WEB Investment Styles

[bmichaud]

http://can-turtles-fly.blogspot.com/2011/12/warren-buffetts-evolution-and-his-three.html

 

 

[netnet]

Interesting article.  Unfortunately, it has a number of errors of fact and I would argue the author tailored some of the ostensibly, "correct" facts to suit his argument.  (A couple of examples: Buffett first bought Geico in the early 50's, but the author says that he bought cigar butts then and bought Geico in the 70's.  Likewise he bought Amex in the 60's, in what the author calls his cigar butt period.

 

Yes, Buffett has grown as an investor,  yes indeed he has changed.  (Munger called him a learning machine!).  But to fit him into neat categories over emphasizes the lessons of his career, which might be summarized as

Buffett has grown as an investor; changing and progressing due to increasing knowledge and growing assets.  Even in his earliest days, he bought great companies at cheap prices, but later, he started buying great companies at fair prices.  Buying a failing textile firm, Berkshire, was an acknowledged mistake, but he turned lemons into champagne,  using the trickle of cash flow from BH's permanent capital.  He, of necessity, started buying companies instead of just common stocks, as the company's cash flow turned into a torrent.  Likewise his forays into arbitrage have morphed into the preferred investments in Wrigleys and Goldman. 

 

(I probably should be a little gentler with the writer, as he or she probably is on this board, but the article struck me as a piece where the  argument's sake overwhelmed the facts.)