% vs 4% I will still take the hardware store version.

I was going to say LOW. 842 M to 577 M in past 5 years. 7.8% or so yearly. Like AZO, it is never extremely overvalued and can therefore chug away constantly. I think it is a better business than AZO as well.

Merry Christmas!