ORI

Berkshire Hathaway Prepares Itself for COVID-19

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Image Source: Berkshire Hathaway Inc – 2019 Annual Report By Callum Turcan Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRK.A) (BRK.B) reported first quarter 2020 earnings on May 2, which due to significant unrealized losses in its investment portfolio (a product of the market swoon in the early months of 2020) the firm swung to a large loss on a GAAP basis. As Berkshire Hathaway’s leadership team has often noted, the 2018 accounting rule change that forces companies to recognize unrealized gains and losses in the income statement can make GAAP net income and GAAP diluted EPS figures near meaningless without digging deeper into the firm’s financials. For convenience and to better showcase its actual performance, Berkshire Hathaway also includes its ‘operating earnings’ within … Read more

Berkshire Reports 2019 Earnings

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By Callum Turcan Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRK.A) (BRK.B) reported fourth quarter and full-year results on Saturday February 22, and we appreciate the firm’s performance across most of its business lines, keeping in mind that losses at its insurance-underwriting business during the fourth quarter weakened its company-wide performance. That being said, the insurance business can be volatile at times, which is why we appreciate Berkshire’s large railroad, utility, consumer goods, and other business segments. On the topic of Berkshire’s insurance-related exposure to the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic (which has since spread from China (FXI, MCHI, KWEB) to the rest of the world, shutting down economies in South Korea (EWY), Italy (EWI), and elsewhere), insurance firms fundamentally altered the structure of their policies after the … Read more

Top Best Ideas Newsletter Portfolio Holding Berkshire Hathaway Reports Solid Third Quarter Performance

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Image Shown: Shares of Berkshire Hathaway Inc moved higher on Monday November 4 after reporting a decent third quarter 2019 earnings report on Saturday November 2. By Callum Turcan Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRK.A) (BRK.B) reported solid third quarter 2019 earnings on November 2, and we continue to like Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares as a top holding in our Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio. Our fair value estimate for BRK.B stands at $229 per share with room for upside, as the top end of our fair value estimate range sits at $275 per share. Third Quarter Overview We would like to highlight up front that Berkshire Hathaway’s underlying financial performance improved from the third quarter of 2018 to the same quarter … Read more

Covering Best Ideas Newsletter Holding Berkshire Hathaway

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Image Source: Berkshire Hathaway Inc – 2018 Annual Report By Callum Turcan As a top holding in our Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio, Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRK.A) (BRK.B) Class B shares have room to run in our view. Our fair value estimate for BRK.B stands at $229 per share, significantly higher than where shares are trading at as of this writing (~$204 per share). Please note Berkshire Hathaway does not pay out a common dividend at this time. Covering a Tricky Balance Sheet The conglomerate splits its operations into two; ‘Insurance and Other’ and ‘Railroad, Utilities, and Energy,’ with Berkshire Hathaway breaking down the financial performance of each segment when possible. Berkshire Hathaway’s ‘Insurance and Other’ segment had a large net … Read more

Berkshire Hathaway Gets Ready to Put Part of Its Large Cash Pile to Use

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Image Source: Fortune Live Media By Callum Turcan Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRK.A) (BRK.B), specifically Class B shares trading as BRK.B, is a top holding in Valuentum’s Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio. The massive holding company is invested in much more than just insurance (a portfolio which includes Geico, Cornhusker Casualty Company, General Re, Oak River Insurance Company, and more), Berkshire has exposure to American railroads (through its ownership of BNSF), global consumer goods sales–through its ownership of See’s Candy and stake in Kraft Heinz Company (KHC)–and a slate of other industries. We give shares of BRK.B a fair value estimate of $229, with a fair value range of $183/share – $275/share. As BRK.B trades at the lower end of our fair … Read more

Brace for More Volatility

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Image shown: The S&P 500 ETF (SPY) since August of last year. The markets have broken through key support levels, and now support has become resistance. Volatility remains heightened since the low-vol ETN blew up in February. This article is the introduction to both the Dividend Growth Newsletter and High Yield Dividend Newsletter, both of which will be released today due to the holiday January 1. By Brian Nelson, CFA Markets are facing big pressure on the trading session January 3. There’s more to the story than rising interest rates. There’s more to the story than the US-China trade war. There’s more to the story than concerns about the political environment. Price-agnostic (indexing and quant) trading, as I outline in … Read more

Dividend Increases for the Week Ending February 20

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Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending February 20. The dividend reports of covered firms on this list will be updated shortly with the new information. To access our dividend reports use the ‘Symbol’ search box in our website header. Firms Raising Their Dividends This Week Analog Devices (ADI):  $0.40 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.37. Argo Group (AGII): now $0.20 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.18. Autoliv (ALV): now $0.56 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.54. Coca-Cola (KO): now $0.33 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.305. Colgate-Palmolive (CL): now $0.38 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.36. Corrections Corporation of America (CXW): now $0.54 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.51. CVR Partners … Read more

The Dividend Dilemma

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One of the core tenets of the Valuentum process not only rests in the all-important price vs. value consideration (see Valuentum’s Brian Nelson talk about that here), but also in “letting winners run.” At first read, these two items appear to be at odds with each other. For example, we preach about getting stocks at a bargain, but yet, we don’t sell holdings when they start to move beyond our estimate of their fair value. What gives? At the Valuentum core, we prefer an entry point that corresponds to the time when shares have substantial valuation and pricing support (i.e. they have high Valuentum Buying Index ratings), and we prefer an exit point when shares have little valuation and pricing … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week December 18

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Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending December 18. The dividend reports of covered firms on this list will be updated shortly with the new information. To access our dividend reports use the ‘Symbol’ search box in our website header. Firms Raising Their Dividends This Week ABM Industries (ABM): now $0.19 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.185. Acme United (ACU): now $0.13 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.12. Advanced Energy Industries (AEIS): now $0.10 per share quarterly dividend. Algoma Central Corporation (AGMJF): now CAD 2.65 per share special dividend, was CAD 0.12. Amgen (AMGN): now $1.76 per share quarterly dividend, was $1.60. Artis Real Estate Investment Trust (ARESF): now $0.04635 per share … Read more

Stock Market Outlook for 2021

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By Valuentum Analysts February 8, 2021 2020 was one for the history books. We covered our thoughts and reflections on the past year in our “2020 Won’t Soon Be Forgotten” article (link here), and now we are looking towards the future. Global health authorities should be able to bring an end to the ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic sooner than many had expected as several vaccines have already been improved for emergency use and several others appear increasingly likely to get approved. Global vaccine distribution activities are currently underway, and this should allow the world to slowly return to pre-pandemic activities. Before then, immense stimulus measures launched primarily in developed nations should support global economic activities until the public health crisis … Read more