Buffett/Berkshire - general news

[gfp]

I think people care if they think it indicates a move towards retirement and an exit from Berkshire.  I don't think it does but without context buying a pad in Florida at his age could look like a step toward retirement.

 

Speaking of acquisitions at Marmon, they also continue to buy in the minority interest in Colson Medical from the Pritzker family.  Colson Medical was spun out / carved out of Marmon just before Berkshire started acquiring Marmon.  In 2019, Marmon acquired 60% of Colson and is buying the remaining 40% over 5 years.  A lot of people don't know that Berkshire has a specialty medical device business.  Plenty of bolt-on acquisition opportunities there I would imagine.

 

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191101005396/en/Marmon-Acquires-Majority-Interest-in-Colson-Medical-Companies

 

https://www.colsonmedical.com

 

Quote

Marmon chairman and CEO Angelo Pantaleo said: “We are excited to welcome the Colson Medical Companies back home to Marmon. Their innovative, proprietary products and processes and outstanding reputation make them an ideal fit for Marmon and provide our organisation with another strong growth platform.”

Colson Medical develops, manufactures and distributes speciality medical devices worldwide. Its portfolio consists of engineered plates and screws, along with related precision tools used in orthopaedic surgery.

The products are available through Acumed, MicroAire, Precision Edge, Apex, OsteoMed and Skeletal Kinetics businesses.

Marmon acquired all these businesses, except Apex and Skeletal Kinetics, between 1979 and 1999.

 

Together, the companies have more than 1,300 employees across the US, UK, Spain, China and Germany.

Berkshire Hathaway chairman and CEO Warren Buffett said: “The speciality medical device market is an attractive growth opportunity and the Colson businesses are highly regarded. Berkshire and Marmon will provide a home where these businesses can continue to flourish.”

Colson Medical Companies will operate as a sector within Marmon, led by Colson’s current president Chris Smith.

 

 

This is a short bio of the CEO of Marmon, Angelo Pantaleo.  He was asked to lead the integration of Duracell into Berkshire and was CEO of Duracell for a while after the acquisition.  Later he returned to Marmon as President and COO.  

https://www.marmon.com/about-us/the-marmon-team/angelo-v-pantaleo/

Edited January 21, 2023 by gfp

[cubsfan]

Damn GFP - your knowledge of Berkshire is really helpful here. I had NO idea Berkshire was involved in medical devices. Not the type of business that Buffett seems to like - but indicative of Buffett letting the CEO's run their own show.

Had no idea Duracell was run by Marmon. 

 

This type of free rein by Buffett is exactly why we can see more growth.

[StevieV]

Anybody want to argue that BRK is a buy here?  I don't think it is.

 

I like BRK.  It offers about the steadiest equities return I know of.  But, as with most stocks, you need to be careful about purchase price.

 

Call it overly simplistic if you like, but I like to buy at 1.3x book or less.  At that price, I think you've got a very good chance of getting at least the growth in book value as your return + some potential multiple expansion.  Investors have been given the chance to buy at 1.3 book or less pretty regularly.

 

As of right now, BRK has outperformed the S&P 500 by almost 30% over the last two years and is trading a 1.5x.  I'm holding onto the position I have, but don't think this is an attractive time to buy.

[DooDiligence]

Marmon runs a pretty wide range of businesses that could get unwieldy with a single management team calling the shots. Reading through the website indicates that they run a decentralized management system with autonomous teams for the various business segments.

 

Kind of like a Berkshire within a Berkshire. True or false?

[John Hjorth]

15 minutes ago, DooDiligence said:

... Kind of like a Berkshire within a Berkshire. True or false?

 

Jeff @DooDiligence,

 

To me, true.

 

And it is - as Mike @cubsfan states above - the reason we can - to some degree - assume real compounding for Berkshire going forward long term - compunding here meant as the opposite of linear thinking about returns -, despite Berkshire's size.

Edited January 21, 2023 by John Hjorth

[Spekulatius]

4 hours ago, gfp said:

I think people care if they think it indicates a move towards retirement and an exit from Berkshire.  I don't think it does but without context buying a pad in Florida at his age could look like a step toward retirement.

 

Speaking of acquisitions at Marmon, they also continue to buy in the minority interest in Colson Medical from the Pritzker family.  Colson Medical was spun out / carved out of Marmon just before Berkshire started acquiring Marmon.  In 2019, Marmon acquired 60% of Colson and is buying the remaining 40% over 5 years.  A lot of people don't know that Berkshire has a specialty medical device business.  Plenty of bolt-on acquisition opportunities there I would imagine.

 

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191101005396/en/Marmon-Acquires-Majority-Interest-in-Colson-Medical-Companies

 

https://www.colsonmedical.com

 

 

 

This is a short bio of the CEO of Marmon, Angelo Pantaleo.  He was asked to lead the integration of Duracell into Berkshire and was CEO of Duracell for a while after the acquisition.  Later he returned to Marmon as President and COO.  

https://www.marmon.com/about-us/the-marmon-team/angelo-v-pantaleo/

Marmon is a conglomerate on its own. Marmon within Berkshire is a nested doll - a conglomerate within a conglomerate.

[Poor Charlie]

12 hours ago, gfp said:

I think people care if they think it indicates a move towards retirement and an exit from Berkshire.  I don't think it does but without context buying a pad in Florida at his age could look like a step toward retirement.

 

Speaking of acquisitions at Marmon, they also continue to buy in the minority interest in Colson Medical from the Pritzker family.  Colson Medical was spun out / carved out of Marmon just before Berkshire started acquiring Marmon.  In 2019, Marmon acquired 60% of Colson and is buying the remaining 40% over 5 years.  A lot of people don't know that Berkshire has a specialty medical device business.  Plenty of bolt-on acquisition opportunities there I would imagine.

 

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191101005396/en/Marmon-Acquires-Majority-Interest-in-Colson-Medical-Companies

 

https://www.colsonmedical.com

 

 

 

This is a short bio of the CEO of Marmon, Angelo Pantaleo.  He was asked to lead the integration of Duracell into Berkshire and was CEO of Duracell for a while after the acquisition.  Later he returned to Marmon as President and COO.  

https://www.marmon.com/about-us/the-marmon-team/angelo-v-pantaleo/

My understanding is that Colson was carved out of Marmon so that Bob Pritzker would have something to do after Marmon was sold to Berkshire. Perhaps there was an implicit/explicit agreement to sell it back to Marmon later (similar to Berkshire's acquisiton of the remaining 40% of Marmon). 

 

I don't know about Angelo Pantaleo, but Marmon has had some world-class CEOs: Bob Pritzker, John Nichols, Frank Ptak. Both John and Frank trained under Sid Cathcart, one of the best industrial managers of the 20th century. Frank left Marmon for Madison Industries, another company that would be a great Berkshire holding. 

[gfp]

Interesting stuff Poor Charlie.  I wasn't aware of Madison Industries but after looking into it I see it owns Therma-Stor.  We buy a lot of Santa Fe dehumidifiers from them.  Really nice company they have built.  Would love to see them sell to BRK some day.

[ValueMaven]

The idea behind Marmon, PCP, and Alleghany - is that all three could do a lot of bolt on deals ... in different industries ... which are immaterial to Berkshire HQ - but overtime could be sizable to the organization.  The results are still out on this - but frankly, as mini-serial acquires these have been so-so.  Marmon was a solid double, PCP is mixed so far ... and Alleghany is really interesting.  

[StevieV]

8 hours ago, ValueMaven said:

PCP is mixed so far

 

I think you have to call PCP bad rather than just mixed at this point.  Buffett called it a mistake at the price paid.  There was certainly some bad luck.

[Munger_Disciple]

35 minutes ago, StevieV said:

 

I think you have to call PCP bad rather than just mixed at this point.  Buffett called it a mistake at the price paid.  There was certainly some bad luck.

 

+1

 

Lubrizol wasn't great either. In retrospect, it would have been far better to have stepped on the buyback pedal a lot sooner than Buffett eventually did. But I think Allegheny will work out just fine as it is run by Joe Brandon. 

[Intelligent_Investor]

On 1/21/2023 at 1:36 PM, StevieV said:

Anybody want to argue that BRK is a buy here?  I don't think it is.

 

I like BRK.  It offers about the steadiest equities return I know of.  But, as with most stocks, you need to be careful about purchase price.

 

Call it overly simplistic if you like, but I like to buy at 1.3x book or less.  At that price, I think you've got a very good chance of getting at least the growth in book value as your return + some potential multiple expansion.  Investors have been given the chance to buy at 1.3 book or less pretty regularly.

 

As of right now, BRK has outperformed the S&P 500 by almost 30% over the last two years and is trading a 1.5x.  I'm holding onto the position I have, but don't think this is an attractive time to buy.

I just use BV+Float to determine when to buy.

[Spekulatius]

On 11/6/2022 at 4:23 AM, Bluffy said:

They already reduced USB last quarter. My bet would be not to overthink it. They might have sold out completely. Would make sense in comparison to the relatively "weak" share price performance in the last quarter versus the other big bank stocks.

Looks like BRK sold USB close to the bottom. Another incidence where cloning does not seem to be a good idea.

Results look pretty good and union bank will be a nice acquisition. Now USB needs to get their capital levels back up again before resuming buybacks.

https://ir.usbank.com/static-files/8cd68595-d3df-4682-a972-4c6d0cdc3624

[dealraker]

22 hours ago, Spekulatius said:

Looks like BRK sold USB close to the bottom. Another incidence where cloning does not seem to be a good idea.

Results look pretty good and union bank will be a nice acquisition. Now USB needs to get their capital levels back up again before resuming buybacks.

https://ir.usbank.com/static-files/8cd68595-d3df-4682-a972-4c6d0cdc3624

I'm not sure I know what I'm talking about here but corporate decisions such as this may be based on things not necessarily relevant to what most of us do as individuals.  Although my family has gone subchapter S in one business with plans to do that in two others at some point...well, we just made some investment decisions that I don't think any of us even consider personally.  I basically never clone Berkshire but I do follow basic trends that the investment trio seems to do.

[Viking]

I wonder how Buffett feels about Chevron’s $75 billion buyback announcement? BRK probably bought more shares. Regardless, BRK shareholders will see their ownership in Chevron increase materially in the coming years. Buffett will be going to sleep tonight with a big smile on his face.

Edited January 27, 2023 by Viking

[sleepydragon]

what's wrong with brk a/b stock price? it's not moving 

[longlake95]

gotta sell something, to raise $$$, if you want to jump on the tech party again. LOL...

[Whensthepaintdry?]

I did the opposite today. Sold high flyers and added to BRK. I know it could be cheaper, but I am not the best  at holding cash.  

[Spooky]

3 hours ago, sleepydragon said:

what's wrong with brk a/b stock price? it's not moving 

 

This is good news... hopefully I can buy more at a good price.

[Charlie]

Normally Berkshire tends to rise before and after earnings releases.

Before and after the annual report it tends to rise most.

Since annual report is coming soon I'm prepared with 100% in Berkshire. 

A flat stock price and good earnings is a good combination. 

[UK]

https://www.barrons.com/articles/berkshire-hathaway-stock-warren-buffett-51675450214

[Whensthepaintdry?]

Cant wait for the Buffett has lost it headlines to start. 

[Spooky]

11 hours ago, Whensthepaintdry? said:

Cant wait for the Buffett has lost it headlines to start. 

 

Always a great time to buy BRK.

[Charlie]

Any good guesses what Buffett bought in Q4 2022?

 

My guesses would be Occidental, Apple and some share repurchases.

[dealraker]

On 2/2/2023 at 3:00 PM, longlake95 said:

gotta sell something, to raise $$$, if you want to jump on the tech party again. LOL...

Yes.  When Berkshire gets left behind by Mr. Market...it is a wave that slams into the beach.

 

I have a friend who plays this wave.  He goes in and out of some etf (can't actually remember which) vs in and out of Berkshire.  He has done absolutely grand for years in a tax deferred account getting in the high teens returns.

Edited February 6, 2023 by dealraker