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

Generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) uses large language models (LLM) to create online contents with better human productivity.

Monica McNeil

2024-10-31 09:26:00 Thursday ET

Generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) uses large language models (LLM) to create online contents with better human productivity.

Generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) uses large language models (LLM) and content generation tools to enhance human lives with better productivity.

+See More

The recent British pound depreciation is a big Brexit barometer.

Apple Boston

2019-08-20 07:33:00 Tuesday ET

The recent British pound depreciation is a big Brexit barometer.

The recent British pound depreciation is a big Brexit barometer. Britain appoints former London mayor and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson as the prime minis

+See More

President Donald Trump delivers his first state-of-the-union address.

Daphne Basel

2018-01-29 07:38:00 Monday ET

President Donald Trump delivers his first state-of-the-union address.

President Donald Trump delivers his first state-of-the-union address. Several key highlights touch on economic issues from fiscal stimulus and trade protect

+See More

The Trump administration introduces new tariffs on $50 billion Chinese goods amid the persistent bilateral trade dispute.

Laura Hermes

2018-06-09 16:40:00 Saturday ET

The Trump administration introduces new tariffs on $50 billion Chinese goods amid the persistent bilateral trade dispute.

The Trump administration introduces new tariffs on $50 billion Chinese goods amid the persistent bilateral trade dispute. The tariffs effectively boost cost

+See More

The Trump $1.5 trillion hefty tax cuts and $1 trillion infrastructure expenditures may speed up the Federal Reserve interest rate hike.

Joseph Corr

2018-03-15 07:41:00 Thursday ET

The Trump $1.5 trillion hefty tax cuts and $1 trillion infrastructure expenditures may speed up the Federal Reserve interest rate hike.

The Trump administration's $1.5 trillion hefty tax cuts and $1 trillion infrastructure expenditures may speed up the Federal Reserve interest rate hike

+See More

The Trump administration still expects to reach a Sino-U.S. trade agreement with better intellectual property protection and enforcement.

Apple Boston

2019-05-11 10:28:00 Saturday ET

The Trump administration still expects to reach a Sino-U.S. trade agreement with better intellectual property protection and enforcement.

The Trump administration still expects to reach a Sino-U.S. trade agreement with a better mechanism for intellectual property protection and enforcement. Pr

+See More