Perhaps one of the best, if not the best performing stock in terms of weight and return in our Fund portfolios (excluding Worldwide High Dividend Yield Value Fund) during the quarter, was Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, Financial)(BRK.B, Financial). Back in early May, Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio) offered up a wonderful economic and equity market history lesson for his shareholders at the Berkshire annual meeting, and encouraged his investors to "never bet against America." Berkshire's stock price was hit rather hard during the early days of the pandemic, and, as equity markets collapsed in late March, Warren and Charlie Munger (Trades, Portfolio) remained uncharacteristically silent, and somewhat inactive, leading many market observers to question whether they had lost their touch. However, after selling or reducing a number of their bank holdings including Wells Fargo (WFC), eliminating their positions in their airline stocks, announcing an agreement to purchase the natural gas transmission and storage assets of utility company Dominion Energy (D) in a deal valued at almost $10 billion, and purchasing a basket of five Japanese trading companies with high dividend yields, perhaps in an effort to help cover the yen-denominated interest expense Berkshire faces on its Japanese debt, Berkshire stock has come roaring back from its late March lows. To borrow Buffet's admonition to his investors, we would add "never bet against Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio)."
From Tweedy Browne (Trades, Portfolio) Fund's third-quarter 2020 commentary.
