Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (B) (BRK.B)

Stock vs. Stock. BRK.B-N vs. AAPL-Q. The actual price should have nothing to do with it. If you want to hold it 5-10 years then choose BRK-N. In Apple’s space, they take turns dominating the space, so he can’t be sure of it for 5 to 10 years. Buffet may not be around in 10 years but he has good people running the company.

They are excellent investors, but he would rather buy an ETF. Both Warren and Charlie are in their 70s and 80s and when someone else tries to run it the same way, it will never be the same.

Has been selling some of his clients’ holdings because of the succession issue. Charlie and Warren are getting to a point where they are cracking on towards 90. If one of them should fall off the perch, will it still be the same company? If that should happen, he feels the stock will take a 15%-18% hit immediately. Also, it doesn’t pay any dividends so you are trusting them to grow the company. Feels you would be better to just pick individual stocks.

As a money manager her preference would be to hold the individual securities that she likes. They are going through some changes. For someone who is not as close to the markets and has a long-term view, you could buy this and it should work out in the long run.

Buying into Warren Buffet has always been a great investment, however 1998 to current he has not beat the market because he is a value investor. From 1998 to 2000 the stock got cut in half when the S&P doubled. 2000-2002 the stock doubled because he had no tech stocks. He thinks it would be a good time now to own it. But the experience will not be a whole lot different than owning the market. Be a little patient for the next month or so if you are going to buy.

Can’t argue against this one, but you have to step back from the Buffet factor. It is a P&C company with a premium for the Buffet factor. He doesn’t know if it will tend to hold its premium valuation. Would not rate it an as outright sell.

Diverse group of holdings so will never get a premium multiple.

Nobody can dispute Mr. Buffett’s track record in investments. There are 2 issues. There is a natural tendency when you get bigger that the returns tend to diminish, which has happened. The other issue is a transition issue when Mr. Buffett leaves.

Not trading at a very high multiple (about 2.5-3 times Book) and around 18X earnings. Presently doing a lot of deals with cash, indicating they feel stocks are fairly valued. Feels there is still good growth in this company. The big risk in anything like this is that Warren Buffett is getting older. Bought a lot of things incredibly cheap in 2008-2009.

Warren Buffett has an unparalleled track record over multiple decades, and you can’t argue with that. This share price reflects that. You are really looking at a company that expands itself into different areas, depending on the manager’s. His biggest concern is that Mr. Buffett is getting advanced in age, and we don’t know how long he will be at the helm. He is somewhat cautious on this one.

Warren Buffett may not be running this in 5 to 10 years. He is not a young man anymore. If you believe that the magic of the company has to do with him, then you are not buying him anymore, you are buying somebody else. Has done very well in the reinsurance business as well as its investment business. Feels that it is fully valued right now.

Investors in general are very interested in seeing strong recurring and growing cash flows. One of the things that Warren Buffett, particularly looks for is cash flow and visible cash flow. Made lots of acquisitions and private investments over the last number of years.

Have had some excellent investments come good for them. Another major driver was their acquisition of the Burlington Northern Rail as rail stocks have been pretty strong. It is probably undervalued if you do a sum of the parts valuation. The major risk is if Warren Buffett should step down. That would create a major selloff.

Not his favourite stock. A little complicated in terms of how you value it and in the holdings of the asset. Not trading at a big discount to its NAV.