WWWD - What Would Warren Do?
Buy American.
“A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.”
In his NYT op-ed, Warren Buffett is not necessarily calling a bottom here, he’s just imploring you to not take your money out of the market. In fact - you should put your money in. He is. Before now, Buffett has held only government bonds and Berkshire Hathaway shares in his personal account. But now’s the time to buy, he says. This isn’t the first time WB has called it. Here are the others:
November 1, 1974 in Forbes
“Like an oversexed guy in a harem, this is the time to start investing.”
August 6, 1979 in Forbes
“Those awaiting a ‘better time’ for equity investing are highly likely to maintain that posture until well into the next bull market.”
November 22, 1999 in Fortune
“Investors in stocks these days are expecting far too much” (referring to the tech bubble)
December 10, 2001 in Fortune
“To refer to a personal taste of mine, I’m going to buy hamburgers the rest of my life. When hamburgers go down in price, we sing the “Hallelujah Chorus” in the Buffett household. When hamburgers go up, we weep. For most people, it’s the same way with everything in life they will be buying—except stocks. When stocks go down and you can get more for your money, people don’t like them anymore… Today stock market “hamburgers,” so to speak, are cheaper. I would expect now to see long-term returns run somewhat higher, in the neighborhood of 7% after costs.”
There are many speculations as to what securities Buffett actually has in his personal portfolio now. You can probably take a good guess based upon Berkshire Hathaway’s recent investments and its American holdings shown below (numbers are approximate & from 24/7WallSt):
American Express - 151.6 million shares
Anheuser-Busch - 15 million shares
Bank of America - 9.1 million shares
Burlington Northern Santa Fe - 63,785,418 shares
Carmax - 21.3 million shares
Coca-Cola - 200 million shares
Comcast - 12 million shares
Comdisco Holdings - 1.5 million shares
Costco Wholesale - 5.25 million shares
Gannett - 3.447 million shares
GE - 7.77 million shares
GlaxoSmithKline - 1.51 million shares
Home Depot - 4,181,000 shares
Ingersoll Rand - 5,636,600 shares
Iron Mountain - 3,372,200 shares
Johnson & Johnson - 61.75 million shares
Kraft - 138.3 million shares
Lowe’s Companies - 7 million shares
M&T Bank - 6.71 million shares
Moody’s - 48 million shares
Nike - 7.641 million shares
Norfolk Southern - 1.933 million shares
NRG Energy - 3.238 million shares
Proctor & Gamble - 106.8 million shares
Sanofi Aventis - 3.9 million shares
Suntrust Banks - 3.2 million shares
Torchmark - 3.61 million shares
US Bankcorp - 68 million shares
USG Corp - 17.07 million shares
Union Pacific Group - 8.9 million shares
UPS - 1.429 million shares
WABCO Holdings - 2.7 million shares
Wal-Mart - 19.9 million shares
Washington Post - 1.72 million shares
Wellpoint - 4.8 million shares
Wells Fargo - 290 million shares
Wesco Financial - 5.7 million shares
