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

Harvard economic platform researcher Dipayan Ghosh proposes some alternative solutions to breaking up tech titans such as Facebook, Google, Apple, and Amazon.

Olivia London

2019-07-23 09:22:00 Tuesday ET

Harvard economic platform researcher Dipayan Ghosh proposes some alternative solutions to breaking up tech titans such as Facebook, Google, Apple, and Amazon.

Harvard economic platform researcher Dipayan Ghosh proposes some alternative solutions to breaking up tech titans such as Facebook, Google, Apple, and Amazo

+See More

Analytic business competitors apply smart data science to support their distinctive capabilities and strategic advantages.

Peter Prince

2020-11-24 09:30:00 Tuesday ET

Analytic business competitors apply smart data science to support their distinctive capabilities and strategic advantages.

Many analytic business competitors can apply smart data science to support their distinctive capabilities and strategic advantages. Thomas Davenport and

+See More

President Trump may reluctantly sign the congressional border wall deal in order to avert another U.S. government shutdown.

Apple Boston

2019-02-13 11:00:00 Wednesday ET

President Trump may reluctantly sign the congressional border wall deal in order to avert another U.S. government shutdown.

President Trump may reluctantly sign the congressional border wall deal in order to avert another U.S. government shutdown. With his executive power to decl

+See More

The Trump administration initiates a new investigation into China's abuse of American intellectual property.

Olivia London

2017-08-31 09:36:00 Thursday ET

The Trump administration initiates a new investigation into China's abuse of American intellectual property.

The Trump administration has initiated a new investigation into China's abuse of American intellectual property under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 19

+See More

Trump advisor Gary Cohn aims for tax neutrality over the next decade.

Charlene Vos

2017-02-25 06:44:00 Saturday ET

Trump advisor Gary Cohn aims for tax neutrality over the next decade.

As the White House economic director, Gary Cohn suggests that the Trump administration will tackle tax cuts after the administration *repeals and replaces*

+See More

Amazon acquires an Internet pharmacy PillPack in order to better compete with Walgreens and many other drug distributors.

Peter Prince

2018-06-29 11:41:00 Friday ET

Amazon acquires an Internet pharmacy PillPack in order to better compete with Walgreens and many other drug distributors.

Amazon acquires an Internet pharmacy PillPack in order to better compete with Walgreens Boots Alliance, CVS Health, Rite Aid, and many other drug distributo

+See More