Todd Combs, Warren Buffett’s apprentice stock picker at Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A, BRK.B), posted gains on his first equity bets at the company by buying when markets fell and increasing stakes in investments that declined.
Purchases of seven stocks by Mr. Combs in the nine months ended Sept. 30 advanced almost 14 percent as of Dec. 31, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was little changed last year. Mr. Combs’s results were propelled by a 51% surge in holdings of MasterCard Inc. (MA, Financial), the world’s second-biggest payments network, and a 28% advance in an investment in retailer Dollar General Corp (DG, Financial).
Mr. Combs followed the example set by Mr. Buffett, who invested in Goldman Sachs Group Inc. at the depths of the 2008 credit crunch and advised shareholders in 1998 to “rejoice when markets decline.” The portfolio manager hired by Mr. Buffett in 2010 added shares of Intel Corp., CVS Caremark Corp. (CVS, Financial) and Dollar General on Aug. 8 last year as the S&P 500 had its biggest decline of 2011.
“Those are very Buffett-like tenets of value investing: Buy when the markets are fearful,” said Tom Lewandowski, an analyst with Edward Jones & Co. who has a “buy” rating on Berkshire. “So I’m not surprised to see that Todd was buying.” Aug. 8 was the first trading day after S&P downgraded the U.S.
Read the complete article here
Also Check out the portfolio of Berkshire Hathaway here. As a rule of thumb, the positions of less than $1 billion were most likely from Todd Combs.
Purchases of seven stocks by Mr. Combs in the nine months ended Sept. 30 advanced almost 14 percent as of Dec. 31, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was little changed last year. Mr. Combs’s results were propelled by a 51% surge in holdings of MasterCard Inc. (MA, Financial), the world’s second-biggest payments network, and a 28% advance in an investment in retailer Dollar General Corp (DG, Financial).
Mr. Combs followed the example set by Mr. Buffett, who invested in Goldman Sachs Group Inc. at the depths of the 2008 credit crunch and advised shareholders in 1998 to “rejoice when markets decline.” The portfolio manager hired by Mr. Buffett in 2010 added shares of Intel Corp., CVS Caremark Corp. (CVS, Financial) and Dollar General on Aug. 8 last year as the S&P 500 had its biggest decline of 2011.
“Those are very Buffett-like tenets of value investing: Buy when the markets are fearful,” said Tom Lewandowski, an analyst with Edward Jones & Co. who has a “buy” rating on Berkshire. “So I’m not surprised to see that Todd was buying.” Aug. 8 was the first trading day after S&P downgraded the U.S.
Read the complete article here
Also Check out the portfolio of Berkshire Hathaway here. As a rule of thumb, the positions of less than $1 billion were most likely from Todd Combs.
