FRI, SEP 22, 2023

WARREN BUFFETT WATCH

Berkshire continues to sell HP shares, increasing cut to 8.5%

It wasn't a one-off. For a second consecutive week, Berkshire Hathaway has reduced its stake in HP.

In a filing late today, Buffett's company says it sold 4.8 million shares for $129.2 million over the past three days.

That's an average price of $26.98, down from last week's $28.81, when it sold 5.5 million shares for $158.5 million.

In total, Berkshire has cut its HP holdings by 10.3 million shares, an 8.5% reduction, bringing its stake down to 11.2% from 12.1% of the computer and printer maker's outstanding shares.

Even after the sales, Berkshire is still HP's largest shareholder, ahead of the Vanguard Group's 104.2 million shares.

At today's closing price of $26.77, Berkshire's remaining 110.7 million HP shares have a market value of almost $3 billion.

HP shares are down 21.0% from their 52-week intraday high of $33.90 in mid-July, although they have lost just 0.4% year-to-date, thanks to a rally from March through June.

The stock has been pressured more recently by disappointing revenues that were revealed late last month.

Berkshire shares retreat after two more record highs

Berkshire Hathaway's stock prices both closed at record highs on Monday and Tuesday of this week but have retreated from those peaks.

Today the Class A shares closed at $546,215, down 3.0% from Tuesday's closing high of $563,070.

They are down 3.6% from the new intraday high of $566,570, also set on Tuesday.

The more widely held Class B shares, which are part of the benchmark S&P 500 stock index, closed today at $360.33. That's down 2.8% from Tuesday's closing high of $370.48 and 3.5% lower than the same day's intraday high of $373.34.

So far this year, Berkshire is outperforming the S&P by about four percentage points.

BNSF settles fingerprint privacy lawsuit

BNSF, Berkshire Hathaway's freight rail subsidiary, is settling a class action lawsuit brought by truck drivers who accused the company of illegally collecting their fingerprints at its facilities in Illinois.

Reuters reports the deal follows a judge's ruling in June that upheld a jury's liability finding that Berkshire had violated a strict state law protecting the privacy of biometric data but also threw out $228 million in damages awarded to the plaintiffs.

Reuters file photo (2014)|Rick Wilking

BNSF decided to settle rather than have a jury decide on a new damage award at a second trial that was scheduled to begin early next month.

A judge will need to approve the terms of the agreement, which have not been released publicly.

Buffett loses 'untouched' $5 bill in football bet with Chevron's CEO

Warren Buffett has an excellent record when it comes to betting on stocks and businesses, but he came up a loser earlier this year in a football bet on his beloved Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Chevron CEO Mike Wirth told Barrons' Andy Serwer that he and Buffett made a "small wager" on a "big game" in early September between Nebraska and the University of Colorado Buffaloes.

(Berkshire is Chevron's second-largest shareholder with a 5.9% stake currently valued at $20.5 billion.)

Colorado won easily by a score of 36-14.

Wirth attended the school and is a big fan of its football team, which has been getting a lot of attention (and money) by winning games (they are undefeated after their first three contests) with its new "Coach Prime," Deion Sanders, the former NFL and MLB star who is the only person to have played in both a Super Bowl and World Series.

Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders is pursued by Nebraska Cornhuskers during first quarter of game Colorado won by a score of 36-14 on September 9, 2023. Photo: Ron Chenoy | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

In an email to Serwer, Buffett wrote that before the season began, he put $5 on the Cornhuskers even though he knows Wirth is "far smarter than I am in finding oil and gas and who knows what other mental endeavors."

"After Nebraska lost, I sent my $5 by Federal Express. He won fair and square. He had no inside knowledge about Colorado. Fortunately, I had $5 in my wallet that had been untouched for decades.

"I have $5 in my budget for football in 2024. There's no fool like an old fool."

Wirth says he's happy Colorado's football team is doing so well, and that Berkshire is a Chevron shareholder. "Finding a FedEx package from Warren on my desk is just a little icing on the cake."

BUFFETT AROUND THE INTERNET

Some links may require a subscription

CNBC Pro (subscription): Behind Warren Buffett’s $100 billion-plus bet on Apple and the iPhone

Zacks: Buffett's Got a Pep in His Step as Berkshire Hits All-Time High

Fortune (subscription): American Express’s CEO called Warren Buffett to warn him about pandemic losses—but he didn’t even flinch, and offered him advice instead

Bloomberg (subscription): Berkshire Shows Unusual Risk Appetite in Wildfire Court Fight

Reuters: Textron announces option to sell up to 1,500 Cessna Citation aircraft to NetJets

Reuters: US philanthropist [Howard] Buffett warns against Ukraine 'fatigue'

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE ARCHIVE

Buffett: We don’t own too many Apple shares (2023)

Warren Buffett dismisses criticism that Berkshire’s portfolio is dominated by its Apple shares, arguing the position should be evaluated in the broader context of both the stocks and companies it owns.

BERKSHIRE STOCK WATCH

BERKSHIRE'S TOP U.S. STOCK HOLDINGS - Sep. 22, 2023

Berkshire's top holdings of disclosed publicly-traded stocks in the U.S., Japan, and Hong Kong, by market value, based on today's closing prices.

Holdings are as of June 30, 2023 as reported in Berkshire Hathaway’s 13F filing on August 14, 2023, except for:

Mitsubishi and Mitsui, which are as of June 12, 2023. Tokyo Stock Exchange prices are converted to U.S. dollars from Japanese yen.

The full list of holdings and current market values is available from CNBC.com's Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker.

QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS

Please send any questions or comments about the newsletter to me at alex.crippen@nbcuni.com. (Sorry, but we don't forward questions or comments to Buffett himself.)

If you aren't already subscribed to this newsletter, you can sign up here.

Also, Buffett's annual letters to shareholders are highly-recommended reading. There are collected here on Berkshire's website.

-- Alex Crippen, Editor, Warren Buffett Watch

900 Sylvan Avenue, Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632

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