Hershey

I am curious if there is an opinion about the relative value of owning the A or C class of shares in Disovery? Thank you.

My assistant just told me that she is reading a book about finance and investing, and she is having a hard time understanding how to trade foreign currencies. Along with all the commercials on TV for dividend ETFs, this sounds like bubble world to me. With the risk free rate so low, we may be able to sustain this run for a long time, but this cycle is definitely heating up. FWIW.

Is Mr. Munger still scheduled to answer questions like in the past? If he is, and I don't attend, this might fall under the category of regret for something I didn't do. Thanks,

I've always thought about 90% BRK for all the reasons stated herein, however after 9/11 Buffett said that if the attack had been nuclear it would have been brought down the company. So, there is always a chance that there is a hidden flaw, and therefore I can't go 100% into it or anything else.

Thanks. Before going into greater detail, if a purchase is made based on book value, isn't the purchase in essence an orderly liquidation of the target company that the purchaser can fund through on going operations?

I am interested in learning about valuation of small (<$40m in sales) of construction subcontracting companies. Target company has current asset equity in business beyond working capital needs. Does a fair valuation of the target company include a multiple of earnings, plus equity in business, or only multiple of earnings? My thought is that the business is worth a multiple of future earnings, plus current equity not needed for ongoing functioning of business. Does this make sense? Merely paying a multiple of earnings could in essence be a purchase only slightly above existing book. Hopefully, I wrote this question in a way that is clear. Thanks,

This may be heresy on this board, but I've never really looked at Fairfax. And just to make sure I am not missing something, are you implying that is a correct or incorrect way to value BRK? Thanks,

But, I can't resist. The Buffett discount, not a premium but a discount, is so large that the company is trading at approximately 8-9x earnings after backing out investments per share. Meanwhile, these operating earnings are compounding at a high teens average. If WEB was in his 50s, this business would be valued at almost double its current price. Huge discount.

This decision remains the hardest one for me to ever resolve, especially when I have significant gains in a security. I have read many different ideas on the subject, but am interested in any more thoughts on the subject that people want to share. As background, I am a long-term investor and would have about 30% long-term capital gains tax at combined federal and state level. I think the potential pain of missing out on an upswing that may occur after my sale (loss aversion) often causes me to hold on too long. On the other hand, paying the gains tax causes me great discomfort. So, now, after that psychological interlude, I'll sign off. Thanks,

Cash 35% MSFT 25% BRKB 10% JNJ 5% PFE 3% MRK 3& (Mutual Funds in 401k) 3% WFC 3% GLW 2% KO 1.5% AAPL 1.5% DRI 1% WEN 1% AGCO 1% Lots of Misc little things bought very cheap.

Thanks to those that have responded so far. I appreciate the chance to hear other people's opinions.

This topic continues to bedevil me. My style is buy and hold. Nevertheless, sell decisions still need to be made. Typical scenario would be a 35% gain in a stock like JNJ exclusive of dividends. The value now is too high to buy more, and at PE of 21 it is close to fully valued. But sell? The literature is very sparse regarding the sell decision. Thoughts? Thanks, Hershey

Fresh Market seems ripe to me. :) NOTE: Have never shorted a stock, and probably never will. I just think the fanfare for this company is way overblown.

Washington DC suburbs (Maryland)

I was given access to their personal accounts, and made the investment decisions for those accounts. It was unpleasant because they did not/could not understand long-term investing strategies. I felt intense pressure to have my results be immediately successful. Also, I tried to impress them with "cute" decisions and bought things that I would have normally ignored. Over time, I did better than the S&P 500, especially after taking into account taxes, but it was not fun. Also, my friends wanted to talk about my investments, and it affected my decision-making. The good news is that I learned a lot from the experience, and if I ever wanted to do this full-time, I understand the parameters that I would put in place. PS, I still have access to the accounts and am asked to make decisions. I have shared all of the above thoughts with my friends, and respectfully decline to make any more decisions. If I ever do it again, the ground-rules will be very clear. Good luck.

I considered investing for friends and sought counsel from a respected lawyer. The lawyer responded with the following analogy: It is a lot less fun driving somewhere when somebody is in the back seat critiquing your driving. Of course, the point was that if I wanted to invest for friends, it was going to be a markedly different experience than investing for myself. And like most irrational humans, I ignored the advice, but the lawyer was right. Investing for friends is no picnic regardless of the results. Tread carefully.

Just a comment . . . nothing more. There are a lot of financial companies trading below book value, and a lot of good/great business trading at PEs 10 or lower. Wish I had more cash, and currently I am 91% long. I think the hurdles are not that high right now, but of course, short-term gyrations may be uncomfortable.

Assuming he had twice tried to resign, Sokol was not going to be running Berkshire as WEB's successor. The loss to Berkshire is that Sokol brought deals to WEB's attention, and now WEB may not see those deals.

In the biography written by Lowenstein, it seems that Buffett was the white knight that purchased Scott Fetzer, when it was being actively pursued by the Rales brothers, now the majority owners of Danaher.

Very interested in RSG and WM. Landfills and waste transfer stations are very difficult to permit and build. Prices have been flat for years because of recession. One day, these prices are going to skyrocket without a corresponding increase in underlying costs. Problem for me has always been contingent environmental issues. Thoughts?

Send a fax to corporate headquarters outlining the situation/facts re the business. Offering price should not be in the fax, however, make sure the potential seller has a price to offer to Buffett. BTW, Buffett will pay a commission. He will respond very timely to the fax once he receives it.

Under Assets - Insurance and Other Cash, Equity Securities, Fixed Maturity Securities, and Other equals 147B. (Yes, I include float in this number.) Today mkt cap of 205B. Can buy operating assets of entire company for 58B. And this company makes 200M a week in FCF. Seems very cheap to me . . . again. (Disclosure - Long and at my % limit.)

While WEB states BRK may have been his dumbest stock pick, I wonder what he thinks his biggest business mistake was. My guess is that it was exposing the insurance companies to coverage for WMD attacks. Even though it did not bring down the company, it could have.

Not to rehash an old thread, but it is startling how cheap MSFT is currently valued. Trading at less than 10x enterprise value. ROE huge, profits huge. . . yes it is not the same juggernaut it was, but it sure is a wildly successful company. Talk about falling out of favor. Given the delay in companies' capex over the last couple of years, the need to upgrade software soon must arrive in relatively short order. For whatever it may be worth.

I am a huge fan of Buffett and Munger, however there has been at least one narrow miss that would have ruined BRK - if 9/11 had been a nuclear event. So while I find a lot of Taleb's writing to be over the top pompous, I do think it is possible that Buffett could have had his spectacular history destroyed on 9/11. And I do think Buffett and Munger would not disagree with Taleb's notion that major bust ups can happen - hence their aversion to debt and leverage. I do think Taleb ventures far outside his domain when he criticizes Buffett personally, like he did in one of his books where he knocked, from afar, Buffett's unique tastes and lifestyle for a wealthy man.