“Warren Buffett loves Apple shares,” Tae Kim reports for CNBC. “The Oracle of Omaha was asked outside of Berkshire Hathaway shares, which stock he would put all his money in today. ‘If you look at our holdings, you would assume that we like them in the order in which they rank by dollar value of holdings, but if you look at them in terms of recent purchases over the last year we’ve bought more Apple than anything else,’ he said on CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box’ Monday.”
Kim reports, “Buffett shared Berkshire Hathaway’s largest stock positions in his 2017 annual letter to shareholders released on Saturday and Apple is now the company’s second-biggest holding [after Well Fargo].”
“He later explained why Apple is such an attractive investment,” Kim reports. “‘Apple has an extraordinary consumer franchise,’ he said. ‘I see how strong that ecosystem is, to an extraordinary degree… You are very very very locked in at least psychologically and mentally to the product you are using. [iPhone] is a very sticky product.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Lock us up and throw away the key!
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Apple up in early trading on Buffett’s Berkshire investment – February 15, 2018
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway increases Apple holdings by 23.3% to 165.3 million shares – February 14, 2018
It’s just so odd why Warren Buffett is stocking up on Apple while most of the big investors are avoiding Apple and buying up FANG stock and other major tech stocks. The big funds and institutions don’t seem to be piling into Apple and over the last quarter there was a lot of AAPL dumping. I’m surprised to see Apple’s current institutional ownership percentage as high as it is.
Warren Buffett must have quite a different way of thinking than most big investors. Of course, Buffett did make a mistake in buying IBM, so no big investor is right 100% of the time. However, it’s almost guaranteed Amazon is going to blow past Apple in overall value by the end of the year as the big players of the market have undying praise and confidence in Amazon’s future dominance in everything. It’s rather rare to find a company that has no weaknesses or growth limitations but Amazon appears to be that company.
no comment on Buffett’s motives except for the piled of profits apple generates as well as sizable dividend and sizable cash repatriotization.
that being said amazon does have a weakness and its bubbling and brewing all over the place however most investors dont understand the entire retail model there. Right now amazon compete on price and that makes up for the shipping making it more attractive. However as they squeeze mfg on price or violate (frequently) agreements for selling product sunder certain costs. They can get away with it right now bwcause brick and mortar retail is still responsible for big parts of mfg sales. That being said as amazon pushes retailers out of the picture, MFG are going to be counting on amazon for more of a share of the profits… when that happens they will be forced to maintain pricing more in line with standard MSRP and thus the instant advantage goes away making traditional options more viable. Its a slippery slope and amazon may figure out how to hold its traction but only time will tell.
Amazon does not compete on price; they force their suppliers to! Amazon is basically destroying Main Street, USA. It is a zero-sum game. They are not adding any real value to the American economy, they are simply dis-intermediating others. They are destroying many stores and businesses. Break the chains! whether brick or online. Buy from your local merchant.
This is the opposite of Apple, which is making unique contributions to the economy, as well as productivity & lifestyle improvements, in the US and the entire world.
Do you mean, buy from my local Walmart, or my local merchant that doesn’t have the same stock, higher prices and less convenient? I pose these questions, not as an Amazon fan, but a simple devil’s advocate.
Also, Isn’t everything you wrote what people have long said about W-Mart?
Btw, I like Warren’s Buffett! Eat until you’re full.
You really think that “time will tell”?
Buffet is a contrarian investor and still believes in fundamental value investing, as well. You intuited his nature on your own.
As far as Amazon is concerned, I think that you are going way too far in your praise of the company and your view of its future potential. You might consider that Amazon lost money for years and requires massive infrastructure investments and high operating costs. You might also consider that Amazon is highly vulnerable to shipping costs. Furthermore, Amazon is increasingly incorporating other companies into its circle, which renders it a middleman. Those companies can sell through any online presence. Consider Ebay, as well. People used to think that Ebay would dominate everything, too. But Ebay found its limits. So will Amazon, especially on the world stage with Alibaba and others emulating Amazon’s business model.
How old is Buffet and what medication is he taking?
because he loves what he does. Buffett–89 and his biz partner, Charlie Munger–94!
Buffet is known for buying mature business with lots of cash flow.
Buffett usually invests on a much longer time horizon than most hedge fund managers, and is always looking for solid cash flow and dividend yield. You don’t get any better in the cash flow department than Apple. I’m sure the capital return plans also are attractive to Buffet.