“Investors might question Warren Buffett’s long-standing aversion to tech stocks after his Berkshire Hathaway bought 9.8 million shares of Apple,” Josh Funk reports for The Associated Press. “Buffett has always avoided technology companies because he said it was too hard to pick which ones would prevail long term, although he made an exception to that rule to buy a major IBM stake in 2011.”
“Shares, down 15 percent over the past month, jumped 3 percent Monday,” Funk reports. “Buffett is known for investing in comparatively boring companies when he understands the industry well, such as Geico insurance, Wells Fargo, Coca-Cola, American Express and See’s Candy. Buffett avoids investing in areas outside his expertise. Whenever Buffett is asked about technology investments, he usually explains his position in terms of candy and soda. Buffett says he thinks it’s too hard to determine what tech companies will be worth in the future because their businesses evolve so quickly, but he’s certain Snickers candy bars and Coca-Cola will remain popular decades from now.”
“Berkshire revealed the new Apple investment Monday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission,” Funk reports. “But the filing didn’t disclose who made the Apple investment. Besides Buffett, Berkshire has two other investment managers, who each handle about $9 billion. Buffett has said that his investments tend to be the larger ones in the portfolio. He says investments of less than $1 billion are likely to be the work of Ted Weschler or Todd Combs.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: A more important vote of confidence is difficult to imagine.
SEE ALSO:
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway takes new $1 billion stake in Apple – May 16, 2016
Things are looking up.
Remember it is always darkest before the “Doom”! 🙂
Bet your life that Buffet and company have done their homework on Apple for years, before deciding to get into another tech investment. MDN Is right no better vote of confidence than this.
At this point, Apple is truly a consumer products company, with easy to use products with a “below the surface” set of high tech components.
Darn Carl! Darn!
I bet Icahn sold for a good profit and will buy back in again.
He may have already and may be buying some more since it is cheap.
When he is ready he will announce the buy in the hope that the stock will surge.
That is probably true. However he will never gain the trust of those who followed him when he said that the stock was a “No Brainer” on numerous occasions or that the stock was worth north of $200 per share. I am fine as the vast majority of my shares were acquired beginning in 2007.
In any event he was wrong about his predictions about the stock and is probably guilty of covering his ass because of his bad investments in the oil and gas sector which has gone south and he just wanted to publish good news to his following.
I will go out on a limb here and predict that Carl Icahn will prove to be a fool within two years. Maybe I will be right either because I am a genius or because I am currently drinking an adult beverage. Time will tell.
Remember it is always darkest before the “DOOM”!
Berkshire Bought Apple Stock, But Warren Buffett Didn’t
Warren Buffett didn’t play a role in the decision to invest some of Berkshire Hathaway’s cash in Apple
http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2016/05/16/berkshire-bought-apple-but-warren-buffett-didnt/
And nobody bothered to tell him about it either I’m sure. 🙂
No, they didn’t until after the fact. From today’s WSJ on the $1B stake: “The investment shows the amount of rope Mr. Buffett is willing to give his protégés, as the legendary stock picker, who turns 86 years old in August, prepares Berkshire for a future without him at the helm. In an email Monday, Mr. Buffett didn’t say whether Mr. Combs or Mr. Weschler made the call. But he said they each make investment decisions without consulting him first.”