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

Sirius XM pays $3.5 billion shares to acquire the music app company Pandora.

Jonah Whanau

2018-09-25 10:35:00 Tuesday ET

Sirius XM pays $3.5 billion shares to acquire the music app company Pandora.

Sirius XM pays $3.5 billion shares to acquire the music app company Pandora. This acquisition would form the largest audio entertainment company worldwide.

+See More

OraSure and its subsidiary DNA Genotek specialize in the lean production of home DNA spit tubes.

Monica McNeil

2019-04-01 08:28:00 Monday ET

OraSure and its subsidiary DNA Genotek specialize in the lean production of home DNA spit tubes.

OraSure and its subsidiary DNA Genotek specialize in the lean production of home DNA spit tubes. OraSure extracts core genetic information from microbiome s

+See More

We assess the global fiscal deficits and sovereign debt burdens in America, Europe, and many other countries worldwide.

James Campbell

2027-01-31 12:25:00 Sunday ET

We assess the global fiscal deficits and sovereign debt burdens in America, Europe, and many other countries worldwide.

In recent decades, many governments have chosen to run high fiscal deficits on top of sovereign debt mountains so that greater government intervention still

+See More

Several pharmaceutical companies now switch their primary focus from generic prescription drugs to medical specialties.

Rose Prince

2018-10-15 09:33:00 Monday ET

Several pharmaceutical companies now switch their primary focus from generic prescription drugs to medical specialties.

Several pharmaceutical companies now switch their primary focus from generic prescription drugs to medical specialties such as cardiovascular medications an

+See More

Tim Berners-Lee suggests that several tech titans might need to be split up in response to some recent data breach and privacy concerns.

Chanel Holden

2018-11-09 11:35:00 Friday ET

Tim Berners-Lee suggests that several tech titans might need to be split up in response to some recent data breach and privacy concerns.

The Internet inventor Tim Berners-Lee suggests that several tech titans might need to be split up in response to some recent data breach and privacy concern

+See More

Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld suggest that relatively successful ethnic groups exhibit common cultural traits in America.

Laura Hermes

2023-05-21 12:26:00 Sunday ET

Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld suggest that relatively successful ethnic groups exhibit common cultural traits in America.

Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld suggest that relatively successful ethnic groups exhibit common cultural traits in America. Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld (2015)

+See More