FRI, JUL 12, 2024

WARREN BUFFETT WATCH

Berkshire shares rally to all-time closing highs

Both classes of Berkshire Hathaway's stocks rallied this week to end today at all-time closing highs, topping the previous records set in late March.

The Class A shares closed at $639,500 per share, up 1.7% today, 3.4% this week, and almost 17.9% since the beginning of the year.

The previous closing high was $634,440 on March 28.

The more widely held Class B shares finished today at $424.44, up almost 1.4% today, 3.2% this week, and 19.0% year-to-date. (The benchmark S&P is up 17.7% YTD.)

The previous closing high was $420.52, also on March 28.

Berkshire's market value is now around $916 billion, the seventh largest for a U.S. corporation and the first on the list that's below $1 trillion.

Also in the race for that milestone: Eli Lilly with $901 billion, as well as Tesla and Broadcom, both at $792 billion.

With help from a 7.7% gain for Apple, Berkshire's largest equity holding, over the past two weeks as it hit seven consecutive record high closes, the market value of that portfolio is now above $400 billion for the first time ever.

As of today's close, by our calculations, it's more than $409 billion.

Apple's $182 billion accounts for almost 45% of that amount.

The 116.2 million Apple shares sold by Berkshire during the first quarter of this year, at least partially due to tax considerations, would currently be valued at $26.8 billion, bringing the "hindsight is 20/20" portfolio total to around $436 billion.

BUFFETT AROUND THE INTERNET

Some links may require a subscription

CNBC Pro (subscription): Warren Buffett on his unwavering faith in the country — ‘Never bet against America.’

Barron's Penta: Take a Cue From Warren Buffett: Be Flexible With Philanthropic Strategies

BBC: China Tesla rival BYD signs $1bn Turkey plant deal

Bloomberg (subscription): Ackman Touts Berkshire as Model for Closed-End Fund Ahead of IPO

Quartz: Sun Valley's 'summer camp for billionaires' starts today. Elon Musk and Warren Buffett won't be there

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE ARCHIVE

'Read everything you can' (2007)

Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger give shareholders advice about improving their investing skills by both learning and doing.

BERKSHIRE STOCK WATCH

Four weeks

Twelve months

BERKSHIRE'S TOP U.S. STOCK HOLDINGS - Jul. 12, 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 March 31, 2024 as reported in Berkshire Hathaway’s 13F filing on May 15, 2024, except for:

Mitsubishi, which is as of June 12, 2023. Tokyo Stock Exchange prices are converted to U.S. dollars from Japanese yen.
Occidental Petroleum, which is as of June 17, 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

900 Sylvan Avenue, Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632

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Data also provided by THOMSON REUTERS