Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A)(NYSE:BRK.B), our second largest holding, declined by 12.5% during the year. Berkshire now trades at less than 12 times our estimate of 2016 earnings. We think Berkshire grew its earnings at a high-single digit rate in 2015 but many of its individual operating companies face challenges. Railroad volumes declined abruptly at year-end and the outlook for 2016 volume is poor. GEICO’s auto insurance profit was off and many of Berkshire’s other service and manufacturing businesses were soft. Berkshire committed over $40 billion to acquisitions in 2015, the bulk of it to buy Precision Castparts.
From Sequoia Fund's 4th quarter 2015 shareholder letter.
