Last week, individual investors missed a chance to buy Precision Castparts (PCP, Financial) for less than Berkshire Hathaway paid for both Buffett's acquisition of the company and for shares it bought previously. This week, investors can still enjoy a cheaper price than Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, Financial)(BRK.A) paid for three other companies in its portfolio: IBM Corp. (IBM, Financial), Twenty-First Century Fox (FOXA, Financial) and Sullivan Energy (SU, Financial).
Precision Castparts (PCP, Financial)
Precision Castparts entered Berkshire’s portfolio in third quarter 2012 at a lower average quarterly price than the managers would pay again: $161 per share. Building the holding to around 4.2 million shares in 2012, 2014 and first-quarter 2015 cost on average $196 per share.
Buffett then announced on Monday he would pay even more for the entire company in a deal valued at $37.2 billion, or $235 per share.
Thus investors could have stolen shares of Precision Castparts for less than Buffett when on July 27 it sunk to its lowest price in a year, $186.17 per share.
Still available for less than Berkshire’s pros paid is IBM Corp. (IBM, Financial). In amassing 79.6 million shares of the company from 2011 through 2015, Berkshire paid on average $173 per share. IBM hovered around $155.25 per share in Tuesday trading.
IBM has the bonus of an explicit price target from Buffett: “I would say around $170,” he told CNBCÂ Tuesday.
The stock, down 17% in the past year, also still has an endorsement from Buffett: “I love it when it goes down,” he said. “It means the company buys stock cheaper and it means if I want to buy more stock – and you can look at our 13F in a few days – that we can buy cheaper. I’m not a seller of the stock.”
Twenty-First Century Fox (FOXA, Financial)
Berkshire paid around $35 per share to add Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. to its portfolio in fourth quarter 2014 and first quarter 2015. The stock, however, was hit hard this year, dropping almost 22% overall amid a steep decline in media stocks this month and a miss on second quarter revenue targets. Shares traded around $30 each on Tuesday.
Buffett held 6,228,097 shares of Twenty-First Century Fox, a slight 0.2% of the portfolio, as of March 31.
Suncor Energy Inc. (SU, Financial)
Depressed oil prices have presented a cheaper price for one of Berkshire’s few oil companies, Suncor Energy. Berkshire paid an average of $32 per share buying the stock from second quarter 2013 to first quarter 2015. Down 28% in the past year, Suncor traded around $28.22 Tuesday.
Primarily a developer of Canada’s oil sands, Suncor also has operations in the North Sea, Libya and Syria, and operates renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and biofuels.
Find more stocks trading below Berkshire’s purchase prices at the portfolio here. Not a Premium Member of GuruFocus?Try it free for 7 days here.
