On Friday, Berkshire is expected to file its quarterly 13-F report, which will likely show which stocks were added and sold during the third quarter (sometimes, however, Buffett receives permission from the SEC to delay reporting of stock buys to avoid copycats driving up the price of the position he's building). We'll have the results here soon after the much-anticipated report is filed after the stock market closes Friday.
As of Sept. 30, according to the company's consolidated third-quarter cash flow statement, Berkshire had spent about $3.2 billion for the year purchasing equity securities. That figure was $974 million as of June 30. The difference, about $2.2 billion, appears to be what Berkshire spent on stocks in the third quarter. The company also bought about $1.5 billion worth of bonds during the third quarter.
Though $2.2 billion pales in comparison to the $26 billion Berkshire is spending to buy the rest of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., it represents a significant increase over the money Berkshire spent on stocks during the second quarter.
Berkshire bought just $350 million worth of equities during the second quarter, compared with the $2.6 billion it spent on bonds. Berkshire initiated a position in Becton Dickinson and added to the already large Johnson & Johnson holding during the three months ending June 30.
Berkshire's third-quarter cash flow report indicates that the company sold about $800 million worth of stock during the third quarter. A good chunk of that was on the already-reported sale of shares in Moody's Corp. Buffett has also written that Berkshire sold more ConocoPhillips stock during the third quarter for tax-loss purposes.
So what stocks did Berkshire add during the third quarter? That's always the subject of much speculation. A number of Berkshire's recent larger common stock purchases -- including Kraft Foods, Johnson & Johnson and U.S. Bancorp -- are still trading near or below where Berkshire has bought in the past. We'll find out soon whether he added to those positions or others during the third quarter.
William Freehling, who owns Berkshire Hathaway "B" shares, is a business writer for a newspaper in Virginia. He closely follows the moves made by Warren Buffett and his company. He has read widely on Buffett and the billionaire's beliefs on value investing. Bill can be contacted at freehling@hotmail.com
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User Comments:
1. Dew_nay says on Nov 09, 2009 at 9:19 AM:
Seems to have added to WFC of about 10.72 million shares at a cost $277 million in Q309.
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2. Ingress says on Nov 09, 2009 at 4:27 PM:
Maybe samsung or Siemens because one of them i supppsed to be foreign and asurprise and it has to be big.
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3. Juliet says on Nov 09, 2009 at 5:05 PM:
Dew nay,
Where did you get the WFC INFO?
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4. Dew_nay says on Nov 10, 2009 at 1:54 AM:
Juliet,
You can obtain from the latest 10Q report under note 6 and compare to the 2Q report and you can see the difference.
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5. Kfh227 says on Nov 10, 2009 at 11:47 AM:
$25.84 per share of WFC ..
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