Berkshire Hathaway more than tripled the size of its investment in Google’s parent company and bought over $2.6 billion worth of Delta Airlines stock as Greg Abel settled into the CEO job after taking over from Warren Buffett at the start of the year.
The conglomerate also dumped a number of other stocks, including Visa, Mastercard, Domino’s Pizza, Amazon and United Healthcare after the departure late last year of Todd Combs, who was one of the two investment mangers Buffett hired to help manage the portfolio.
Buffett was always reluctant to invest in tech companies because he said he didn’t understand them well enough to predict the long-term winners. Buffett did make an exception to that rule near the end of his career by buying a massive Apple stake after he recognized how devoted consumers are to that company’s iPhones and computers.
Abel appears to be more comfortable because by the end of March Berkshire owned nearly 58 million Alphabet shares worth almost $17 billion. Just three months earlier, Berkshire held only 17.8 million Alphabet shares worth $5.6 billion.
Berkshire picked up nearly 40 million shares of Delta stock during the first three months of the year. Buffett has something of a sordid history with airline investments over the years after having bought their stocks heavily more than once before eventually dumping them.
Buffett told shareholders in 2008 that “if a farsighted capitalist had been present at Kitty Hawk, he would have done his successors a huge favor by shooting Orville down” because every airline has struggled to maintain a competitive advantage ever since the Wright brothers took to the air.
Berkshire also established a small new stake in Macy’s that was worth nearly $55 million at the end of March.
Berkshire never comments on the moves it makes to its $280 billion stock portfolio from quarter to quarter because it doesn’t want to discuss what it is buying and selling. Earlier this month, Abel just led his first shareholders meeting as CEO while Buffett sat on the floor with the rest of the board of directors.
Many investors have followed Berkshire’s portfolio closely over the years because they liked to copy Buffett’s moves. That may not be the case going forward at least until Abel establishes more of a record as a stock picker. He has spent his career operating companies like Berkshire’s collection of major utilities.
But a couple of the stocks that Berkshire just revealed new stakes in Friday did jump after the conglomerate detailed its investments in a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Macy’s and Delta stock prices both popped after Berkshire’s disclosure, but Alphabet’s stock price hardly changed.
The Omaha, Nebraska-based company also owns dozens of other businesses including major insurers like Geico, BNSF railroad, huge manufacturers like Precision Castparts and an assortment of retail and service businesses that includes such well-known brands as Helzberg Diamonds, See’s Candy and Dairy Queen.
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