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Quarterly Contest: What Stocks Did Berkshire Hathaway Buy?

November 01, 2011 | About:
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gurufocus

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In less than two weeks Warren Buffett will report his portfolio of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)(BRK.B). As a tradition, we are hosting a quarterly contest, asking our users to name the stocks Warren Buffett bought during the third quarter of 2011.

We would like to invite everyone to participate in this contest. The winners will each win a copy of great investment book selecting from this list:


  1. Joel Greenblatt: The Little Book That Still Beats the Market (Little Books. Big Profits)
  2. Joel Greenblatt: You Can Be a Stock Market Genius: Uncover the Secret Hiding Places of Stock Market Profits
  3. Benjamin Graham: The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing. A Book of Practical Counsel (Revised Edition)

  4. Martin Whitman: The Aggressive Conservative Investor
  5. Peter Lynch: Beating the Street
  6. Peter Lynch: One Up On Wall Street : How To Use What You Already Know To Make Money In The Market
  7. Benjamin Graham: Security Analysis: The Classic 1934 Edition
  8. David Dreman: Contrarian Investment Strategies - The Next Generation
  9. The Snowball: The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life
  10. Howard Marks: The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor (Columbia Business School Publishing)


We understand that Berkshire’s new investment manager Tom Combs now manages part of Berkshire portfolio. The Mastercard Inc. (MA) purchase during the first and the second quarter was probably from him. Mastercard stock has done very well since the purchase. Buffett also added to his existing position in Wells Fargo (WFC).

We also take this opportunity to announce the winner for the third quarter contest. The third quarter winners are Dheerajgrover and Thticket. Please contact us and let us know which book you want and where you want to the books be sent to. You will receive the book in 1-2 weeks.

Registered users may participate this contest by entering up to 3 stock symbols into the comment area of this post. Also state briefly the reasons for your guesses. If more than 3 symbols are entered, only the first three will be counted. The deadline for this contest will be when Warren Buffett releases information of Berkshire's holdings, which will be in two weeks. Write your answer to the comment area. If you are not registered, you need to register to participate.

After the contest, we will announce two winners. The prize book will be sent to winner directly from Amazon. We will host the contest again next quarter, so everyone will have another chance to win.

Make sure you do your homework! Good luck!

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Rating: 3.0/5 (6 votes)

Comments

The Science of Hitting
The Science of Hitting premium member - 1 year ago
WFC - got cheaper, kept buying.

JNJ - same reasoning

BRK.A - that's one I'm guaranteed to get right! :)

cirros
Cirros premium member - 1 year ago

BRK.B, BK, WMT
jonmonsea
Jonmonsea premium member - 1 year ago
BRK.A, WFC, BP, PEP
vuasu
Vuasu - 1 year ago
WFC, BRK/A, BK
alex24_malaga
Alex24_malaga - 1 year ago
WEB publicly announced in Aug & Sept that he was buying WFC & BRK.

My 3 picks for WEB:

WMT: A combination of shares repurchase & dividend increases made the stock very attractive.
WEB is not done building his position in this world class retailer.

PKX: His bet on Asia, growing cities and population.

JNJ: It's part of his "pharmaceuticals basket that will do fine on the long term" and already includes SNY & GSK. Volatility + an attractive valuation offered him an opportunity to increase his position in JNJ.

rgblangl
Rgblangl - 1 year ago
MA,WFC,BRK
yams4112
Yams4112 - 1 year ago
gd - take over target
adm - take over target
brk - buyback
ranjitsudan
Ranjitsudan - 1 year ago
WFC
Bmb00d
Bmb00d - 1 year ago
Wfc and bac
pratipals
Pratipals - 1 year ago
C
buhrlakc
Buhrlakc - 1 year ago
WFC- Buffett kept buying as the price dropped. WFC is one of his favorite.

BRK- Buffett bought back shares for below 1.1x book.

MTB- Buffett has stated multiple times his admiration for Wilmers. The price dropped from $88 at 6-30 to below $70 in Q3. MTB would have yielded 4% at $70 and traded at approximately BV. I'm not sure there was enough margin of safety here for Buffett. In addition, the ROE hovered between 12-15% during good years. The past three years, it has hovered around 8-10%.

KJHValue
KJHValue - 1 year ago
WFC, EXC, COP

I think he'll add to his Wells Fargo stake as well as Conoco Phillips. Exelon is just a hunch to guess something a little different. He's talked about Exelon in the past.
rrateike
Rrateike - 1 year ago
BRK ---- buyback

WFC ---- lowest cost of funds in the industry....WEB always has positive thing to say about it

V ---- likely purchase by Combs.....good buying opportunity in July
tighanx
Tighanx premium member - 1 year ago
BRK, WMT, WFC
marcolanaro
Marcolanaro - 1 year ago
BRK as a buybuck
JNJ
Munich Re
marcolanaro
Marcolanaro - 1 year ago
It was buyback, sorry!
peterkooi
Peterkooi - 1 year ago
MA, UBS, WFC, BAC
alexis_ferrari
Alexis_ferrari - 1 year ago

WFC, BRK, JNJ
clemo69
Clemo69 premium member - 1 year ago
MA WFC JNJ
Arpan
Arpan - 1 year ago
Does BRK-A/BRK-B count? Obviously he's been buying, but that count towards general equity purchases?
Morrissett
Morrissett - 1 year ago
ITC - Toll road utility
OXY - Priced like majors but has more growth opp
LH - Medical device franchise
mo77
Mo77 - 1 year ago

WFC - Wells Fargo
COST - Costco
BK- Bank of New York
luishernadez
Luishernadez premium member - 1 year ago
WFC - kept buiding his position
BRK.B - repurchase
GD - got very cheap and he likes the company
J Edward
J Edward - 1 year ago
BRK.A -- Buyback
WFC -- Price dropped, Buffet continued buying
WMT -- When the price drops, Buffet nibbles
zwiphy
Zwiphy - 1 year ago
Munich re - Cheap and now a catalyst coming up
Bank of New York mellon - Cheap and a favorite besides wfc
Us bancorp - cheap and primarily short term problems

ofcourse Brk.a and WFC
silvmich
Silvmich - 1 year ago
NWSA - franchise with predictability
USB - add to position
CL - strong brands
yams4112
Yams4112 - 1 year ago
is munich re traded on NYSE ? What symbol?
amitduapec
Amitduapec - 1 year ago
WFC- Wells Fargo
BRK- Buy Back
rgarga
Rgarga premium member - 1 year ago
brka wmt wfc... WMT is the big purchase!!!
amitduapec
Amitduapec - 1 year ago
WFC and BRK
itznuthin1
Itznuthin1 - 1 year ago
BRK-A
WFC
IBM
sjzhao2003
Sjzhao2003 - 1 year ago
WFC -- His favorite bank trading at very attractive prices (similar to his average cost)
GD -- he likes the business and it's cheap
UPS -- wide moat business essential for businesses and with strong growth prospects from e-commerce
kfh227
Kfh227 premium member - 1 year ago
BRK - share buy back in place

WFC - kinda obiovus

IBM - he just said so on CNBC (Monday morning). Clue was harold. In before the filing, does it count? 10.7 billion of it.
richday101
Richday101 premium member - 1 year ago
BRK.A - Undervalued, Warren said he would buy back if P/BV<1.10 and according to GuruFocus 10-yr valuation chart showed it went to P/BV ratio of 1.04. I think he would buy BRK.A over the B-shares.

GD - A Buffet type stock, very consistent and predictable EPS and FCF, Undervalued, Dividend Yield hit 3.0% in the quarter, Ave 5-yr ROE about 20%, FCF Yield of 10%, Very Undervalued as Fair Value Calculator gives Margin of Safety of 62% using FCF growth of 14.9% over 10 years (wow).

INTC - Undervalued, Dividend Yield hit 3.5% in the quarter, Long term growth story, Fair Value Calculator gives Margin of Safety of 50% using FCF, ROE hit 30% in the quarter and averages over 15% over 10 years, Net Profit Margin of 25% last year and this last quarter (wow).

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