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Buffett’s back, and he’s on a buying spree — since steep sell-offs have created a new class of value stocks

Snacks / Tuesday, May 17, 2022

Some people love a bargain… Warren Buffett’s holding company, Berkshire Hathaway, has invested billions in battered stocks over the past few months, a recent filing showed. The Oracle of Omaha sat tight last year while stock prices soared, selling more than he bought. But now that markets have cooled, he’s buying again. Big time:

  • Spending spree: Berkshire added $42B of stocks to its portfolio last quarter, its biggest splurge since 2008. Among them: Buffett classics like Apple, plus relative rookies Citigroup, HP, Paramount, Activision Blizzard, and Ally Bank.
  • The “Buffett Bump” is real: Shares of Paramount jumped 15%, Ally rose 6%, and Citi popped 7% yesterday after Berkshire’s stakes were reported. Verizon and Kroger fell on news that Berkshire sold their shares.

When the going gets tough… Buffett gets buying. The 91-year-old guru famously seeks stocks that are low priced relative to their potential long-term value. But those “value stocks” were hard to find last year since (according to Buffett) everything was overvalued. So Berkshire ended the year with a near-record cash pile. Now it’s trading time:

  • In… oil. Berkshire doubled down on inflation-friendly stocks like Chevron and Occidental (energy is the best-performing category in the S&P 500 this year).
  • Out… pharma. Berkshire ditched stocks Bristol Myers Squibb and AbbVie, which spiked earlier in the pandemic.

This is Warren-nomics 101… Thanks to Fed’s rate hikes, booming “growth” stocks have fallen back to Earth (#corrected). That’s created ideal conditions for Berkshire to shop for bargain-priced “value” stocks. Meanwhile, growth stocks — whose value often rests on distant returns — may keep struggling as the Fed keeps raising rates. To weather a downturn, even growth-hungry investors might jump on the Buffett wagon and invest in slow-and-steady stocks.

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