 |
At their lowest today (Thursday) just about three hours before the closing bell, Berkshire shares hit $96,050, a drop of 7.05% on the day.
The stock then rallied along with the rest of the market, closing at $102,800. Berkshire hasn't closed below $100,000 since October 20, 2006.
While Berkshire avoided that distinction today, its loss of $533 (0.52%) does bring it to a fresh two-year closing low.
 |
The stock is down 31.1 percent from its all-time closing high of $149,200 last December.
Berkshire's downdraft, and a weak earnings report for the third quarter, are prompting some talk that Warren Buffett has lost his touch.
CNBC's David Faber reported yesterday that some investors are shorting Berkshire in the wake of Friday's quarterly results.
Investor Doug Kass had been short Berkshire for most of the year, before covering that position at a profit in August. Now he has a new summary of what he sees as Buffett's mistakes over the past few years in a post on TheStreet.com headlined Warren Buffett Has Lost His Groove.
And what about the argument that Buffett invests for the long term, making short-term setbacks unimportant? Kass writes, "Buffett's notion of long term is now becoming a convenient shroud to poorly timed investments."
"Is the notion of long term now irrelevant, particularly given Warren Buffett's age and the likelihood that sooner than later he will be succeeded by one or several new individuals at Berkshire's helm? Is it irrelevant ... in a possible multiyear bear market or in an economy that faces headwinds we haven't seen in decades? Or is it just one of those tautologies that it is safe to buy in the long term?"
Yes, Buffett has been counted out before. See 1999, for example.
But this time, Kass contends, it's different.
---
Current Berkshire stock prices:
Class A: [US;BRK.A 102800.0 --- UNCH (0) 
]
Class B: [US;BRK.B 3425.0 --- UNCH (0) ]
Political Animal - New Zealand Politics
Share Investor Blog - Stockmarket & Business commentary
Share Investor New Zealand Business News- Get more business news
Shareinvestorforum.com - Discuss this topic further
From Amazon
The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder
Buy new: $21.00 / Used from: $22.03
Usually ships in 24 hours
The Warren Buffett Portfolio: Mastering the Power of the Focus Investment Strategy by Robert G. Hagstrom
Buy new: $13.57 / Used from: $4.00
Usually ships in 24 hours
The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing. A Book of Practical Counsel (Revised Edition) by Benjamin Graham
Buy new: $13.57 / Used from: $9.36
Usually ships in 24 hours
No comments:
Post a Comment