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

San Francisco Fed CEO Mary Daly suggests that trade escalation is not the only risk in the global economy.

Rose Prince

2019-06-19 09:27:00 Wednesday ET

San Francisco Fed CEO Mary Daly suggests that trade escalation is not the only risk in the global economy.

San Francisco Fed CEO Mary Daly suggests that trade escalation is not the only risk in the global economy. Due to the current Sino-U.S. trade tension, the g

+See More

Fed Chair Jerome Powell answers CBS News 60 Minutes questions about the recent U.S. economic outlook.

Dan Rochefort

2019-03-29 12:28:00 Friday ET

Fed Chair Jerome Powell answers CBS News 60 Minutes questions about the recent U.S. economic outlook.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell answers CBS News 60 Minutes questions about the recent U.S. economic outlook and interest rate cycle. Powell views the c

+See More

The unique controversial management style of Steve Jobs helps translate his business acumen into smart product development.

Dan Rochefort

2020-03-26 10:31:00 Thursday ET

The unique controversial management style of Steve Jobs helps translate his business acumen into smart product development.

The unique controversial management style of Steve Jobs helps translate his business acumen into smart product development. Jay Elliot (2012) Leading

+See More

The Sino-American trade war may slash global GDP by $600 billion.

Monica McNeil

2019-06-15 10:28:00 Saturday ET

The Sino-American trade war may slash global GDP by $600 billion.

The Sino-American trade war may slash global GDP by $600 billion. If the Trump administration imposes tariffs on all the Chinese imports and China retaliate

+See More

Climate change and ESG woke capitalism

Dan Rochefort

2022-11-30 09:26:00 Wednesday ET

Climate change and ESG woke capitalism

Climate change and ESG woke capitalism In recent times, the Biden administration has signed into law a $375 billion program to better balance the economi

+See More

President Trump considers imposing retaliatory economic sanctions on Chinese products.

Peter Prince

2018-01-10 08:40:00 Wednesday ET

President Trump considers imposing retaliatory economic sanctions on Chinese products.

President Trump considers imposing retaliatory economic sanctions on Chinese products and services in direct response to China's theft and infringement

+See More