FRI, FEB 09, 2024

WARREN BUFFETT WATCH

Berkshire keeps climbing: New 'B' closing high and 'A' tops $600K

Berkshire Hathaway's widely held Class B shares gained just 0.2% today but that was enough for a fresh all-time closing high of $398.36 per share.

On Wednesday, they hit a new intraday high of $399.15.

The B shares are a component of the S&P 500 index, which closed today at its own record high of 5026.61 after the government lowered its December inflation reading.

It is the first time the stock market benchmark has finished above 5000, and its fifth consecutive weekly gain.

Berkshire's market capitalization is around $865 billion, making it the country's seventh largest company by market value.

That's prompting some speculation it could be the "next trillion-dollar stock," joining the six tech names that dominate the top of the list: Microsoft ($3.1 trillion), Apple ($2.9 trillion), Alphabet ($1.9 trillion), NVIDIA ($1.8 trillion), and Meta ($1.2 trillion).

Berkshire's Apple stake is currently worth around $173 billion after the stock gained 25% over the past 12 months, accounting for almost half of the value of Buffett & Co.'s publicly traded equity portfolio.

Berkshire Hathaway's Class A shares crossed above the $600,000 mark on Wednesday for the first time ever, setting a new intraday record high of $600,531 per share.

They ended that day at $599,300, a fresh all-time closing high.

After retreating a bit yesterday, the stock closed today at $599,090.

Berkshire doesn't bite much as Occidental Petroleum's price falls

Shares of Occidental Petroleum haven't traded above $60 since January 4, went as low as $55.53 just over two weeks ago, and have an average closing price of $57.72 so far this year.

The average close was almost $62 in the second half of last year.

Even though sub-$60 prices have often prompted Berkshire purchases since it began accumulating its OXY position in early 2022, there's been nothing more than a nibble recently.

Late Monday, a Berkshire filing disclosed it bought a total of 4.3 million shares for $245.9 million on February 1, 2, and 5. That's an average price of $57.15.

That brings Berkshire's reported OXY stake to 248.0 million shares, 28.3% of the oil giant's outstanding stock, with a market value of $14.3 billion based on today's close of $57.47.

This week, Occidental increased its annual dividend by 22% to $0.88 per share and CEO Vicki Hollub told CNBC that while there is too much oil on the market right now due to a "short-term demand issue" as China's economy falters, "in a couple of years' time we're going to be very short on supply" because crude reserves aren't being replaced quickly enough.

Buffett-backed Mitsubishi hits all-time high

Shares of Mitsubishi, one of the five big Japanese "trading houses" in Berkshire Hathaway's stock portfolio, hit an all-time high this week after announcing plans for a $3.4 billion stock buyback.

Its high of 2812.5 yen on Wednesday was a 11% surge from Tuesday's close and its best one-day performance in eight years.

BUFFETT AROUND THE INTERNET

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CNBC Pro (subscription): Paramount, even with a takeover offer, may still prove a rare losing bet for Berkshire Hathaway

Omaha World-Herald (subscription): 'Friend of Ukraine': Warren Buffett's son provides $500 million in humanitarian aid

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE ARCHIVE

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BERKSHIRE STOCK WATCH

BERKSHIRE'S TOP U.S. STOCK HOLDINGS - Feb. 9, 2024

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 September 30, 2023 as reported in Berkshire Hathaway’s 13F filing on November 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.
Occidental Petroleum, which is as of February 5, 2024.

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.)

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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

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