Peridot Capitalist

From MarketWatch
“Berkshire Hathaway was downgraded to market perform from outperform Monday by insurance analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods who said a recent rally has left the shares fairly valued. Berkshire’s class B stock was included in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index this year and a lot of mutual [...]

The Steak n Shake Company (SNS), an operator of 485 burger and shake focused casual dining restaurants in 21 states, has recently been quietly transformed by a new management team into a small Berkshire Hathaway type holding company. The move is very Warren Buffett-esque, with a 1-for-20 reverse stock split aimed at boosting the share [...]

About a year ago, I commented on an article that appeared in Barron’s which argued that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) was overvalued. In my post, entitled Barron’s Pans Buffett’s Berkshire, I agreed with the article that Berkshire Hathaway stock looked overvalued. A lot has changed since then. Berkshire shares have fallen 45% from their [...]

Warren Buffett’s Op-Ed in the New York Times today is a must read. He echoes many of the same thoughts I offered in my quarterly letter to clients last week, but don’t take it from me, the Oracle of Omaha feels the same way.
You can read the full piece here:
Some highlights:
In the near term, unemployment [...]

Warren Buffett is stepping up to the plate again, buying $3 billion in 10% preferred stock from General Electric (GE), after adding $5 billion of Goldman Sachs (GS) preferred just days ago. Many are focusing on the confidence factor the Buffett moves suggest, which I agree with to a large extent. However, keep in mind [...]

If one of your first reactions upon hearing of Warren Buffett’s $5 billion investment in Goldman Sachs (GS) was, “Wow, I didn’t think Goldman was a Buffett-type company,” you are probably not alone. Warren has typically preferred consumer-related businesses with wide moats (high competitive advantage and barriers to entry). He often tells people that he [...]

UPDATE: 7/14 11:45AM
It has been brought to my attention that Berkshire does not own shares of Rohm & Haas. For some reason I incorrectly thought it did. Maybe Buffett used to own some of it, or maybe I just got confused some other way. At any rate, my apologies. Obviously, 2/3 of this post still [...]

Warren Buffett’s annual letter is always a good read and the recently released 2007 version is no different. There are a couple points that Buffett mentions this year that I think are worth pointing out and commenting on regarding the current market environment; corporate creditworthiness and sovereign wealth funds.
Buffett is often criticized for speaking out [...]

One of the great things about listening to Warren Buffett speak, and I suspect one reason why thousands gather each year in Omaha for his company’s annual meeting, is that despite the fact that he is a brilliant man he speaks in plain, logical language that is easy to follow and usually hard to argue [...]

When I heard the media reporting that the Barron’s cover story this weekend was a piece warning investors that shares of Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) were overvalued, I was both surprised and in agreement. I think many publications would avoid panning Berkshire’s investment merits, even if they believe the stock to be too high, just because [...]