Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway
(NYSE: BRK) revealed its holdings for the quarter ended December 31st
in its required Schedule 13F filing with the SEC. The billionaire
investor revealed two new stakes and several raised stakes, sending
shares in those companies higher on the day. Buffett has built up the
best track record on Wall Street and has consistently beat the market
over the past decades (excluding losses incurred during his minor foray
into currency trading). This has made Buffett (rightly) one of the most
watched investors on the street.
Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT), the Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE: MO)
spin-off, was Buffett’s largest new position. News of his investment
sent shares more than 5.6 percent higher in early trading as the
legendary investor bought up 132,393,800 shares of the firm - making
him the company’s largest shareholder with an 8.5 percent stake. Kraft
has long been seen as a value play since its spin-off from Altria; in
fact, spin-offs in general tend to outperform the market during their
first few years as an independent company. Simply put, Altria
shareholders who received shares in the spin-off may have sold without
justification while management is typically well-incentivized to
succeed. Combined, these factors make KFT a stock that is definitely
worth watching over the next few years!
GlaxoSmithKline plc (NYSE: GSK) was another one of Buffett’s new
positions. Like Kraft Foods, news of his investment sent shares higher
by nearly two percent on the day as the investor bought up 1,510,500
ADR shares in the pharmaceutical giant. Shares in the company have
dropped 11.5 percent since it announced a profit warning back in early
January while the stock has been trading down since early last year.
Despite Glaxo’s poor 2008 outlook, the company does hold a solid drug
portfolio and the stock appears to be trading at cheap levels.
Combined, these factors make GSK a stock that is definitely worth
tracking over the long-term!
The famous investor also raised his stakes in several companies, sending them higher on the day. including:
- Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (NYSE: BNI)
- CarMax Inc. (NYSE: KMX)
- Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ)
- US Bancorp (NYSE: USB)
- Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC)
- Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY)
In the end, Warren Buffett is widely considered to be one of the
best investors on Wall Street, which earned him the nickname “Oracle of
Omaha”. As a result, the Schedule 13F filings that reveal his holdings
are ones that are definitely worth watching each quarter. You can track
these filings for free and setup e-mail alerts at SECFilings.com and you can view the rest of his holdings by checking out the Schedule 13F filing!
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