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

International trade, immigration, and elite-mass conflict

Jacob Miramar

2023-12-09 08:28:00 Saturday ET

International trade, immigration, and elite-mass conflict

International trade, immigration, and elite-mass conflict The elite model portrays public policy as a reflection of the interests and values of elites. I

+See More

Net stock issuance theory and practice

Becky Berkman

2022-05-25 09:31:00 Wednesday ET

Net stock issuance theory and practice

Net stock issuance theory and practice Net equity issuance can be in the form of initial public offering (IPO) or seasoned equity offering (SEO). This l

+See More

Goldman Sachs takes a $5 billion net income hit that results from its offshore cash repatriation under the Trump tax law.

Charlene Vos

2018-01-02 12:39:00 Tuesday ET

Goldman Sachs takes a $5 billion net income hit that results from its offshore cash repatriation under the Trump tax law.

Goldman Sachs takes a $5 billion net income hit that results from its offshore cash repatriation under the new Trump tax law. This income hit reflects 10%-1

+See More

Most business organizations should continue to create new value in order to achieve long-run success and sustainable profitability.

Peter Prince

2020-09-10 08:31:00 Thursday ET

Most business organizations should continue to create new value in order to achieve long-run success and sustainable profitability.

Most business organizations should continue to create new value in order to achieve long-run success and sustainable profitability. Todd Zenger (2016)

+See More

Apple pursues an early harvest strategy that focuses on extracting healthy profits from the Mac, iPhone, and iPad.

Monica McNeil

2017-05-01 09:45:00 Monday ET

Apple pursues an early harvest strategy that focuses on extracting healthy profits from the Mac, iPhone, and iPad.

Apple now pursues an early harvest strategy that focuses on extracting healthy profits from a relatively static market for the Mac, iPhone, and iPad, all of

+See More

Thomas Sowell argues that some economic reforms inadvertently exacerbate economic disparities.

Daisy Harvey

2023-11-14 08:24:00 Tuesday ET

Thomas Sowell argues that some economic reforms inadvertently exacerbate economic disparities.

Thomas Sowell argues that some economic reforms inadvertently exacerbate economic disparities. Thomas Sowell (2019)   Discrimination and econo

+See More