CNBC news anchor Becky Quick interviews Warren Buffett in early-2019.

James Campbell

2019-04-07 13:39:00 Sun ET

CNBC news anchor Becky Quick interviews Warren Buffett in early-2019. Buffett explains the fact that book value fluctuations are a metric that has lost relevance for Berkshire Hathaway over time. At least 3 circumstances lead to this outcome. First, Berkshire has gradually morphed from a company whose assets concentrate in marketable stocks into a unique public corporation whose major value resides in operating businesses. From a fundamental viewpoint, equity stakes represent key parts of corporate stock ownership and control as investors favor liquidity over managerial rent protection.

Second, the new U.S. accounting rules require the current collection of operating companies to be part of book value at a dollar sum far below their current market value. This gross undervaluation may mislead the typical retail investor.

Third, it is likely for Berkshire to reconsider significant share repurchases that take place at share prices above book value (but below the Buffett estimate of intrinsic value). Each share buyback boosts intrinsic value and also constrains the potential uptick of book value.

This combination of circumstances causes the book-value scorecard to become out of touch with economic reality. Buffett hence focuses on the Berkshire market capitalization, and this alternative better reflects business performance in practice.

 


If any of our AYA Analytica financial health memos (FHM), blog posts, ebooks, newsletters, and notifications etc, or any other form of online content curation, involves potential copyright concerns, please feel free to contact us at service@ayafintech.network so that we can remove relevant content in response to any such request within a reasonable time frame.

Blog+More

The new Fed chairman Jerome Powell faces a new challenge in the form of core CPI rate hikes toward 1.8%-2.1%.

Laura Hermes

2018-02-07 06:38:00 Wednesday ET

The new Fed chairman Jerome Powell faces a new challenge in the form of core CPI rate hikes toward 1.8%-2.1%.

The new Fed chairman Jerome Powell faces a new challenge in the form of both core CPI and CPI inflation rate hikes toward 1.8%-2.1% year-over-year with stro

+See More

Sino-American trade talks make positive progress over 3 consecutive days.

Joseph Corr

2019-01-17 10:41:00 Thursday ET

Sino-American trade talks make positive progress over 3 consecutive days.

Sino-American trade talks make positive progress over 3 consecutive days as S&P 500 and global stock market indices post 3-day win streaks. Asian and Eu

+See More

The financial services industry needs fewer banks worldwide.

Daphne Basel

2022-08-30 10:32:00 Tuesday ET

The financial services industry needs fewer banks worldwide.

The financial services industry needs fewer banks worldwide. As long as banks have existed in human history, their managers have realized how not all dep

+See More

Disruptive innovations contribute to business success in new blue-ocean markets after iterative continuous improvements.

Rose Prince

2020-04-24 11:33:00 Friday ET

Disruptive innovations contribute to business success in new blue-ocean markets after iterative continuous improvements.

Disruptive innovations tend to contribute to business success in new blue-ocean markets after iterative continuous improvements. Clayton Christensen and

+See More

Microsoft acquires GitHub, a software development platform that has been widely shared-and-used by 28 million programmers worldwide.

Joseph Corr

2018-06-04 08:38:00 Monday ET

Microsoft acquires GitHub, a software development platform that has been widely shared-and-used by 28 million programmers worldwide.

Microsoft acquires GitHub, a software development platform that has been widely shared-and-used by more than 28 million programmers worldwide. GitHub's

+See More

Apple files an appeal to overturn the recent iPhone sales ban in China due to its patent infringement of Qualcomm proprietary technology.

Jonah Whanau

2018-12-17 08:43:00 Monday ET

Apple files an appeal to overturn the recent iPhone sales ban in China due to its patent infringement of Qualcomm proprietary technology.

Apple files an appeal to overturn the recent iPhone sales ban in China due to its patent infringement of Qualcomm proprietary technology. This recent ban of

+See More