Associated Press
|
Neubauer Artists LLC Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... |
Buffett fans will get a chance to hear him discuss his stocks and their performance on Saturday, even if they’re not in Omaha, by tuning in to the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting live stream starting at 10 a.m. ET.
Here’s a brief report card on Buffett’s best—and worst—stock picks this year.
Winners
In a sign of Buffett’s investing prescience, a stock that no one expected him to buy has lately turned out to be his most successful bet: Apple aapl. It won’t surprise market watchers to know that Apple stock is the top performer in Buffett’s portfolio since the last Berkshire meeting, up about 59%. Apple, after all, was also the biggest winner in the Dow Jones industrial average in Donald Trump’s first 100 days as president.
Buffett, who for much of his career avoided tech stocks, has capitalized on that rally by doubling—or, if you will, sextupling—down on Apple stock: He owns six times as much of it now as he did at this time last year, making him one of the iPhone maker’s largest shareholders. That stake has gained nearly $2 billion in value this year alone.
Perhaps more surprising is Buffett’s second-best pick over the past year, as it has recently been known more for controversy than outperformance: United Airlines stock, up almost 44% since the investor bought it in the third quarter of 2016. The travel company United Continental Holdings ual came under fire last month when a passenger was dragged off one of its overbooked flights, a fiasco that dragged as much as $90 million off the value of Buffett’s stake as United stock plummeted amid the ensuing outrage. The shares have since recovered, but Buffett may still field questions about the customer service debacle during Berkshire’s meeting Saturday.
On the heels of United Airlines were Berkshire’s holdings Charter Communications CHTR , which has risen nearly 43% since last year’s meeting, and Goldman Sachs GS, whose shares are up 38%.
In dollar terms, though, a few of Buffett’s picks with more modest returns were actually the most lucrative for the investor’s portfolio this past year, in large part because Berkshire Hathaway owns massive quantities of their shares. For example, Berkshire’s biggest holding, Kraft Heinz KHZ , rose less than 15%—underperforming the S&P 500, which is up more than 16% since Berkshire’s last annual meeting. But Buffett’s $29 billion stake in the macaroni and ketchup conglomerate is now worth about $3.8 billion more now than it was then. And Wells Fargo WFC , still dealing with the fallout of its fake accounts scandal, is up just 10%, but Buffett’s position has gained almost $2.5 billion in value over that time. (Expect the stock picker to discuss the bank’s problems with its sales practices at the annual meeting.)
Lastly, Buffett’s major bet on American Express AXP contributed more to his returns than Apple, even though the credit card company’s shares are up a relatively modest 20% since last year’s meeting. Berkshire’s Amex stock has added nearly $2 billion in value in that period.
About The Author
