What’s Next for Buffett and Berkshire?
February is always an exciting month for followers of Warren Buffett and his closely watched firm Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A, BRK-B). At the end of the month, Buffett will publish his annual letter, which is always filled with the Oracle of Omaha’s insights, from the technical to the folksy.
Prior to that, though, investors will get to see where Buffett has been placing his bets of late. The disclosure of Berkshire’s end-of-Q4 holdings will be made public in about two weeks.
A look at the performance of Buffett’s holdings from the start of Q4 shows that his publicly traded investments have been mostly in the black. During that period, Buffett has seen gains from names like American Express (AXP), U.S. Bancorp (USB), Wellpoint (WLP). Each of the stocks is up by more than 15% since the end of Q3.
Buffett also made a special investment (not listed among Berkshire’s publicly traded holdings) in Goldman Sachs (GS) at the height of the crisis that has reaped huge gains.
There’s no telling if Buffett’s new holdings, to be announced mid-month, will contain any surprises, but it is quite likely that he’ll hold steady with long-standing positions in many of his favorite names like Coca-Cola (KO), Wal-Mart (WMT), and Proctor & Gamble (PG).
Finally, investors will want to see whether Buffett is finding stocks attractive enough to make buys on the open market after such a significant run in the equity markets. The revelation of substantial buying activity in Buffett’s upcoming disclosure would likely send a bullish signal that could reverberate across the entire market.